BIG THICKET! NEXT WEEKEND!!!

My dear friends,

NEXT WEEKEND! Big Thicket time! I am so dang excited about this. Most of all, I'm excited to spend time with you all and having the chance to meet many of you for the first time. I'll be bringing some name tags that should include your real name and your iNat name. :)

Truth be told, I've gone back and forth on doing an itinerary with scheduled walks and taxon level time periods or whatever... Instead, I just want everyone to explore. Explore like crazy. Document everything, especially the stuff that you don't know! I'm excited about the plants, of course, but I'm going to challenge myself to be attentive to all of the other stuff. I challenge the same thing for you. If you're a birder, focus some on the fungi. If you're into dragonflies, take some observations of plants. If you're into plants, look for beetles. Let's really expand our naturalist interests, yeah?!?

That being said, I think my main plan is to be at the visitor center in the big thicket (6102 FM 420, Kountze, TX 77625) on Friday, 14 October at 4:30ish or so. I hope you can be there then too. I want this get-together to be mostly about camaraderie. Let's get to know each other. :)

Oh, and yes, make a bazillion observations of new stuff for you too. Right now, the Big Thicket only has 263 observations on iNat. Compare that with other national parks... Golden gate: 10,262; Pinnacles: 3,519; Joshua Tree: 2,868; Death Valley: 2,694; Mount Rainier: 1,342; Yellowstone: 1,010; Big Bend: 1,348... Let's bump up Texas with this event to celebrate the National Park Service initiative! :)

Some folks have been asking me if they can make observations/explore more on Thursday, or during the day Friday, or more on Sunday. YES! Please, oh please, devote some extra time if you're able to explore more. I wish wish wish I could stay for many days, but alas, I'm just going to be able to be there on Friday evening - Sunday noonish.

A few logistical things:

1. Food. I'm not quite sure what to do about food yet. I'll bring some snacks and finger foods on Friday, and I'm sure I'll pack a few lunches and stuff for the weekend. If you're able to bring some food to share with friends, please do, but feel no obligations. I'm sure that Kountze or surrounding areas will have some fast food joints or grocery stores or something. Eh. I'm not really coming to the Big Thicket for food -- I'm coming more for the friendship and exploration! :)
2. Lodging. My wife and I are staying at Super 8 in Kountze. I've heard from others that are staying at Relax Inn, Cabins in the Thicket, and even at the next door state park.
3. T-shirts. I got t-shirt sizes from many of you, but not quite all of you. I'll be bringing down a whole slew of shirts -- hopefully I have your size. If you're able to trade 10 bucks for the shirt, that would be cool. I'll be bringing $400 worth of shirts! They're just standard iNat shirts -- went back and forth on making an event shirt, but I kinda decided to make these just standard -- promoting iNat and us as iNatters.
4. Safety. Make sure to be safe. :) Bug spray, boots, clothes, etc. Not sure what the weather will be like. I'm almost scared to look. Hopefully it'll be fine, but it may likely be wet. Prepare.
5. Batteries for cameras. Bring extra. ;)

I do hope you're able to make it. If you're not able to make it, that's totally ok, but I foresee this being a great event of getting to know each other.

~Sam
sambiology

Posted on 08 October, 2016 01:08 by sambiology