This is the best place to find shells in Texas – but you can’t drive there

This is the best place to find shells in Texas – but you can’t drive there

shelling in Texas

I found this handful of shells on a beach near Matagorda Bay Nature Park. I think it’s the best place to find shells in Texas. Pam LeBlanc photo

I discovered the best place to find shells in Texas, but you can’t get there by car.

To reach the stretch of Matagorda Beach where I found handfuls of lightning whelks and lettered olive shells, you’ll have to either paddle across the Colorado River, where it opens into the Gulf of Mexico, or hop on a motorboat. Either way, it’s a short ride from Matagorda Bay Nature Park, an 1,100-acre parcel of parkland operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority just across the way.

I used a rental kayak from the park to paddle across the river to the opposite shoreline, then hiked through some thick underbrush and along the big granite chunks that make up the jetty to get to the deserted beach.

best place to find shells in Texas

Stacy Zahn uses an old mop to check for snakes while hiking to the best place to find shells in Texas. Pam LeBlanc photo

If you make the trip, stay on the beach. The land adjacent is privately owned, and you’ll be trespassing if you wander beyond the sand. Besides, if you’re looking for shells, you’ll want to stay near the water anyway.

Shell-hunting tips

The best time to find shells is before or after low tide, or after a storm. When you walk along the shoreline, look for the line of debris that marks the most recent high tide. That’s where the newest shells are deposited.

When you’re hunting, be sure to walk a little higher on the beach. That’s where you can sometimes find larger shells. And before you head back across the river, look in the heaps of shells piled along the jetty. I’ve found treasures there, too.

Related: Scalloping along Florida’s Sports Coast

I found dozens of lightning whelks, the state shell of Texas, in that zone. Lightning whelks are large, predatory sea snails, and if you hold the shell in front of you, the tail end down, you’ll notice it opens on the left. Other species open on the right. Lightning whelks can grow as large as 15 inches, and you can see a big one found on Matagorda Beach on display at the visitors center at Matagorda Bay Nature Park.

Many of the ones I found were broken, so I left them behind. I found a trio that measured about 5 or 6 inches long that I deemed worth keeping, though.

Other beach treasures

I also found a few lettered olive shells, cylindrical-shaped shells about 2 inches long that look like they’ve been lacquered they’re so shiny.

Thick, palm-sized shells called quahogs are common, as are scallop shells, which come in a range of colors, from red or orange to green and gray. Giant Atlantic cockles are ridged, like Ruffles potato chips; oyster shells are everywhere, and sharp enough to cut your feet if you step on them.

best place to find shells in Texas

Chris LeBlanc paddles a kayak across the river to go beach combing. Pam LeBlanc photo

I was hoping to find sand dollars but didn’t find any here. (I’ve found them along the beach at the cut between North and South Padre Island, farther south from Matagorda.)

When you’re hunting, be sure to walk a little higher on the

Take three for the sea

One last tip.

Please bring a trash bag and pick up a few pieces of trash. (My motto is Three for the Sea.) Nobody patrols this stretch of beach, and litter washes up every day. If we all do our part, we can keep it relatively clean.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

Abandoned shade canopies are trashing Texas beaches

Abandoned shade canopies are trashing Texas beaches

discarded shade canopies

Abandoned shade canopies litter the Port Aransas Beach on July 5, 2022. Jason Jones photo

The flurry of photos started arriving yesterday morning – shot after shot of what looked like giant metal crabs, their spindly legs bent into unnatural positions.

Hundreds of them lay mangled and abandoned on the sandy beach near Port Aransas, a day after the Fourth of July weekend.

shade canopies

The abandoned shade canopies look like giant metal crabs. Jason Jones photo

“I’ve already seen two dozen of these shade structures littering the beach,” my friend Jason Jones texted, his anger palpable through the text messages he kept sending me. “They’re everywhere.”

A few minutes later, more photos arrived, each one showing more invasive metal crabs.

“They really do need to ban those things,” he wrote. “They’re not made to be disposable.”

Shade canopies are cheap

Every Walmart and Academy sells them. The cheapest ones cost $40 or $50. In today’s world, they’re disposable.

abandoned shade canopies

Some of the abandoned shade canopies are mangled, others were just left behind. Jason Jones photo

Jones told me he quit counting after spotting 300 of the flimsy structures discarded on the beach between the first two access points. A crew in a pickup truck was gathering as many as they could, but they would be quickly overwhelmed.

“It’s everything from broken ones to ones that are still set up,” Jones told me this morning. “They just leave them. Man, it’s horrible.”

Related: Trash is piiling up on Texas beaches – please help clean it up

It’s part of a broader problem. I don’t understand people who leave garbage at the beach. Don’t they go to the ocean because it’s pretty? Who wants to sit next to a pile of plastic bottles, snack wrappers, wrecked beach toys, or shade canopies?

Help keep beaches clean

According to the Port Aransas Adopt-a-Beach website, thousands of pounds of trash are removed from area beaches each year. Some of the refuse washes in from offshore, but most is left by beachgoers, the website says.

