View listing photos, review sales history, and use our detailed real estate filters to find the perfect place. A newspaper article from 1919 indicates that the island received its name as a result of two gentlemen who rafted their goat herd to the island for sustenance during a drought (Ref: Exploring Lake Worth's Shore Line in a Motor Boat; Fort Worth Star-Telegram - August 24, 1919). I did secretly hope to spot a mountain lionthough, if I was being honest, preferably from the safety of my car. Miraculously, he has landed on a log in a sitting position, just inches away from the nest of tree roots, which would have skewered him like an action-film villain. Whether you're traveling with friends, family, or even pets, Vrbo vacation homes have the best amenities for hanging out with the people that matter most, including swimming pools and private pools. His eyes are glassy and hes sweating like crazy, even when he just sits on a log in the breeze. What are you trying to say? I yell at him. So goes the legend of the Lake Worth Monster. From now on, Goat Island will be Goat Island in name only. color: #fff; Cadeso accustomed to bedeviling, and being bedeviled by, his father, with whom he often gets into hijinksdoesnt know how serious this is, and neither do I; instead, Cade circles his recumbent father with his camera, snapping away. The stories are enduring. After almost a mile, turn right onto Southmost Road (FM 1419) and continue for 6 miles, then turn right on Sabal Palm Road, passing through the border wall. I squat in the weeds, exhausted and furious. Neill meant business. } Located just east of Big Bend National Park, this sprawling 103,000-acre preserve, which includes a federally protected stretch of the Rio Grande, has served as a game research facility since it was founded, in 1948. Mar 7 - Mar 8. Some reports say it has horns sprouting from its head, giving the monster the moniker of Goatman. Numerous local outfitters provide equipment rental and guide services; we used Desert Sports, in nearby Terlingua (888-989-6900). Hours go by without our seeing another boat; our paddling, despite the pain, becomes trancelike into the night. Greer Island, rumored to be the home of Goatman or Lake Worth Monster, is off the West Fork of the Trinity River in Fort Worth adjacent to Lake Worth. We sleep again, dreaming swamp dreams. (2mt.) padding: 25px; And with spotty cell service throughout the park, its not like help is readily available. We rush to the water, desperate to maintain our position, and hastily put in, finding a watery bypass we can takeonly to discover this route also blocked. "If I'd seen it before I wrote the book, the book would have been quite a lot different," she told the Star-Telegram in 1989. Phone: (903) 679-9817 Address: P.O. If each of us, any of us, had but one more day, how would we spend it? There are 108 boats in multiple classes, a frenzied throng of human-powered watercraft. It was given to her by Allen Plaster, who snapped it in October 1969 at 1:15 a.m. near Greer Island. Then he closes his eyes and either goes to sleep or enters a coma. "She never got a call." Both times the man in the front of the boatLester, I presumesuffered a serious back injury and quit the race. } As I contemplated the more than forty miles of multiple-use trails that crisscross the limestone-pocked Hill Country SNA, I was not about to admit defeatat least not before trying my luck on a few of the more measly slopes. My heart hurts, he says. Getting There:From Canyon, travel 12 miles east on Texas Highway 217 until you reach park headquarters. Doug refuses the food, turning to watch the river and the squadrons of dragonflies instead. The older boys at the camp gave us easy explanations. The lady at the rangers station for Sam Houston National Forest, near New Waverly, had no recommendations for a trail to take, had never been in the Little Lake Creek Wilderness3,855 acres without a road, a long and skinny piece of land the shape and size of the worlds most miniature Idahoand seemed almost curious about why we would want to go, as if, shouldnt the word wilderness serve as a precaution? Here, in the company of wild turkeys and roadrunners, we can practically see the ghosts of the last free Native Americans as they take refuge from the white men theyre warring againstcarrying water over the clay soil, stockpiling supplies in caves, building their lodges. We move on, come to a swamp, into which the tannin-bronze vein of the creek disappears; we have no more guidance. "Four units of Fort Worth police and the residents searched in vain for the thing, which was reported seen at Lake Worth, near Greer Island.". It would have been like a history." "It wouldn't have been semi-fiction. We reach Little Lake Creek in true darkness, splash across it, scramble through brush and up a steep slope, guessing and hoping, until almost miraculously we intersect the trail that the map assured us would be therethe same trail we strode on earlier in the day, with so much power and vigor and confidence. I keep stabbing the paddle at the water and pulling. Thank goodness for fallen logs, unexhumed, unharvested, resting and rotting in just