Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

For years, I've driven past the sign for the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on my way to Port Aransas. Quite a few times, I've taken the scenic route home to Houston and stopped at the Goose Island State Park (which I highly recommend). This time however, finally.... we diverged towards the Refuge. It's a good drive through vast farm land. A beautiful drive indeed. God bless America. God bless Texas. We stopped at an impressive visitor center. The nicest lady volunteer was at the desk. She gave us a map and told us where all the good stuff was. Her knowledge would guide our way into this whole new world. The Refuge is incredible with much to see and experience. Behind the visitor center is a dock where you can view several alligators. Birds and turtles play around them.Down the road a bit is a trail that leads to an amazing 300 year old coastal Live Oak. There is also the song bird trail that is another must see. Another trail leads to a small lake and prairie where we saw deer, feral pigs, javelina, various ducks, herons, and egrets. There is a long, meandering trail through an ancient forest. Bring mosquito repellent. The seemingly never-ending trail is worth it as it takes you to the boardwalk and a pretty cool beach (unlike any beach I've seen in Texas) along San Antonio Bay. We saw Whooping Cranes!!!! We also saw Sandhills Cranes, Rosette Spoonbills, and tons of ducks, herons, egrets, songbirds, crabs, and a ton of oyster shells. From there, you can see the two towering platforms. The view from the tower is awesome. You must walk up the tower. There is another dock and boat ramp area where you can fish. Flounder, Speckled Trout, Redfish, and Black Drum abound.On the drive back to the visitor center, sure as the nice lady said - there were Bald Eagles in a big nest on top of a Live Oak. I'm probably forgetting a few things. All in all, it was about 5 hours well-spent. I look forward to returning one day with a better camera and some rods and reels.

Nice, friendly staff. Clean facilities. Beautiful view. Nice boardwalk to walk out and view initial area. The drive path is easy to navigate and allows lots of areas to stop and bird watch. Out of the way, but worth the stop if you are traveling between Corpus Christi and Houston.

We enjoyed the NWR, drove over from Goose Island State Park. First time in the area so everything is pretty new to us. Bug spray is crucial for comfort! Did 4 trails including the tower & boardwalk out to the water. Had to run to keep ahead of the mosquitoes & ran into an alligator on one path. Quick about face & speedy return. The tower is a wonderful opportunity to look down on the tree canopy & too high for the bugs. We saw the most wildlife on the little Jones lake boardwalk - roseate spoonbills, herons, egrets, ducks, killdeer, hawk, vultures, alligators & deer. The deer population seems abundant.

Holy mosquitoes! This place has lots of potential if you prepare yourself properly. Unfortunately, I did not and found myself completely swarmed by mosquitoes just steps past the turn on the Rail Trail. I'm not exaggerating, swarmed. So far I've found 13 bites on my left leg, 7 on my right leg, 4 on my right arm, 6 on my left arm, and 4 on my face. Learn from me and TAKE INSECT REPELLANT!!I saw lots of birds, a snake, a deer, and an alligator from the car, so that was nice. I would definitely try to go back again, just better prepared. The pier looks like a great fishing spot and I like that there are multiple super-short trails just off the road which are appropriate for people that might be a little more indoorsy.

Yay, whooping cranes!I'm amused at the reviews who "take off a star" for the mosquitos. Seriously, you want them to dump DDT over the whole place? That's what endangered so many birds in the first place.Now -- what you need to know: do not just try to do a quick drop-by. It takes forever to get to this place, and you really cannot see much from your car. If you only have a few minutes, you can certainly go to the observation tower and see the cranes, but it's a much richer experience if you have time to do the trails. Everything worth seeing is down a little trail -- no extensive hiking necessary, but I'd say allow 2-3 hours to really see it all.No services in the park, really. Take food, drink and snacks (although there are restrooms and water fountains). It's a wildlife refuge, not Disneyland.

