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| Laguna looking north up the bay! |
Last weekend (March 2011) we took a short ride, 186 miles total, to and from
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. It's fairly well hidden and accessible only on a very poorly maintained road especially the last seven miles or so. Parts of the road seem to have washed away and you've got to slow down to about 15mph. Once in the park there's a 14 mile or so loop around the entire refuge. The Spanish explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda hit this area around 1519 and it looks probably much like it did then, but look across the bay and it's 2011 with South Padre Island on the horizon's view. The refuge is mostly dense brush which serves as habitat to a large number of wildlife. Road signs warn of crossing wildlife, but none in sight on a late afternoon except for an exceptional view of birds both on and off shore. If you don't like big crowds this a perfect place to visit. Here's the LANWR website:
http://southwest.fws.gov/refuges/texas/STRC/laguna/Index_Laguna.html
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| Laguna tower and bikes! |
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| SPI in the distance directly across the bay. |
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| Sunset on the West side of Refuge. |
From the scenic overview tower South Padre Island is visible across the bay. As a matter of fact you can see Port Isabel, the causeway, and SPI. It's a spectacular view and judging from the little traffic it's a view few people get to see. Ed Ramirez, Tomas Perez and I rode together and stayed through sunset before heading back home.
