The adventures I had in Texas were amazing, memorable to say the least. This was my first big camping trip, and it was exciting to say the least. Overall, I think my favorite place we visited on the trip was Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area, in Mason Texas. We had left Port O’Conner Texas and made the five-hour drive to Mason Texas where the wildlife management area (WMA) was at. When we got to Mason Mountain we met with Mark, who manages the WMA. Austin, who was working on a study on horned toads. We all sat around talking and hanging out, while we also saw a beautiful sunset from behind the lodge. We then went and set up our tents so we would be ready for the night. The ground at Mason was a lot dryer and tougher than on the coast. Once all our tents were set up, we went night herping, where we got to look for different snakes, lizards, frogs and many other things. We did find a Rattle Snake and that was hidden by some cactuses. Then while walking by a little pond we saw lots of bull frogs jumping around. It was amazing to see and hear them all jumping into the water when the light shined towards them. One of my favorite things from the first night at Mason Mountain was seeing all the different cactuses that were there and seeing some that had already bloomed.
The next morning, we got up and made our way up to the lodge where we met with Mark, Austin and other workers from the wildlife management area. Mark gave a presentation about the history of the WMA and what they do there. I found it interesting to hear about the history of the area and how there got to be exotics on the land. It was also interesting to hear about how they are managing the land now with the exotics on it. After Mark finished his presentation and answering questions, they gave us a tour around the area they manage. We started the tour by looking at the brown-headed cowbirds that they had caught because they are trying to lower their population because they are taking over native bird nests. We then saw another rattle snake close to the office. We went to an area where they have different quadrants where they are looking at what burning does to the land and how it can help in different areas. This was really interesting to me to see areas that were full of cactus that weren’t supposed to be there in that amount. Compared to areas that they had burned where cactuses still were there, but they were in fewer numbers. We saw huge rock formation that in places was questionable on how they were staying put because the only thing holding them was small rocks. We saw many different amazing cactuses, horse cripplers, hedgehog, and prickly pears. While on the tour we got to stop and track the Horned Toads. We found one adult and then also went and tracked a baby. I found it interesting to see how they tracked the toads as well as seeing the tracking devices on them. While on our tour we learned more about the history of the land and how they were managing different areas compared to other areas. We then saw Gemsbok, there were two adults and 4 babies in one area. These were really cool to see because they are unique animals and something that we definitely do not see in North Dakota. We also saw a baby gemsbok that Mark said was probably only a couple hours old, it was adorable! We saw scimitar oryx and wild hogs as well. We then ended the night hanging out at the lodge and talking with everyone. The next morning, we got up early and started packing up our tents so we could pack up the trailer and get ready to head to the next stop. One of my absolute favorite times here was watching the sunrise that morning from the porch of the lodge, it was stunning. Overall, I had an amazing trip to Texas and loved seeing the different ecosystems and wildlife on the way to Texas and back.
