Isle Du Bois
Lost Pines Trail Review

Lost Pines Trail and Isle Du Bois Review

This park offers camping, swimming and numerous grill outdoor picnic areas, along with bike trails, horse trails and walking trails. Perfect for fellow Nature Nerds! The trails are well maintained, park rangers are extremely friendly and knowledgeable and if you want a place to take in all aspects of nature this is the place for you.

Satellite Hiking Lost Pines Trail at Isle Du Bois

Amira’s Review

Isle Du Bois Lost Pines Trail Review

This weekends trail hike did not go exactly as planned but it turned out to be a great weekend anyways. Originally we were going to hike at the Heard Trail in McKinney but learned they didn’t open until 1pm Sunday so we made it a Ray Roberts park weekend.

Saturday- the girls wanted to hang out on the beach at Ray Roberts so we decided to go hiking while they swam. As soon we started the hike we came across an outdoor exhibit area where a photography class was about to start. Pretty cool! The extremely nice lady took out the time to do a fast paced version of the class which was actually pretty insightful. On we go.

Up high in the treetops I spotted an Eastern wood pewee, who is part of the flycatcher family. Although this is a common bird, this is a new one to me. This bird and the Western wood pewee were formerly considered to be the same bird. They are identical in appearance but can be identified by their bird calls, which the Eastern wood pewees sounding just like the name pee-a’wee. As I was honing in on the pretty pewee an extremely friending and chatty couple approached.( nature peeps are just the best!) This couple was just getting started on their birding journey and had questions which we were happy to answer. Paul even handed the camera over to them so they could browse though the photos. We hiked a bit more, maybe another 30 minutes and got the call the girls were ready to go so we called it a day.

Lost Pines Trail Review Day Two

Sunday- Mothers Day! We got up early to dodge the rain and arrived at the park around 7, of course with a quick stop at Whataburger. We decided since it was so early and as they say, the early bird gets the worm, that we might have luck at the waters edge hoping to catch an Osprey or even a King Fisher. No such luck, but I did see several Egrets and had the good fortune of photographing the Carolina chickadee. These busybody birds move incredibly fast!!

Fun Fact: “The pair bond between a male and female Carolina Chickadee can remain intact for several years. The probability that a pair will remain together seems to vary among populations, with nearly all pairs remaining together in subsequent years in a study in Texas, but only half staying together in a study in Tennessee. If a nest attempt fails, a female may seek out a new male on a different territory.” https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_Chickadee/overview

Score one for Texas?!

I didn’t see any new birds the rest of the day but did see a variety of mockingbirds, scissor tails, cardinals and blue jays. The trail itself is gorgeous with an abundance of trees, flowers and of course mushrooms! I saw two new types of mushrooms along the walk. I won’t bore anyone with the findings this time, but for those who are intrigued a mushroom blog will be coming soon!

Beautiful Mushrooms at Lost Pines Trail at Isle Du Bois

Eastern Wood Pewee at Lost Pines Trail at Isle Du Bois

Carolina chickadee at Lost Pines Trail at Isle Du Bois

Paul’s Review

Lost Pines Trail Review at Isle Du Bois

Lake Ray Roberts and especially the Isle Du Bois, I have about 2 decades of memories and knowledge of this place. This being said, we didn’t follow any one trail as the parks maps intend. Covering this little fact as you look at our satellite hiking route, it looks nothing like any suggested trail. Here is the link to the actual state park trails map.

We covered the park on both Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th. The cloud cover and rainy conditions from Saturday didn’t lend to good photography, so we attempted to go back out Sunday with similar conditions.

I will say we did see the Painted Bunting, but unable to capture the busy bird. Regardless, we still had a great time and enjoyed our time.

Lost Pines Trail Review

This location had just gone through a controlled burn approximately a month ago. Between the smell of the tall pines, fresh rain and the hint of charred wood in the air… it was easy to immediately get connected with Mother Nature.

According to National Geographic, Controlled burns are lit for a number of reasons. By ridding a forest of dead leaves, tree limbs, and other debris, a prescribed burn can help prevent a destructive wildfire. Controlled burns can also reduce insect populations and destroy invasive plants. In addition, fire can be rejuvenating. It returns nutrients to the soil in the ashes of vegetation that could otherwise take years to decompose. And after a fire, the additional sunlight and open space in a forest can help young trees and other plants start to grow…

Flowers like the Texas Bull Nettle and Silverleaf Nightshade along with wild berries have started to grow from the charred ground. The Lost Pines Trail starts off with towering pines and is a refreshing landscape from the normal blackjacks and low lying brush that this area of Texas is known for.

The trail if navigating as intended is only a half mile circular hike, but if you start off going to the left, a short distance down the trail there is a break off point to head down to a secluded part of the lake where the Egrets and Great Blue Herons are easy to come by and promises of the Osprey. I recommend hoping off the trail and giving this little spot a little of your time.

The back side of the trail has a gated off area where they have enclosed an old homestead from 1880’s, nothing left but the sandstone chimney, but still pretty cool to look back into the past.

The entire park is packed with deer, that don’t mind you getting close for a great picture. It is also a very active park offering tent and RV Camping, Swimming, Picnic locations everywhere, equestrian trails, biking trails and boating ramps. This is just to say, it is a very heavily used park and birding probably shouldn’t be at the top of your list here. If you’re into hiking, there is around 30 miles of total hiking trails here and an overall great place for camping and family fun. You can view the State Park’s Trail Map here.