Big Thicket - Pitcher Plants

February 18, 2026

Pitcher Plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that attract bugs onto the rim of the pitcher where they slip inside are trapped. Big Thicket has a few areas with them. These are on the Sundew Trail in the Hickory Creek Unit.

They were smaller than I thought and I did not realize that it was them the first time I went by. Onc...
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Big Thicket - Turkey Creek Hike

February 14, 2026

Wetlands Along Kirby Nature Trail

Big Thicket National Preserve is north of Beaumont in eastern Texas near Louisiana. It a collection of areas rather than a large contiguous park like most NPS areas. It is mainly around creeks and wetlands. This area is a little east of the main visitor center.

This hike was in January, so things are a bit more brown than in most of the ...
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Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas

February 9, 2026

Big Thicket National Preserve - Thumbnail

This video is from two hikes in Big Thicket National Preserve north of Beaumont Texas. The first is in the Turkey Creek area starting on the Kirby Nature Trail the going north along the creek to the Sandhill Loop. Little changes in elevation made a big difference in vegetation with the lower areas having more cypress trees around creeks and wetl...
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Blowing Rocks (December 2025)

January 30, 2026

Splashing Over the Rocks

Blowing Rocks is a nature preserve with a unique feature on the Florida east coast which is mostly sand beaches. A short stretch of the beach is rocky and the waves have worn holes and cracks in the rocks. When wave hit them, the water blows through them. There doesn't seem to be as many cracks and holes for water to shoot through as there used ...
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Blowing Rocks (January 2024)

January 17, 2026

The Wave is Shooting Through a Small Hole in the Rock

I've posted a couple times about Bowing Rocks before. This is from a January 2024 trip there. This was close to high tide, but not one of the bigger ones. The best time to go is during a full or new moon at high tide. Check a tide chart to see when the tide will be the highest. Even at the highest tides, the rocks are not underwater.