The light is softening; the sun seems heavier. It was given to her by Allen Plaster, who snapped it in October 1969 at 1:15 a.m. near Greer Island. Enjoy this 7.3-mile out-and-back trail near Wilmer, Texas. In the lower Rio Grande Valley, where 95 percent of the areas native habitat has been eroded over the past two centuries by agriculture and development, the 2,088-acre Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge represents one of the last untamed corners of South Texas. Theres a mix of primitive upland, hunting, and fishing camps and three hundred miles of unpaved jeep roads that beckon serious two- and four-wheeled explorers. kayak), and not needing a ramp will likely find Sunset Park (0.8 miles to the island) or Camp Joy Park (0.9 miles to the island) as being good launch locations. Torn between my thirst and the view, I was mightily relieved when a few fluffy white clouds blew in, a brief spot of shade in this Sahara. I did secretly hope to spot a mountain lionthough, if I was being honest, preferably from the safety of my car. A fishing and boating paradise. Facebook seemed a distant memory. Canoes rent for $50 for the first 24 hours, $45 for each additional day; shuttle services range from $110 to $255. The river slows and widens, changing from the active green of the San Marcos to the sluggish brown of the Guadalupe, and the course becomes an unrelenting slog. Others, like Ottine Dam, require tramping through weeds on sodden cow paths, occasionally working under barbed-wire fences or through somebodys front yard. We could shortcut, I tell Kirby and Cade, leave the trail and go through the middle of the wilderness, but itll be mucky. Then I put the rope harness on and tow the boat while swimming. Lake Worth is located at 3248?39?N 9725?57?W / 32.81083N 97.4325W / 32.81083; -97.4325 (32.810916, -97 . To some hobbyists, it's proof that our "Goat-Man" of legend was Texas' own Bigfoot. Mature trees offer shade, and step-like layers of rock make it easy to get. From the air, you can imagine the volcanic eruptions and roiling tectonic plates that created those formations, as well as appreciate the expanses that prehistoric people had to cover to reach safety. Nor is it difficult to conjure that fateful morning in September 1874, when, just a few miles southeast of us, a column of blue-uniformed soldiers under the command of Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie made its way silently down the canyons steep walls and attacked a large Indian camp. White Settlement, TX (2.6 mi.) In 1958, the park board worked out a preliminary agreement with a concessioner at Casino Beach to provide boat rides to the island with the park department to receive ten per cent of the receipts. Cade and I continue to think he is merely out of shape, just more so than I would ever have guessed a person his age could be. There are corners like the Devils River or Palo Duro Canyon or McKittrick Ridge, which, despite human footprints, remain savagewhere you are at the undeniable mercy of weather and wildlife, and where no amount of book-learning or web-surfing (um, not that theres Wi-Fi out there) can spare you from trouble. Here, in the company of wild turkeys and roadrunners, we can practically see the ghosts of the last free Native Americans as they take refuge from the white men theyre warring againstcarrying water over the clay soil, stockpiling supplies in caves, building their lodges. He paused to release a red-winged blackbird that had mistakenly been caught, then turned his attention back to trapping cowbirds. But It was a party, what the hell, lets go.. Our only real challenge took place the following evening, after our second day in triple-digit heat, when a killer desert wind struck up during dinner prep. Doug and I exchange a look. Mar 21 - Mar 22. I took their advice and made another short day hike, tracking jackrabbits and roadrunners amid the desert scrub, delighted by the subtle and small flowers that seemed to be in bloom wherever I looked. We finished the trip elated, as if wed shared in the riches of King himself. Before long, we see a two-man aluminum canoe coasting toward us, headed the wrong way, and the sternman calls out to me. Loading That was a prank. Services from rental manager . 936-344-6205.). As if this werent enough, when you drop your altitude to, say, five hundred feet above the canyon floor, you see something else: vestiges of prehistoric life. For his part, though, Plaster isn't talking anymore. I will do whatever they want; they will do whatever I want. ), It took an arid two-hour drive from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park headquarters, but as we finally pulled into Dog Canyon one April morning, its exquisitely alien splendor left us speechless: the whispering pines, the quartz-specked rocks in a dry creek bed, the broad-tailed hummingbirds, the fields of bear grass dotted with sotol and yucca. They are a kid-friendly, non-smoking, pet-free zone. Browse Goat Island, TX webcams and beach cams, enjoy live views of the beaches, surf conditions, current weather, beach crowds, and more. Sipping gritty coffee the next morning, I heard their braying again, and it sounded like laughter. These soils are often found on footslopes and backslopes of ridges. But you have to know what that way is. December 11th 2007 