Standing Tall

— About a year and a half ago, I visited Martin Dies, Jr. SP for the first time. Having watched the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department TV shows on a regular basis, I thought I knew what to expect. I guess it’s best not to have unreasonable expectations. Located in the Texas Piney Woods area of the state, this park proved to be a lot more scenic than I had anticipated based on those TV shows. My friends and I had a cabin and a couple of screen shelters by the Steinhager Reservoir. Not many people were at the park at that time (it was October 2018). Other than some early noise by a boat doing weed treatment on the lake, the place was very tranquil. Hiking, biking, and kayaking took up most of our daily activities. At the end of the day, we would go to an observation deck to admire the sunset. This was one of those afternoons. We did see some alligator down in the water, but it vanished. Then we were left with this beautiful lonely cypress and sunset to close our day. I do plan on going back to that park again and explore more of it as well as surrounding areas.