Eager to depart our least favorite state park as described in the previous post, we packed up early Easter morning and set out on the last leg of our journey along the Gulf Coast. The weather was pleasant and sunny, making the more than five hour drive to Sea Rim State Park in Sabine Pass, Texas seem not quite as long. We drove straight across Louisiana, often spotting billboards advertising boudin and various other sausages, which made me wish we’d planned a stop along the way just to sample the local fare. We added it to the list for a future visit.

Sea Rim State Park is located just over the Texas/Louisiana border outside of Port Arthur, one of the three most humid cities in the contiguous United States. Our directions led us on Route 73, which bisects the Saudi Aramco – Motiva Refinery, the largest oil refinery in the country, and made an eerily interesting drive as we approached the park. Tall metal structures pierced the horizon as the refinery came into view, interrupting the otherwise flat landscape. We drove through the refinery operations, fairly quiet probably due to the holiday, stopping at red lights and driving over railroad tracks. The industrial environment obscured any notions of being minutes away from a wildlife management area and refuge, not to mention beachfront camping. The refinery is controversial due to negative environmental impacts from the release of pollutants into the environment, as well as contributing to impaired health among the residents of Port Arthur, but this is a bigger issue than I’m going to tackle in this blog entry.

The refinery gradually gave way to views of the port authority, complete with oil tankers and barges slowly navigating the waterway leading to the Gulf of Mexico. Sea Rim is fairly remote, lying at the terminal tip of a road that dead-ends shortly past the park entrance. This is legitimately a park on the beach, with the campground separated from the ocean by a thin strip of tidal marshland and connected by a boardwalk. The park also offers camping on the beach, but the excessively high tide forced the closure of these camping areas during our visit. The campground, with only fifteen developed sites, is dwarfed in comparison to the park itself which includes over 4,000 acres of marshland and five miles of shoreline.

We checked in at the tiny entrance shack and purchased a Texas State Parks Pass for $70, knowing that we’d be visiting other Texas parks on our route to Colorado. All Texas state parks charge entrance fees, which are per person per day and not included in the camping fee. So a $15 nightly camping charge at Sea Rim would have been a $21 per night fee for the two of us. We had five nights booked, so the Parks Pass “saved” us $30 during our visit ($3 per person per day), plus 50% off one night of camping with three other 50% coupons available for future use. So far the $70 pass allowed us to avoid $37.50 in additional charges in just one visit. Obviously the pass isn’t worthwhile for everyone, but if you know you’ll be visiting Texas parks on multiple occasions and especially if you’re camping, the pass will save you some cash over a relatively short amount of time.

When checking into your reserved campsite at Sea Rim, you are allowed to choose from any site that is currently open. The ranger informed us which options were available before we drove through the loop, which made choosing a site easy – not like it would have been difficult in the first place, considering the park has a total of 15 sites. We chose lucky number 13, parked Cecil, and returned to the entrance shack to report which site we chose. And just like that, we were all set for five days of beach-side camping. Thanks to our early morning departure from Mississippi, we arrived with plenty of time to spare for an unusually large Sunday dinner of braised pork shoulder, black-eyed peas, sauteed green beans, glazed carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, and gravy. All homemade in the tiny RV kitchen, which really only makes washing the dishes a real chore due to the limited counter space and small sink. And the obvious lack of a mechanical dishwasher.

We strolled the beach later that evening, enjoying the cool ocean breeze and happily getting our bodies moving again after the five hour drive. Vehicles are allowed to drive on the sand in designated areas, but we only saw a handful on our first night. Evidence of other park visitors was clear to see, as we spotted trash left up and down the shoreline. Sea Rim has 50-gallon permanent trash barrels spaced evenly along the shore – probably every 100 yards or so – which makes the amount of litter present all the more frustrating. I picked up a bit on our walk as the sun set, deciding to come back out the next morning to enjoy an early walk on the beach while cleaning up what I could. Armed with my trusty all-purpose five-gallon bucket, I set off the next morning to clean a little slice of the five mile beach. After an hour or so of walking, I had already filled my bucket three times over and was starting to feel the effects of the morning sun on my skin, so I headed back to the RV for brunch with Ashley.

