On Sunday, December 3, 2023, I rode my Surly Long Haul Trucker bicycle at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, located south of Alamo, Hidalgo County, Texas. Cultivated fields, the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and the Rio Grande border the 2,088-acre refuge.
Birders enjoy Santa Ana because of its location on two major bird migratory routes. The refuge has about 12 miles of walking trails through thornscrub forest with bird blinds situated near bodies of water, and an additional, mostly paved, seven-mile loop, Wildlife Drive. The northern-most mile of the seven follows the caliche surface of a levee.
Cycling is permitted on Wildlife Drive as well as on Bobcat Trail, a caliche road of about a mile that connects the east and west portions of the loop. Wildlife Drive offers excellent opportunities to see various species of birds, armadillos, coyotes, bobcats, javelina and other animals.
The route is an easy ride, almost all asphalt and with few elevation changes which occur at the levee access points.
On this chilly, overcast morning with little wind, I rode out of the Santa Ana NWR parking lot and pedaled south over the levee and into the heart of the refuge. At about a half mile an observation tower rises above the canopy of trees. Beside it is suspended a rope suspension foot bridge between two towers accessible by spiral staircases.
Wildlife Drive continues south another half mile to Bobcat Trail, a caliche road that runs west two thirds of a mile and intersects Wildlife Drive near Cattail Lakes on the western side of the refuge.
Another half mile south of Bobcat Trail is an old cemetery and Owl Trail. A quarter mile more is Vireo Trail, where there is a bike rack. Vireo Trail runs a mile south of Wildlife Drive to the Rio Grande.
At the intersection of Vireo Trail, Wildlife Drive meanders west past Resaca Loop Trail and Jaguarundi Trail for three-quarters of a mile where it bends northwest.
Approximately three miles from the Visitors Center, Wildlife Drive passes Mesquite Trail, which is about 350 feet from the Rio Grande. Just past Mesquite Trail, Wildlife Drive turns northward for a half mile beside a cultivated field and then veers east, south and north again, passing Oriole Trail, Cattail Lake Trail, and Bobcat Trail.
From Bobcat Trail, Wildlife Drive twists northward to the levee and then east along the caliche surface of the levee back to the starting point.
Just north of the parking lot is a winding, concrete sidewalk that runs between the Santa Ana NWR access road, Green Jay Road, and a pond. The only trails designated for bikes are Wildlife Drive and Bobcat Trail.
During my ride I saw javelinas, a Texas Indigo Snake and many birds such as Green Jays, Northern Cardinals, a White-tailed Hawk, Harris’s Hawk, an American Kestrel, and others.