Fort Worth Council Meeting to Dredge Lake Worth - Channel 11 News Reporting, December 11, 2007 Fort Worth Council Meeting to Dredge Lake Worth - Channel 8 News Reporting, August 2007 Barnett Shale Revenue Committee Meeting to Dredge Lake Worth - Channel 11 News Reporting, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Worth, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Worth_(Texas)&oldid=1106875878, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox body of water without alt, Articles using infobox body of water without image bathymetry, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017, Articles with dead external links from November 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 August 2022, at 22:56. There was a time, maybe only a generation or two ago, when that was how we thought of ourselves as Texans. We walk slowly, not like the high school kids we were, but like old gentlemen somehow lost. When I visited, on a cool, foggy morning, the speckled racer never showed, but there were bright-green jays at the feeders, long-billed thrashers in the underbrush, and the Lower Rio Grande Valleys signature chacha-lacas squawking like feral chickens in the branches. From the rough waters of the Devils River and the eerie bayous of Caddo Lake to rugged Palo Duro and the Rio Grande jungle, here are eighteen places that will reconnect you with our world at its wildest. Catalog of wildlife observed: alligator gar23, including the one that jumps in my lap and vomits his dinner (large moths, a few still alive); alligators12 or more, hard to say; river houses made of shipping containers8, a couple of them architecturally interesting; gun aficionados on the bank3, including somebody going full-auto; spiderslegion. I knew the Goatman stories had to be just stories. You can venture into this forest along twelve miles of walking trails, as I did recently when I hiked south on the Jaguarundi Trail until the traffic noise from U.S. 281 faded into the background. My muscles are tight like piano wires, and everything aches, but I am refreshed. Numerous local outfitters provide equipment rental and guide services; we used Desert Sports, in nearby Terlingua (888-989-6900). When the grind of modern lifeendless emails, Facebook rants, that wretched construction on I-35gets to be too much, there is but one remedy: to get out and revel in the most uncivilized corners of Texas. durning the war generals and upper officers stayed there, they entered and exited through the tunnel. As we haul the boat up the thirty-foot bank, the deep, viscous mud rips the sandals off our feet. The wind is blowing hard from the south, meaning well have to go the last five miles upwind on the open bay, fighting whitecaps the whole way to Seadrift. As we descended into McKittrick Canyon, picking our way down a steep scree slope, we felt this raw splendor all around us. Ive reached some kind of primordial frame of mind where it is all just instinct, all. At every rest stop, he and Cade drink water; my four airplane sample bottles are drained quickly, long before we reach the halfway point of the loop. The loop bends out of the wilderness, travels through some nicely managed big pinesKirby spies another skink, and again, I miss itand we pass now through a stretch of cutover woods. At the lunchtime banquet, I eat three plates of fried seafood and the best beans Ive ever had in my life. font-size: 1em; Interests: History, Historic Preservation, Art, Antiques. That month, a Goat-Man emerged at the Fort Worth Nature Center and started attacking cars and throwing tires. The best viewing areas for spectators are the Aquarena Center, in San Marcos, where competitors launch into the water; the first major portage, at Rio Vista Dam, where the gutsiest racers run the dangerous spillways; and the Cottonseed Rapids, on the San Marcos River, whose rocky stretches end up wrecking many boats. Getting There:From McAllen, travel east on U.S. 83 to FM 907. Vaughn kicks my foot half an hour later. This trail is great for birding, fishing, and hiking, and it's . What if we had seven more days, or ten, or even twenty? Later, as barred owls coo to each other from the banks, I stare into the water and see a boyno more than ten years old, shirtless, his skin milky white in the moonlightstanding on the bottom of the river, aiming a crossbow directly at me. View animal, plant and insect species observed at Goat Island and make some of your own observations through iNaturalist. A bearded guy hollers something into a bullhorn, and we are moving, trying to keep our position as we haul the canoe to the water. border-radius: 5px; Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Four other writersRick Bass, Matt Bondurant, S.C. Gwynne, and Kate Murphyeach endeavored to wander into the wild in some fashion as well. We reach Palmetto State Park, the third checkpoint, sixty miles in, where Mari-Vaughn expresses concern for our innards. How these things end. I grabbed my rod and within a few casts had caught my first crappie. To learn more about accessibility accommodations available from the City of Fort Worth, visit the Accessibility page. Goat Island is an island on Lake Worth in Texas. For decades, stories of the Lake Worth Goatman or the Greer Island Goatman have captivated those fascinated by such mythical