Strolling alongside the resaca

Resaca de la Palma State Park boasts the largest tract of land within the World Birding Center network. The World Birding Center consists of nine sites in Texas along a 120 mile corridor following the Rio Grand from the city of Roma on the west to South Padre Island on the east. Even though we are not "birders", it seemed like a good place to get out, see nature, and get in a good walk.

http://www.theworldbirdingcenter.com

There is a 2.76 mile tram road that makes a loop through the park with various trail loops off the road, some of which take you to one of four observation decks along the resaca. We decided to start out on the tram road and then string together a number of trails to walk about 4 miles. It turns out that we walked 5.60 miles. A resaca is a geographical feature of the Rio Grande basin and can refer to a dry river bed or, in this case, a river that has controlled water levels. 

This was our first view of the resaca. We were told that on Sunday the water levels were very low and in some places the river bed was dry. Then on Monday they began to release water and the water levels achieved this hight on Tuesday. 

One of the viewing platforms where we saw some waterfowl.

Along the trail we met Judy Cook. She is a campground host but today is her "off" day so she was not in uniform. From Maine, they are in the park for three months providing programs and services to visitors. She is the one who told us about the water level.  (She showed us pictures of the snow in Maine at her son's house, and we showed her pictures of the snow in Lynn, MA, at Suzanne's house. We all agreed that we are happy to be here along the Rio Grande.)

One of the cautions that Judy gave us was to be careful around any of the vegetation. Most of the trees, shrubs and succulents/cacti have very sharp thorns or spikes.

Frederick is in both of these pictures for scale.

At this observation platform, called Hog Trail Platform, we could hear a feral pig under the platform.  The edge of the river is all churned-up from the pigs rooting in the mud.

This is the Yellowthroat Loop Trail; a portion of it runs alongside the resaca.

This is a burrowing hole made by an armadillo. They were all along the side of the trail in the soft soil. We saw on small armadillo, one bunny rabbit, heard a feral pig, and noticed several birds that we couldn't identify.

On the way back from the park we passed by an amusement center that calls attention to itself by having this huge King Kong next to the building.

The lighthouse at Point Isabel.

We are staying at a private RV park where RVs are shoehorned in with very little space between or in back. This is one reason why we are beginning to prefer State Parks when we are able to find one near to where we want to travel.