Some of the debris obviously washed ashore, due in no part to the visitors to Sea Rim State Park. Remnants of degrading foam buoys, pieces of rusted pipe, and sopping wet chunks of what may have been insulation most likely were carried in with the tide from parts unknown. The discarded plastic Easter eggs, matching candy wrappers, partially full soda cans, open boxes of laundry detergent (still dry!), and abandoned flip-flops, however, were not products of an ocean voyage. People litter and accidents happen, but when a trash can is at most 50 yards away from you, and you still choose to leave your trash on the sand, that’s simply annoying to say the least. My online voice is a tiny drop in the vast ocean of information on the internet, but I’ll say it anyway – don’t litter. The very least we as inhabitants of the Earth can do is not throw trash on the ground or in the water. Let’s take it one tiny step further and maybe pick up something we see. I’m also challenging myself to pay more attention to each bit of trimmed fishing line that slips through my fingers, so this is a reminder for me too. OK, that’s enough of my tiny rant for now.

One of the perks of admission to a Texas state park is that you don’t need a fishing license to fish from shore (or bridge, or pier) within park boundaries. Having been away from saltwater fishing for a few weeks at this point, I was anxious to try a little surf fishing during our stay. Surf fishing typically requires a long pole, specialty sinkers, and modified rigs – not to mention typically wading out into the surf when casting – because the hopeful angler is trying to cast the bait out past the breaking waves and into a deeper channel where the fish might be traveling. I don’t have a surf fishing pole, nor do I expect to get much use out of one in the future, so I used my familiar rod from the Keys and picked up a little extra saltwater tackle before we got to the park.

While I certainly got in lots of practice casting, I didn’t catch any fish. The exceptionally high tide and strong winds persisted during our visit, and a couple of locals told me anyone fishing would have a hard time casting far enough to reach the usual channels hiding behind the waves. I still learned a few more methods to rig a fishing line and had an excuse to stand on the beach for a couple of hours everyday, so not catching any fish was no real loss.

Speaking of the wind, each day had a fairly strong persistent breeze that only died a bit as late evening approached. Early one morning the wind kicked up so much, that I woke up Ashley so we could temporarily pull in the bedroom slide since I was concerned about the wind tearing the vinyl slide awning. My fears were probably unfounded, but it was some of the strongest wind we’ve been in with the RV. One good thing about the steady breeze was that it kept the bugs at bay, as we discovered on a rare calm evening when we looked at the screen door and noticed it was covered in a curtain of thirsty mosquitoes. So if you visit the park and the wind isn’t blowing, take bug spray and close your windows, doors, and tent flaps at night!

The park has a short nature trail, which is a nice way to see a different perspective of the natural area as you follow the boardwalk through tall grasses, shallow tidal flats, and marshland. Kayakers can also venture deeper into the marshland, and Sea Rim has maps available detailing the water trails leading into the back country. As far as park facilities go, Sea Rim is pretty bare-bones. The park has a vault toilet and open air rinse showers on the boardwalk connecting the campground to the beach, no hot showers or laundry facilities. Each developed site does have electricity and water readily available, which certainly makes things easy for an extended visit, as well as a dump station located outside of the main park.

We definitely enjoyed our visit to Sea Rim, even in the early spring with cooler weather and strong winds. The location is beautiful, once you reach the park anyway, and the only way you can get closer to the sand is if you actually camp on the beach. The park has free WiFi available, but it only worked sporadically, and we had to boost our Verizon signal to get a reliable connection. Not like you really want to be on the internet anyway when you’re spending time at the beach. We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary during our visit, basking in the sun and breathing the salt air. Should our travels take us close to Sea Rim in the future, we’d gladly visit again and encourage anyone passing by to check out the park for yourself. Just don’t leave your trash behind.

That concludes our trip along the Gulf Coast. Next stop – Waco, Texas and a visit with family!