beasts. $127. Fort Worth, Texas 76135. (A note to the anxious: yes, the indigo snake reaches up to eight feet in length, but it is nonvenomous andbonuspreys on rattlesnakes.) Cade and I sit next to him like hounds and shoo the mosquitoes away and watch him, willing him to get better. And with spotty cell service throughout the park, its not like help is readily available. .connected button:hover, .connected button:focus { After about half an hourblue twilight nowKirby rises, unsteadily, and we resume our long creep through the darkened forest. Another. Hundreds of amateur trackers descended on the area with all manner of Remingtons, Brownings and Colts. You will also be intimidated. Despite the foam padding on the side rails, my knees and calves are already purpled with bruises. In a kind of hysterical state, Doug and I decide to scale the cliffs. After all, no one owns the sky. It is some sixty miles long and averages six miles in width. We place third in our class and forty-second overall. North of Galveston Harbor, Pelican Island is an ideal spot for seasonal festivals, fishing, bird watching, beaches, art and history museums. Here I am. Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. I do not care. The locals enjoy keeping to themselves and living their own best lives. The Lake Worth Monster, aka Goat-Man (not to be confused with the Goatman of West Texas), hasn't been seen regularly at the Fort Worth Nature Center since a very memorable summer 40 years ago when all of Texas seemed to buzz with the news that a hairy, scaly 7-foot man-goat-beast was terrorizing the good citizens of Tarrant County. They helped fuel munitions manufacturing for the U.S. military, but near the end of World War II, the American quicksilver industry collapsed, and so did the mines operations. It can swim, climb trees and eats fish and chickens. I have scraped bottom, dug deeper, and found more room. (Open 95 daily, free. When he sees my look of concern, he smiles, straightens up, and pushes forward, as if embarrassed for my having witnessed his discomfort. As I contemplated the more than forty miles of multiple-use trails that crisscross the limestone-pocked Hill Country SNA, I was not about to admit defeatat least not before trying my luck on a few of the more measly slopes. The eighteen-mile chasm runs more than twice the length of Santa Elena, while its waters take you beyond the parks eastern limit, cutting through the Dead Horse Mountains as they pick up volume. Most relevant alligator sighting. In the darkness we hear a team just behind us, a man and a woman dragging their canoe. They were. Niagara Falls, NY 14303. I saw this wildlifeand moreas I camped by the clear, cool waters of Independence Creek, but the real showstopper was Caroline Spring, whose five thousand gallons per minute feed the creek and recharge the Pecos River below. Kirby naps. After putting in, I paddled downstream about half a mile to Dolan Falls, where I stopped to clamber across some rocks and spotted a few bass suspended in the cascading current. I felt the impulse to double-check where I was. The owner of a kennel near Lake Worth has also said that he lost a macaque monkey that summer and that perhaps the primate was responsible. The second day has the longest and most uneventful sections of the race, from Gonzales to Hochheim to Cheapside to Cuero. font-size: 1.25em; We reach the coast at daybreak. Terry Deckard, a reporter, wrote an article about it in the newspaper, which made the front page. In Canyon, dont hesitate to visit the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum for further insight into the people of the plains (2503 Fourth Avenue, 806-651-2244). A red-tailed hawk circles overhead. Recommended. Suddenly, a large, clawed branch rakes the length of the boat, ripping our lighting off its mount. } [1] [2] The creature is often described as a "part- man, part- goat " with scales and long clawed fingers. From Beaumont, travel 30 miles north on U.S. 69/287, past Kountze, and turn off at FM 420; the center will be on your left. Its a damn ugly spot, he snorted, hitching his pants over a prodigious gut. The canoe is in our same boat class. Copyright 2023 HTL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ", Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. The Fort Worth Zoo designated Goat Island as monarch habitat and planted zizotes milkweed in the grassy, open areas. After the Indians left for Oklahoma reservations, cattleman Charles Goodnight laid claim to the canyon, this time to raise his vast cattle herds. My God, how did so much time tumble past? The day is warming. Located just east of Big Bend National Park, this sprawling 103,000-acre preserve, which includes a federally protected stretch of the Rio Grande, has served as a game research facility since it was founded, in 1948. Miraculously, he has landed on a log in a sitting position, just inches away from the nest of tree roots, which would have skewered him like an action-film villain. It can swim, climb trees and eats fish and chickens. Hes not uncomfortablenot yethes just not had a lot of practice walking so far in a place hes never been before. Its like a James Michener novel, where you have a really interesting, long narrative, starting with volcanic upheaval millions of years ago followed by all the trials and tribulations of subsequent generations, says Samuel Cason, the archaeologist who oversees the project. