Goose Island State Park

Goose Island State Park gives you a campsite about as close to the endangered Whooping Cranes as one could want. There are many RV parks in Rockport if you desire FHU, but with a Texas park pass you can’t beat this place for price, location, wildlife and the possibility of a crane family hanging out right at your doorstep. There is a dump station upon exit.

The cranes had not yet arrived during our visit. They generally show up around November 1rst. We took a boat tour to see the big birds up close and personal a few years ago. I’ll try to get some of those pictures in this post at a later date.

As mentioned HERE, the entry into the Park is a bit daunting, but the ranger assured me the old oaks are cropped to a uniform 14’ clearance. Go slow, you’ll be fine.

The sites have electric (50amp) water, and a picnic table with shelter. They are very simply lined up along the bay. No frills.

Having your big front window just feet from the water is great. A blue heron considered me a major irritant and tried repeatedly to poop upon my head while squawking loudly.

The park map is HERE. The bayfront sites are broken into two sections. We occupied #25, in Section 25-45. Section 1-24 was closed for renovation. When we return, we might want to be over on the other side to be closer to the long fishing pier, but with all the construction it was impossible to tell if those sites, when completed, will be long enough for Beauregard.

Sites 25 & 26 are level, as were 44 & 45, the sites down at the end near the marshes, the best area for possible crane sightings. The middle sites would be a leveling challenge. The wooded section was unsuitable for big rigs.

This park is also home to The Big Tree, a most impressive Live Oak more than a 1,000 years old. The tree resides majestically in a mott of much charm and magic. One expects a gnome or fairy to pop out of a crevasse at any moment.

Many legends are told of this tree. My favorite draws connection to the cannibalistic KARANKAWA people. These astonishingly tall, heavily tattooed indigenous inhabitants must have come as quite a shock to European explorers.

This ENT was already old when one of my Favorite Women walked the earth.  The breeze was cool, the area shady. The ground was covered in the small fallen leaves of a shrub. I know not what it was, but the fragrance was delicious, reminiscent of eucalyptus when crushed between fingertips. It was difficult to leave…

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”  J.R.R. Tolkien

Since I accidently wiped out most of my pictures from this day, including the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Complex,  instead… Duke & friends.

The History of Matagorda

Sacre Bleu! It’s Doctor Dirt, the Armadillo Archeologist, come to tell us about “one of the most important archaeological finds of the century”.

PBS created a NOVA.

Voyage of Doom (Original broadcast date: 11/23/99)
“Buried in mud beneath the shallow waters of Matagorda Bay in Texas, lay a glorious remnant of one of the most ill-fated voyages of the Age of Discovery. After years of searching the area, nautical archaeologists doing a magnetometer survey honed in on a promising site. And on the first day of diving, they were astounded to feel the distinctive outlines of a cannon, and sense the massive size of the wreck. When the cannon was hauled from the water, their hunch was confirmed: This ship, called La Belle, belonged to the 17th Century French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle. NOVA follows the building of a coffer dam and subsequent complete excavation of this remarkable site. Preserved were not only armaments and trade beads, but also a wealth of organic material—the wooden hull, leather shoes, and even a skeleton—that brings the voyage to life.”

You can read the Wiki Info.

“La Belle was one of Robert de La Salle's four ships when he explored the Gulf of Mexico with the ill-fated mission of starting a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1685. La Belle was wrecked in present-day Matagorda Bay the following year, dooming La Salle's Texas colony to failure. For over three centuries the wreckage of La Belle lay forgotten until it was discovered by a team of state archaeologists in 1995. The discovery of La Salle's flagship was regarded as one of the most important archaeological finds of the century, and a major excavation was launched by the state of Texas that, over a period of about a year, recovered the entire shipwreck and over a million artifacts.”

There is a TON of reading on the subject.

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/lasalle/lasbelle.shtml

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/

http://www.matagordaisland.com/

http://www.citybytheseamuseum.org/lasalle.html

La Salle Projects

Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

Conservation Research Laboratory, Texas A&M University

Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History

Matagorda County Museum

Museum of the Coastal Bend

Smithsonian Magazine, La Salle article

And there is an excellent BOOK I’ve added to my Amazon wishlist, to be purchased as soon as a cheap used copy becomes available, should you wish to borrow…