Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

When Railroad companies retire sections of track, some extend their rights-of-way to public or private entities, which convert the corridor into recreational trails; considered by some to be long, narrow parks.

Journalism student, Cameron Dodd, hiked much of the 130 mile Northeast Texas Trail earlier this year. Once owned by Santa Fe Railroad, the trail – still in development – stretches from Farmersville, north of Dallas, to New Boston, just west of Texarkana.

07— There are parts of it that are overgrown, and parts of it that some landowners have blocked off; they were just kind of impassable.

Dodd traveled solo carrying a backpacked filled with camping gear and provisions…but company was never far.

10— I met a lot of nice people along the way. I took help when I needed it; wound up spending the night in a cabin of someone I met in Ladonia, and accepting some rides when the trail was impassable.

The trail took him through small towns and open vistas. And along the way, he picked up a traveling companion.

17 — Yeah, this dog showed up one night when I was heating up some beans in Ladonia; he didn’t have any tags on him, and nobody seemed to know whose dog it was, and he kept following me, so…next morning I was walking off to Wolf City, the next town. The dog just followed me, so I just kept him around; he was good company.

Cameron checked the dog for a microchip, and finding none, gave this dog a home. Cameron Dodd’s article on the Northeast Texas Trail appears in the October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

If you’re looking for a way to cap off your summer or kick off your fall, a fishing trip to the coast may satisfy that craving.

04— Fishing is phenomenal on the Texas coast in the late summer and early fall.

Bill Balboa is a fisheries biologist for the Galveston Bay system – a great place, he says, to cast a line.

18— It’s the largest estuary on the Texas coast, and we have a real diversity of fish species; they run anywhere from blue catfish, which are freshwater species – because there’s a lot of river flows into the bay – all the way to spotted sea trout, tarpon, red drum, black drum, and the other saltwater species you see farther down the coast. So, it’s a very diverse environment.

Here’s the best part: you’re not going to need a boat to get the most out of a fishing trip to the Texas coast.

17— Absolutely not. And that’s a really good point, because in the summertime and the early fall, there’s a lot of really good fishing all up and down the Texas coast – specifically on the beach. Prevailing winds that blow all spring and summer calm down a bit, and so the water along the beachfront improves, and the fishing is phenomenal.

Bill Balboa says fishing in the bays is like opening packages at Christmas – you never know what you’ll find. Everything you need to know to fish in Texas is at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.