A Short Ride at Laguna Atascosa National wildlife Refuge

A bobcat prowls along the edge of the dense, green thornscrub on the caliche shoulder of the worn asphalt road. I stop my bicycle, straddle it, slip my camera from its case, and push the power button. The sleek, spotted feline turns at the sound, leg muscles tense, spots me and leaps into the brush.

I return the camera to its case and resume my ride in the hot, humid morning air, the music of the wind, the glassy black water of the Laguna Madre on my right, and dense, thorny brush on my left, with its small leaves vibrating as they meet the gusts from offshore.

The air carries an odor of rotting shellfish from the muck on the shoreline during this low tide. Overhead fluffy gray-white clouds flow northward across a turquoise background. 

Ahead of me, on a loma to my left, stands an elevated observation deck, Renee’s Overlook, above the canopy of Tamaulipan thornscrub with its varied shades of green, like mixed dried herbs. 

I stop at a trailhead, lean my bicycle against a signpost, and follow the gravel trail up to the overlook (26.1792564820517, -97.29849707407696).

I climb the stairs to the deck, where, to the east, across the Laguna Madre and its spoil islands, South Padre Island stretches north to south, its buildings and the Queen Isabella Causeway accessing it visible to the southeast.

To the west of the deck is the expanse of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge with the rosemary and oregano greens of thornscrub interspersed with yucca and its knife-like leaves (also known as Spanish Dagger), vast coastal prairie where several alert Nilgai Antelope graze on shrubs and grasses, and wetland dotted with the whites of egrets, pinks of Roseate Spoonbills, and grays of Great Blue Herons. 

To the southwest, a quarter of a mile from the deck, is Laguna de los Patos, a shallow body of water with shore birds feeding along the bank.

I am riding my Surly bicycle counterclockwise on Steve Thompson Wildlife Drive, a 14.5-mile loop, a mostly paved road open to foot and bicycle traffic at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (LANWR), which covers an area of more than 110,000 acres in Cameron County, Texas. That is a greater area than Brownsville, Texas.

I return to my bike. My bike computer indicates that I’m more than eight miles from the Visitor’s Center. I continue riding north along the shoreline of the Laguna
Madre with thornscrub to my left, and gusty wind crossing me from the right. 

A Northern Cardinal sings from its perch atop a yucca that rises above the brush. A pair of Crested Caracaras scan the area from their perch on yucca by the shore. A Great Blue Heron, thigh-deep in the water, calls with a loud croak as it spreads its broad wings, flaps, lifts off from the water and flies farther from the shore. 

A few White-tailed Deer feed near the water’s edge. Alerted of my approach by the call of the heron, they spook, dash across the road ahead of me and blend into the brush.

A half mile from the overlook, I leave the thornscrub on my left for coastal prairie. Eastern Meadowlarks fly from the roadside to call from shrubs, their yellow throats pronounced in the sun. 

An Osprey, brown, its white frontal feathers blowing in the wind, with a partially eaten speckled sea trout almost as long as itself, takes flight and lumbers along the shore and lands on a piece of driftwood. As I get nearer, it launches again into a short, encumbering flight to land on the branch of a dead mangrove. It lifts off a third time for a short hop as I pass and leave it to its meal.

I imagine that the birds and mammals I have spooked during this ride see me as a predator, a killer, a destroyer of habitat. I am not directly, but certainly by association. 

My bicycle ride continues along Steve Thompson Wildlife Drive for four more miles until I reach the Visitor’s Center, my starting point. I purchase water in the Friends of Laguna Atascosa NWR Nature Store.

I consider this loop an easy ride. All but a mile is paved, although the pavement is old and broken in parts, as shown in the image. There are few mild elevation changes. The biggest challenge is the wind off the Laguna Madre.

I have walked this 14.5-mile loop and parts of it several times. Walking is rewarding, but not necessarily in the heat of the Deep South Texas Summer.

This post describes only a few miles of the loop. I will cover the rest of the loop as well as the many other trails to ride or hike at LANWR in other posts.

This is my first blog post. I intend it as an introduction to cycling and wildlife viewing at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

I will continue posting about LANWR and specific locations within it to cycle and hike, as well as the many other sites in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

If you find mistakes in this post or any of my posts, I will appreciate being informed.

Thank you.