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. "Looking back, I realize that when we drove by, it stood up," he was quoted as saying in the Star-Telegram. Localities Sansom Park Village, 4 miles east Castle Hill Estate Hamlet, 5 miles northwest Would they have been terrified? Example video title will go here for this video. Some said it was a satyr. I urge us down the trail. Mapcarta, the open map. Getting There:From U.S. 77 in Brownsville, exit east onto International Boulevard. Camping is $8 a night; backcountry permits, required for camping, are free. I dont shake off this bit of road-husk until we take our first break, sitting on a big fallen log. My phones silence had been blissful. The thought of such dangers can make you feel far less intrepid, safe in your cockpit with GPS guiding you back over the rim of the canyon, over the mountain peaks and into the clouds. He became a believer and started the Texas Bigfoot Research Center in 1999 to study and educate people about the elusive creature. The first third of the race will take us down the clear green depths of the San Marcos River, whose banks are lush with water hyacinth, sedges, and mosquito ferns and shaded by towering bald cypress, pecan, and live oak. Neill meant business. Youll have to look on the Bolivar Peninsula and in Galveston. Of limestone escarpments and Spanish oaks and Indian paintbrush? Just saying. Everyone, including a group of sheriffs deputies, ran away in fear. Get in touch with nature on Goat Island while gaining access to Cave of the Winds, Top of the Falls Restaurant, Three Sisters Island, Terrapin Point, Luna Island and the Niagara Rapids! This 3-star hotel is located on the southern side of Galveston and is only a quick ferry ride away from either Goat Island or the Bolivar Peninsula. Ninety-two percent of the states land is, in fact, privately owned, which means that some of our most scenic spots are hidden from view. He declined an interview request. WFAA Investigation into the Lake Worth Monster 6,674 views Feb 10, 2018 82 Dislike Share Save SMU Jones Film 7.7K subscribers Back in July of 1969, a terror swept through parts of Fort Worth: a. We pull over so that Doug can do some repair work with a Leatherman and a handful of zip ties, while I swat mosquitoes and curse the darkness. We would be on our own. Maybe you want something a little less steep. The ranger spoke in a neutral tone, but her words sounded like a challenge. "She never got a call.". In the three and a half years since Seth Patterson began managing the Sabal Palm Sanctuary, he has received regular phone calls from would-be visitors wondering where Mexico begins. This browser is no longer supported. The canyon looks wild and pristine in the early morning, and in the absence of any other hikers we barely have to imagine the old days at all: they are right in front of us. Both her descriptions and the photo show a large white something, though it doesn't seem to favor a goat at all. We decide to follow a seven-mile trail known, according to our map, as the South Wilderness Loop. Catalog of wildlife observed: snakes6, none venomous; turtles60; herons, egrets, and craneshundreds; children with second-degree sunburnsa bakers dozen; floating beer cans36, an alarming number of them full, Keystone Light the favorite. Were not seeing much deer sign at allthe forest is too old, wonderfully old, so that the dense canopy screens out much of the sun and prevents the photosynthetic transfer of energy into low-lying forbs, on which the deer could feed. The Lake Worth Monster lives on in a grainy 1969 photo. Though most of it is private landincluding part of the still prosperous JA Ranchthe 28,000 acres that make up Palo Duro Canyon State Park are the most breathtaking, an abrupt, uneven landscape made all the more dramatic by the strata of rocks that vary crazily in hue: the bright reds of the Quartermaster shale, the yellow and lavender mudstones, the sculpted sandstone that has been stained over millions of years by iron oxides. "Whatever it was, it wanted to be seen. Plaster, interviewed in 2006, said he doesn't buy the monster story now. Beginning in the early 1900s, the mines workers smelted the reddish cinnabar ore that stains the base of Mariscal Mountain, producing 42 tons of mercury over four decades. This funding problem ended in the mid-2000s, when it became technologically feasible to access natural gas of the Barnett Shale, which partially lies underneath the lake. A day earlier, I had set out to explore River Road, an unpaved route of almost 51 miles that cuts across the parks remote southern backcountry. There are volcanic rocks arranged in almost perfect circles atop mesasthe remnants of primitive dwellingsand recesses in the sides of the cliffs that represent Texass first high-rise apartments. A fierce rush of anger overwhelms me. For all my training and education, Ive learned to follow their lead., In the years since the digs began, the ranchers and archaeologists have hit upon human remains, pottery, arrowheads, cooking implements, and more petroglyphs, as well as rock art thats reminiscent of cave paintings in France and North Africa. A few miles south of Victoria, about 235 miles into the race, we