This park is a complete let down. First of all, It takes several hours to get to. It is in the middle of nowhere and it is what it is ---- IT IS a REFUGE for whooping cranes and other wildlife. Don't expect anything more from it. REI does an annual trip here and I recommend coming with REI because if you come by yourself or a small family, you'd just end up wasting gas.Secondly, there is not much life here except the mosquitoes! This national park really needs to invest in some kind of mosquito control device. These mosquitoes are vicious and they are immune to bug repellent. They bite through your clothes. They are everywhere on the trails. It was nightmarish walking through the trails. After the first trail at the ranger station, a few of us gave up and sat in the car while the other foolish bunch explored other trails with more red bumps emerging on their body, face, and neck. LoL, talk about silliness. Avoid the 15 mile autotrail. There isn't anything to see, at least during early September. I figure we'd see some deers, wild boars, but there was nothing except the vultures. There is a nice restroom near the observation tower but it is badly ventilated and the smell was horrible. I had to pass on it. I was more inclined in finding a nearby tree.... There aren't any mirrors in the restroom to freshen up from the crazy wind stirring up your hair.Finally this park is badly funded and probably on the bottom of the list to receive funds. Many of the trails were closed and heavily overgrown with plants. After reading this and you are still persistent in visiting this park, then the best advice I can give you is to bring a hand held electric bug swatter for the mosquitoes. Wear thick long sleeve clothing including a hat. If you came in several cars then park the other car and merge everyone into one vehicle at the ranger station to save money for the entrance fee.The first stop you need to visit is the ranger station. This is where you get all your useful information and handouts. It is nice and cool inside. The rangers are very friendly even the heavily padded and arms to the teeth rangers. Check out the hummingbird feeding station outside one of the windows. There are plenty of tiny hummingbirds feeding off the syrup.Make sure you don't speed because the rangers will stop you! A good stop is the Rest Area with tables and benches under the live oaks. It is about half a mile away form the ranger station. There was not much mosquitoes here. They were tolerable and it wasn't near as bad as walking through the trails. It would make a good lunch area with a good view to the ocean.The last trail is probably the best and it takes you to the surf with a small wooden deck above the marsh that eventually takes you to the observation tower. The observation tower is a must if you are here. It provides a 360 degree view of the entire park and is probably 100 feet above. This is a National Park so your Texas State Park pass doesn't work here!The only potential I see in this place is the flounder fishing during fall. Not sure if you can wade but the fishing pier gives you good access to the surf. Another potential fishing area is the last walking trail next to the observation tower. The wooden deck hovering over the inlets and estuaries will have plenty of flounders during fall.

We visited on Labor Day 2012. It has nice trails with varied terrain and elevation. Some of the trails are well-shaded. The visitor center was educational and had interesting displays and a 12-minute video. They also sold some concessions and souvenirs. I loved the hummingbird feeder; there were so many hummingbirds.The park fee to drive around is $5/car. The drive around the "auto loop" is not very scenic. Our group hiked all the trails and drove the auto loop. The most scenic spot is the observation tower. The observation tower was like some out-of-place space age platform against an ancient backdrop.I deducted not one but TWO stars for the shockingly huge mosquito population. Bring a large supply of mosquito spray with you and spray it on yourself regularly or you will be eaten alive. I had to spray on a lot more Deep Woods OFF than usual to keep the mosquitoes away. Even then, I still got bitten several times: on both eyelids, the nose, finger, thigh, and shoulder through my shirt. Even though the can said not to use on face, I sprayed it on my hands and wiped it on my face because the mosquitoes would immediately land on any place not soaked with DEET. It was really hilarious how terrible the mosquito attacks were; we sometimes ran through parts of the trail to get away from them. I don't know if the mosquito population is always that dense but I wouldn't recommend this place for youngsters, people who aren't into birding, people who get bored easily, or people in the risk-category for West Nile Virus.