That’s why the city has installed trashcans and dispensers where you can pick up reusable mesh litterbags at nearly 20 beach locations.

shade canopies

Some of the abandoned shade canopies were dragged to trash cans, others were not. Jason Jones photo

Please, when you go to the beach, limit what you bring. Take your trash with you when you leave. Better yet, pick up some of what other folks have left behind, too. (Remember the motto Take Three for the Sea.)
And please – think about what you buy. Do you really need that shade structure if you’re only going to use it once? Maybe we can get along with less. That’ll mean a more beautiful planet for the next generation.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

When in Lubbock, visit Prairie Dog Town

When in Lubbock, visit Prairie Dog Town

prairie dog village

Hundreds of black-tailed prairie dogs live at Prairie Dog Town in Lubbock. Pam LeBlanc photo

If you decide to visit Prairie Dog Town in Lubbock – and you should – bring carrot sticks or sweet potato chunks, and a camera with a long lens.

The black-tailed prairie dogs that live in the park are always up for a snack, but vegetables are better than the junk food that some visitors toss their way. Also, the critters are most active at dawn and dusk, so time your visit to the park, just off Interstate 27 near Parkway Drive accordingly.

Kennedy N. Clapp established the town in the early 1930s, with just four prairie dogs. They’ve flourished.

Drop by today and you’ll be rewarded with easy views of chubby little dogs popping up out of what looks like tiny dirt volcanoes that stretch across a field. You’ll also find a pavilion, explanatory signage, and sidewalks.

Black-tailed prairie dogs were once found across West Texas, but by 1994, 98 percent of their population was lost. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, fewer than 8 million remain in Texas, but the population is relatively stable.

prairie dog town

Prairie dogs are closely related to ground squirrels. Pam LeBlanc photo

They live in an elaborate network of burrows and tunnels, with special rooms for nurseries, food storage, toilet facilities and more. In the wild, a prairie dog lives 4 or 5 years, and females typically produce litters of three to five pups, once a year.

They’re very social, which makes them fun to observe. They stretch, “kiss,” stand guard, and groom one another. They’re about the size of a papaya, if it had brownish-yellow fur, legs, and a short tail.

Prairie dogs are not dogs, by the way. They’re more closely related to ground squirrels – only stouter. They were named for their barking calls.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

“Vanishing Postcards” podcast tells the stories of Texas

“Vanishing Postcards” podcast tells the stories of Texas

Evan Sterns drove 1,500 miles around Texas recording stories and creating 15 episodes of the “Vanishing Texas” podcast. Photo courtesy Evan Stern

Here in Texas, we love a good story, especially when it’s told in the scratchy voice or thick accent of someone who loves this larger-than-life state as much as we do.

The bartender at Dry Creek Café that overlooks Lake Austin, for example. An old-time conjunto musician in South Texas. Or the clerk behind the counter of one of those old country stores, where you can buy a can of Lone Star or a pickled egg from a glass jar.

“If there’s one thing I know it’s that Texas people love to talk and they’re good storytellers,” says Evan Stern, 39who grew up in Austin, pursued a career in acting and now lives in New York. His new podcast, “Vanishing Postcards,” debuts on April 8.

Evan Stern’s “Vanishing Postcards” podcasts launches on April 8. Photo courtesy Evan Stern

Stern describes the program as a travelogue in which listeners join him on a road trip to explore hidden dives and historic places.

“The idea of the show is I’m going around to places that don’t often make the pages of glossy magazines or brochures but are reflective of broader cultural histories,” Stern says.

He covered 1,500 miles in his car, visiting places like the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame in San Benito, peach orchards in Fredericksburg, and dance halls, BBQ joints and country stores as he crafted 15 episodes, each about 25 minutes long. Dial one up and you’ll hear old-timers and local characters who describe the kind of Texas places that are slowly disappearing from our landscape.

“As horrible as the pandemic has been, it opened up the door for me to dedicate energy to this endeavor,” Stern says. “New Yorkers are great story tellers and they love to talk, but they’re incredibly pressed for time. It’s much easier to approach and talk to people here than it is there.”

Watch a trailer for the podcast here.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vanishing-postcards/id1544610020

 

 

 

To subscribe to “Vanishing Postcards,” go to:

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vanishing-postcards/id1544610020

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1Clt64mFbYfmYAauWWTgtm?si=CwovImKQRIKRigPIcgP6aQ

Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80MmZiNDc4NC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==

 

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

Wonder what Pam packs in her backpack for a night on the trail?

Wonder what Pam packs in her backpack for a night on the trail?

Pam LeBlanc’s backpack and contents for an overnight trip at Lake Somerville this week. Pam LeBlanc photo

Wonder what I stuff in my backpack before hitting the trail?

I unpacked my gear after a short overnight stay at a primitive site in the Nails Creek Unit at Lake Somerville State Park.

Here’s what I carried, starting at the top left and going by rows:

  1. Baseball cap
  2. Buff (borrowed from Joe)
  3. Sandals to wear in camp
  4. PJ pants and long-sleeved shirt
  5. Tent in orange bag (Big Agnes Copper Spur II)
  6. Gas, tiny campstove and pot for boiling water
  7. Osprey backpack
  8. Sleeping bag in black stuff sack
  9. Foam cushion for sitting
  10. Inflatable sleeping pad (Sea to Summit Etherlight XT)
  11. First aid kit
  12. Water bottle
  13. Platypus bag with water (on longer trips I bring a water filter system)
  14. Cosmetics bag with glasses, sunscreen, toothpaste and toothbrush
  15. Headlamp
  16. Sunglasses
  17. Ditty bag filled with snacks to clip around waist
  18. Freeze-dried meals (Austin-based PackIt Gourmet are my favorite)
  19. Titanium spoon

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam