I have 2 more hikes to post from my Christmas break hiking trip to southeast Texas, but the turning of the calendar says it is time for my annual summary and reflection post. 2017 has been a bountiful year for me on the trail. I did 60 new hikes totaling 185.6 miles, and I got most of the old picture-less hikes updated with photos. Those high totals came as a result of a couple of extra hiking trips including two Christmas break trips in the same calendar year (necessitated by a quirk in my university's academic calendar). The hikes came across 19 different states including two new states: Arkansas and Texas. I also did my first Canada hike; more on that below.
Looking ahead to 2018, the upcoming year marks a milestone for me: I will be celebrating 20 years on the trail and therefore 20 years of writing trail descriptions, all of which are in this blog. To mark the occasion, here are some memorable "firsts" from my first 20 years of hiking:
First trail description* (summer of 1998): Winton Woods County Park: Kingfisher Trail (Blog Hike #3)
First road trip dedicated to hiking (April 2001): Hocking Hills State Park: Grandma Gatewood Trail (Blog Hike #89)
First hike after moving to Georgia (to earn my PhD, August 2005): Georgia Botanical Garden: Orange Trail (Blog Hike #181)
First hike as a college professor (September 2009): Blue Ridge Parkway: Otter Creek Trail (Blog Hike #288)
First hike after moving to South Carolina (to take a different and better professor job, September 2011): Paris Mountain State Park: Sulpher Springs Loop (Blog Hike #359)
First hike with my students (on a trip where they presented their mathematical research at an undergraduate research conference, April 2014): Ijams Nature Center: South Cove/River/Discovery Loop (Blog Hike #463)
First hike outside the USA (July 2017): Pigeon River Provincial Park: Middle Falls (Blog Hike #647)
I will probably get fewer hikes in 2018 than I did in 2017, partly because of the extra trips in 2017 and partly because I have some (prayerfully minor) physical/health issues to address as the new year starts. Nevertheless, I have some good hiking trips planned. I hope to get to the Potomac River area in northeast Virginia/southeast Maryland, the Monongahela National Forest in eastern West Virginia, and Glacier National Park in Montana. The Montana trip should also include another trip across the border to Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, and I should be in Canada for 2 days as opposed to 2 hours last summer. I also hope to reach 700 blog hikes next year, probably while on my Montana trip this coming summer.
See you on the trail in 2018,
David, aka the Mathprofhiker
*In the unlikely event you are as obsessed about numbers and order as I am and are wondering why my first trail description is Blog Hike #3, the hikes in this blog are presented in chronological order based on when I first hiked that trail. I did Blog Hikes #001 and #002 during my teenage years, but I re-hiked them and wrote the trail descriptions in my early 20's after I got interested in writing about hikes. I have updated those descriptions over the years for changing trail conditions, but I have kept the writing style intact rather than doing a complete re-write in my newer (and hopefully better) style.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Sea Rim State Park: Gambusia Nature and Dune Boardwalk Trails (Blog Hike #670)
Dedication: This hike is dedicated to my mom, who died
exactly 3 years prior to the day this hike was posted. One of her favorite vacation activities was to
walk along a beach and pick up shells, so she would have loved the beach at the
end of this hike.
Trails: Gambusia Nature and Dune Boardwalk Trails
Hike Location: Sea
Rim State Park
Geographic Location: southwest of Port
Arthur , TX (29.67578, -94.04335)
Length: 1.9 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: December 2017
Overview: A pair of boardwalks, one through a marsh and
another to a beach.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/sea-rim
Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of
SR 82 and SR 87 on the southwest side of Port Arthur ,
take SR 87 south 21.3 miles to the signed park entrance on the left. Turn left to enter the park, pay the small
entrance fee, and park in any of the day-use parking lots.
The hike: True to its name, Sea
Rim State Park Gulf
of Mexico , but such has not always been the case. During the Ice Age’s lower sea levels, the Gulf
of Mexico ’s north shore was several miles south of its current
location. During this time, Paleoindians
lived on the former gulf shore that is now underwater. Artifacts from their civilization still
occasionally wash up on the present-day shore of Sea
Rim State Park
The park
itself dates to 1972, when the State of Texas
purchased the seaside land from the Planet
Oil and Mineral Corporation and Horizon Sales Corporation. As is common for gulf coast parks, the park’s
facilities have been destroyed twice by hurricanes: Hurricane Rita in 2005 and
Hurricane Ike in 2008. The park’s
headquarters building is still a trailer, but the park’s recreation facilities
have been rebuilt. Amenities include a
15-site campground, over 16 miles of canoe routes, a day-use area with numerous
picnic tables, and a pair of boardwalks.
The two boardwalks start at opposite ends of the day-use area, and
combining them with a walk through the day-use area forms the 1.9 mile hike
described here.
To save the beach for last, I chose
to hike the Gambusia Nature Trail through the saltwater marsh first. If you are parked at the headquarters
building like I did, you will need to walk the park road east through the
day-use area to reach the marsh boardwalk.
The park road passes numerous picnic tables and ponds that contain large
numbers of sea birds and ducks. The
signed start of the Gambusia Nature Trail is located on the left side of the
eastern-most parking area.
 |
| Trailhead: Gambusia Nature Trail |
The entire Gambusia Nature Trail is
a boardwalk, and though the wooden boardwalk starts in a grassy area it quickly
reaches open water. I was amazed by how
much open water this marsh has, enough to make you feel like you are in the
middle of a shallow lake. The open water
is great for bird viewing; I saw coots, egrets, herons, ibis, red-winged
blackbirds, and a pelican (engaged in a successful fishing exercise) during my
time in the marsh. I was also amazed by
the clarity of the water: I was able to see many guppies and two blue crabs
under the water near the boardwalk.
 |
| Boardwalk through marsh |
 |
| Blue crab |
Where the
boardwalk splits to form its loop, I chose to continue straight and use the
left boardwalk as my return route, thus hiking the loop counterclockwise. An interpretive sign located near one of the
few clumps of grass explains the different kinds of grasses found in this
marsh. The Gulf of Mexico
lies less than 500 feet to your right, and though you cannot see it because of
the dunes its pleasant dull roar is your constant companion on this hike. The utility poles of SR 87 can be seen about
the same distance to your left, but the dead-end state highway sees little
vehicle traffic.
 |
| Snake clinging to boardwalk |
The
boardwalk curves persistently left as you round the eastern end of the
loop. I passed a small snake clinging to
the boardwalk before closing the loop just past 1 mile from the headquarters
building. Turn right to head back to the
parking area and complete the Gambusia Nature Trail.
 |
| Start of dune boardwalk |
 |
| Fog-shrouded beach on Gulf of Mexico |
To reach
the Dune Boardwalk, walk back through the day-use area and past the
headquarters building to the signed start of the second boardwalk. Only 600 feet in length, the Dune Boardwalk
takes you up and over a single row of dunes to reach the beach along the Gulf
of Mexico . I was the only
person on this wide, firm, and flat beach on the foggy mid-December afternoon
of my visit. Rows of seashells littered
the beach waiting for someone to come and pick them up. After enjoying your beach time, retrace your
steps back over the Dune Boardwalk to complete the hike.
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