hit a series of permanent logjams at about midnight. "The goatman turns 55 this summer and resides a peaceful life in the hills outside of Joshua." It is entirely . I think its more likely the graffiti of prehistoric juvenile delinquents, he says. Goat Island 4.5 349 reviews #5 of 49 things to do in Niagara Falls State Parks Points of Interest & Landmarks Scenic Walking Areas Open now 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM Visit website Write a review About Suggested duration More than 3 hours Suggest edits to improve what we show. Reporter Jim Marrs followed up on the story and wrote an article, which made front-page news. Im still lost in my busy brain, remembering the Forest Service lady who resisted our going into this nasty wilderness. Or maybe he was a lake serpent ( a 1947 sighting nearby ), or the furry Bigfoot. It feels like were making about fifty feet an houras if were drilling down through stone, rather than gliding through the here and now. Clarke has always regretted the way she wrote her book, he said, because after she published it, she saw the monster on three occasions. Is he napping or is he dying? Thanks for the input and letting me know I'm not completely crazy. Lake Worth is a Texas city with a population of 4,618, according to a 2000 survey. He nods, and we get back in the canoe. Getting There: From Fort Stockton, travel 126 miles south on U.S. 385, through Marathon, until you reach Big Bend National Park headquarters. Around every bend there are families camped out in the shallows, chairs and sunshades in the water. If this is to be a last day, it has been a good one. You can stay overnight at Chinati Hot Springs, owned by Fort and frequented by archaeologists; be nice to the manager, Dianna Burbach, and she might take you on a hike to look for arrowheads (432-229-4165, chinatihotsprings.net). No doubt. Where in Texas is "Goat Island"? The Nature Center is holding its own monster revival celebration Oct. 3, a date selected for the temperate Texas autumn rather than any connection to the events of 1969. The river looks the same around every bend, as if we arent going anywhere. Then, about the time school resumed, perhaps not coincidentally, the Lake Worth Monster furor largely disappeared. I gesture around the point, tell him it is a couple of miles east. But now I dont know how much more space there is. 409-951-6700.) "Somebody will say, 'I remember when that happened.'" We drag the boat through poison oak, thorn bushes, and fire ant mounds, finally sliding into the water on the other side, exhausted. (Open 85 daily, $6 day use. It's pretty typical in every sense of the word except one - it had the most incredible recorded monster sighting hecklersprayhas come across in ages. Strange as it was to find a conservationist snaring birds like this, Neill had a simple explanation: managing the cowbird population improves the reproductive rates of songbirds on the property, including those of the black-capped vireo, a shy and elusive federally protected species. But on my last leg the following day, I thought of the aoudad and how quickly it had vanished before my eyes, eager to stay out of sight. At one such portage, Kirby can go no farther. But he had no interest in naming more names or publicly taking credit or blame. He does not fall but kneels, like a football player on the sidelines with his helmet off, and stares into the forest. My wife and I are hiking along the floor of Palo Duro Canyon amid chinaberry and sotol and juniper, following a small, clear stream with the implausibly grand name of the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. We travel on. We make out some boat tracks and footprints to the right and decide to head to shore again. "Four units of Fort Worth police and the residents searched in vain for the thing, which was reported seen at Lake Worth, near Greer Island." From March 1 to August 31, access to Maravillas Canyon and the headquarters campground is restricted; during certain weekends the WMA is also reserved for public hunts. Though there are deer and bobcat in these parts (its one of the few areas where Ive encountered a live armadillo), that day I had the trail to myself, and soon I was huffing and puffing up the backside of Ice Cream Hill. My childhood home in the Houston suburbs, like those of so many others, chewed into the edges of this land back in the sixties. Weve been relieving ourselves into empty plastic bottles as we paddle, and sometime after noon, I fill a twelve-ounce container with something that looks like beef broth, a reddish-brown color that is clearly not right. After almost a mile, turn right onto Southmost Road (FM 1419) and continue for 6 miles, then turn right on Sabal Palm Road, passing through the border wall. Theres saw palmetto everywhere, reminding me of childhood Easter pageants in East Texas, where these were the fronds laid in church hallways for white-robed actors to walk across, scuffing and rattling. } .connected { Take a left onto FM 409 and go 2 miles to the WMA entrance. .connected p { I keep stabbing the paddle at the water and pulling. On the afternoon of July 10 that year, the Star-Telegram's front page carried a headline above the fold "Fishy Man-Goat Terrifies Couples Parked at Lake Worth."
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