the right place. From El Paso, follow U.S. 62/180 east, then take FM 1437 through Dell City, turn right onto FM 1576, and continue to the canyon (note: the smaller roads are unpaved). A fierce rush of anger overwhelms me. In the darkness we hear a team just behind us, a man and a woman dragging their canoe. Big Bend National Park, with its desolate tawny mountains and surprising wildlife, can be disorienting like that. Texas Parks and Wildlife also recently acquired a second, 17,000-acre unit called Big Satan, which should inspire more superlatives when it opens to the public at some point in the future. Along with being in charge of land management at the park, shes become the go-to collector of all things monstrous. Getting There:From Del Rio, travel 45 miles north on U.S. 277, then turn left on Dolan Creek Road and go 22 miles to the Devils River SNA headquarters. The writer claimed to have used tinfoil to make a homemade mask to scare a truckload of girls. USA. Keep up the . No one says anything. They are a kid-friendly, non-smoking, pet-free zone. The strawberry pitaya were abloom, sprinkling the land with pretty pink flowers. Soldiers and sailors in Vietnam wrote their parents in Fort Worth and asked for more news, and reporters from far and wide wrote stories about it. "I had a Coke float. Example video title will go here for this video. Wilderness. A movement of Fort Worth citizens has pushed for retaining a portion of that gas revenue windfall for renovating and developing its public recreational potential. poked her head above the thorny mesquite and waving ocotillo, watching as I plodded up toward the ruins of Mariscal Mine. It has narrow beaches around most of its circumference, with some higher steeped banked edges too. To canoe or kayak, secure a permit from park headquarters. Ive never witnessed that before!. per night. But on my last leg the following day, I thought of the aoudad and how quickly it had vanished before my eyes, eager to stay out of sight. Follow Charles Scudder on Twitter at @cscudder. The mystery began in 1969 when dozens of people were gathered in what was a popular Fort Worth hangout near Greer Island; a sandpit inside what is now the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. "I had a Coke float. "One weekend, myself and two friends from North Side High School decided to go out to Lake Worth and scare people on the roads where there were always stories of monsters and creatures who would attack parkers," the letter began. If one such waterway is the Neches River, whose banks can be so thick with brush as to appear a solid green mat, it also makes sense to ask what might lurk in the woods. It occurs to us that you can see it however you want to: as the death of the old Comanche empire or the beginning of the new civilized West. We find a few floating logs lying against the bank, next to a nest of inverted tree roots, and we devise a plan wherein Ill flop out of the boat onto a log, then climb the root system carrying the bow line. Theres still not much sign, but this is where you might wait and watch, and I think for sure that if I worked in one of Houstons glittering skyscrapers, evaluating the language of oil and gas leases or executing tax law, I would have to come to this spot frequently in the autumn with my rifle or bow and arrow and sit quietly and wait, and hope, or go stark-raving mad. Cade is listening; he hears me clearly and does not like what I am saying. Listen carefully, they told us, wide-eyed with fear and amazement, and youll hear his cry on clear nights like tonight.. With 450 types of plants, at least 400 bird species, and rare creatures like the endangered ocelot and indigo snake, this subtropical jungle pulses with life. I will never do this fing race again! I shout at Doug. The place is catalogued as Island by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and its elevation above sea level is equal to 7ft. ACCORDING TO LEGEND, the Lake Worth Monster lives on the shores of the West Fork of the Trinity River. It is already hotmid-Juneand we have one hundred hours to make it to Seadrift, a small town on the Gulf Coast almost 265 miles away. Fort, who is an avid hiker, mountain climber, and horseman, did not know about this archaeological treasure trove when he first started buying parcels in Pinto Canyon, back in 1996. Consider the term for a moment. A pile of their bleaching bones remained for years, as though to document the end of two hundred years of Comanche dominion. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country. Then the shaggy-bearded goat, a sandy-brown species native to the mountains of North Africa, ducked out of sight. Here I am. border-radius: 5px; But you have to know what that way is. Our 'stay-cation' at 3825 Goat Island House. The mere thought of this, how it will extend the suffering for these men, makes my heart ache. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. Its not a popular place for trafficking, says Patterson. Denkhaus said other unexplained happenings only added to the mystery. In 2005, a reporter at the Star-Telegram received a handwritten letter, with no name and no forwarding address. My muscles are tight like piano wires, and everything aches, but I am refreshed. Access into the canyon is restricted, so for landing use the Hot Springs Airport (get advance permission from owner Jennifer Weaver, 432-229-4214) or Marfa Municipal Airport. Once, we went into the woods in the late evening, trees casting long blue shadows as mosquitos nipped at our ankles and elbows. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. (Open daily, $3 entry. If one such waterway is the Neches River, whose banks can be so thick with brush as to appear a solid green mat, it also makes sense to ask what might lurk in the woods. Lake Worth is located at 3248?39?N 9725?57?W / 32.81083N 97.4325W / 32.81083; -97.4325 (32.810916, -97 . This made some sense: a century ago, all but a relative handful of these palms were lost, destroyed by human activity. So what is a wild man or woman to do? Many types of Carex sedge are found sporadically throughout the park, and especially along the shoreline edges with rushes as well. Getting There:You can fly the perimeter of Pinto Canyon by arranging for a charter flight with marfa gliders (432-386-5505) or simply hiring a charter pilot out of your home airport. The sun drops lower. And a tire with a rim came flying 500 feet off that ridge., People in the shocked and scared crowd looked up and claimed to have seen a 7-foot hairy creature running along the edge of the ridge. I walk as slowly as I can, but still Kirby lags, and whenever I look back, more often than not he is leaning against a tree or clutching his quads. The historical park is the main reason why tourists visit. Catalog of wildlife observed: snakes6, none venomous; turtles60; herons, egrets, and craneshundreds; children with second-degree sunburnsa bakers dozen; floating beer cans36, an alarming number of them full, Keystone Light the favorite. It feels like were making about fifty feet an houras if were drilling down through stone, rather than gliding through the here and now. Localities in the Area. A line from Blood Meridian floods my consciousness. Facebook seemed a distant memory. Despite not being professional archaeologists, Fort and Mills have studied up and developed an uncanny ability to sniff out where prehistoric people once dwelled. After about half an hourblue twilight nowKirby rises, unsteadily, and we resume our long creep through the darkened forest. Weve grown silent, barely trading a word for hours at a time. } Goat Island Ticket Price, Hours, Address and Reviews. Another. Where would we spend it? The next night, the monster, in front of a couple of dozen witnesses, was said to have uttered a "pitiful cry" and hurled a tire from a bluff at them. You dont, though after paying the entrance fee at the Rabb Plantation Housea two-story mansion built in 1892you will find yourself transported into an ancient, otherworldly ecosystem where feathery palm fronds appear to tickle the light. Other species include prickly pear cactus, thistle, hackberry, sycamore, eastern red cedar, little bluestem, switchgrass, prairie dropseed and other native grasses. One of the first federally sanctioned wilds in Texas. What else would you name a 7-foot-plus tall being that could hurl car tires like they were mere child's play toys and appear sailing from the treetops to land with full force on the hood of passing cars? The population was 4,618 at the 2000 census. "One weekend, myself and two friends from North Side High School decided to go out to Lake Worth and scare people on the roads where there were always stories of monsters and creatures who would attack parkers," the letter began. .connected button:hover, .connected button:focus { #email { (Open 95 daily, free. We eat breakfast quietly at some nondescript waffle place, not saying much, just remembering the day before and listening, through the plate glass of the restaurant, to the roar of traffic out on the highway. You can also see the assorted rectangular cutouts where archaeologists have, with trowels and brushes, dug into and swept away the ruddy earth to find artifacts that date back as far as 11,000 BC, the tail end of the last ice age. Black-water ponds, Spanish moss, crawfish scuttling in clear-water sand creeks, and the filigree of raccoon tracksI know this country. (I say measly, but thats relative when the rise from canyon to cliff top can span two thousand feet.) December 11th 2007 Fort Worth Council Meeting to Dredge Lake Worth - Channel 11 News Reporting, December 11, 2007 Fort Worth Council Meeting to Dredge Lake Worth - Channel 8 News Reporting, August 2007 Barnett Shale Revenue Committee Meeting to Dredge Lake Worth - Channel 11 News Reporting, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Worth, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Worth_(Texas)&oldid=1106875878, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox body of water without alt, Articles using infobox body of water without image bathymetry, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017, Articles with dead external links from November 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 August 2022, at 22:56. 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