Texas: Our first weekend in Rockport

Our stay in Rockport was supposed to be 2 weeks, so we decided to take it easy on tourist destinations.

Goose Island State Park

Our first stop was Goose Island State Park, a short 3.5 mile drive away from the RV park. Goose Island offers fishing, camping, and birding opportunities all year long. We just wanted to briefly check it out, so we drove through the camping areas for future stay ideas. Then we headed to the fishing pier for some scenic photo opportunities.

Wooden slats of fishing pier.
Side of the fishing pier.

We didn’t bring the tripod on this initial visit, but there are some spectacular views to be had at the right time of day.

The shoreline of Rockport and Fulton in the distance.

There were a lot of people fishing that day, so I didn’t get any of the pier length, but we will go back again.

Bob with the bay behind him.

The Big Tree

Part of Goose Island State Park, but located outside the park boundaries, the Big Tree is a coastal live oak tree.

I didn’t have the right lens with me to capture the majesty of this live oak, but it still is one of the largest live oak trees in Texas and the U.S.

Some information about the tree:

The Big Tree at Goose Island State Park was named the State Champion Coastal Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) in 1966. The San Bernard Oak on the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge dethroned it in 2003. The Big Tree is still one of the largest live oak trees in Texas and in the nation.

  • Trunk circumference:  35 feet 1.75 inches or 10.71 meters
  • Average trunk diameter:  11 feet 2.25 inches or 3.41 meters
  • Crown spread:  89 feet or 27.1 meters
  • Height:  44 feet or 13.4 meters
  • Age: Exact age is unknown – but it is centuries old.

Around the Big Tree is a wooden fence.

The fence around the Big Tree.

Growing up around the fence were plenty of flowers that attracted butterflies, so I spent some time getting a few action shots of butterflies.

An orange butterfly.

We definitely plan on checking out Goose Island State Park and the Big Tree again. Have you been there before?

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