I've been here 2x now and each time was more than worth the 2.45 drive from my place near Lockhart, tx. As a birder & naturalist this place is just astounding. I was dismayed to read some bad reviews, clearly these people should not be out in nature. In TX in warm weather you are always going to have mosquitos-- so quit belly aching and be prepared! I was at the Refuge on Sun and saw the Whooping Cranes, 4 huge gators, a family of 6 feral hogs, many deer, tons of birds of all kinds. Best thing is to take the van tour -either 10am or 1pm- the naturalists are great and very knowledgeable and it puts the whole habitat in context. If you strike out on your own and know nothing about what or how to observe or look in nature then yeh, you may be disappointed. I did the van tour at 10am first, then did the auto drive - and spent almost 4 hours stopping, getting out- hauling my spotting scope around and saw great wildlife. So, yes, this place is worth the trip-- and folks-- learn the difference between a state or federal park and a wildlife REFUGE-- the refuge is for the wildlife--so you will not be catered to as a human. If you want more ameneties-- go to a state or federal park. ANWR is not for you. But if you want to observe incredible wildlife in their habitat and learn about the history of this part of the TX coast- then go-- and take the tour! For Whooper possibilities go between Oct and March-- that's when they are wintering at the ANWR before they head back to Canada. \btw-- also understand that TX is a several year drought of disastrous proportions and this has definitly affected the ANWR as well as most of the state. So yes, you may see less wildlife is off months because of the drought. However, fall and spring are great- because of bird migration.

I went in late October of 2011 with pretty high expectations as it looked very promising with seven pre-identified walking trails (with none being more than a mile long), an alligator viewing area, observation tower at the very far end of the main road of the refuge, a 16 mile automobile tour loop, and even five designated spots for fishing during six months of the year (although I thought it was odd having fishing available within a wildlife refuge). I did see one gentlemen doing some fishing but didn't seem like he was having much luck. It would have been much more enjoyable if we didn't have to deal with the alien mosquito invasion that attacked us every time we set foot outside of our car. I even opened up my trunk to get a lightweight long sleeve jacket to keep any mosquitoes off my skin, and mosquitoes swarmed in to the trunk without hesitation so I was luckily able to trap a few dozen in there by quickly shutting the truck. We were adequately prepared with mosquito spray applied on ourselves too but these mosquitoes have created some kind of immunity to mosquito spray because they go for blood even through your clothes! We had to consistently maintain movement and spray blasts of mosquito spray into the air in all directions to persuade the mosquitoes to get away from us. We couldn't afford to see any of the trails because we knew it would have been unbearable so we only quickly ran out to some lookout points along the main road. This was THE WORST case of mosquitoes I have ever dealt with. The observation tower was under construction so access to that part of the wildlife refuge was closed which was pretty disappointing. We did not see anything online or in the front of the visitor's center that alluded to a closure. What was more enjoyable was the 16 mile vehicle loop where we could stay mosquito free and just enjoy the peaceful scenery as the sun went down. There weren't a huge abundance of animals but you could see the occasional vulture or bird here and there. I would imagine the bird viewing opportunities would have been much more plentiful at one of the designated walking trails or observation tower. We were able to view one alligator lazily sitting near the edge of the water at the alligator viewing area on the left side after going through the front entrance gate to the refuge. I would certainly come back if I was in the nearby Rockport area with hopes that I have double the amount of mosquito spray or just hope that they find somewhere else to occupy in the wildlife refuge.

Aransas is the place to go for birding on the Texas central coast. It is the winter home to a statistically significant portion of the world's whooping crane population. The best way to see them is by boat. We used the Jack Flash with Capt. Kevin Sims. The boat was designed for birding and photography. We spent 6.5 hours and found 14 cranes, including 2 families.Wildlife preserves are remote. There are bugs and other wild, wonderful things which lend to a great experience. At the moment, while there are mosquitoes, there is no West Nile virus.