Field notes · Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center

We didn’t make it to the tower

Kelly and I visited Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center for the first time on October 2. We wanted to explore, take photographs, and introduce Texas Hog Dispatch to Texas Parks and Wildlife staff.

Efrain Ruiz · With Kelly Trotman
Published October 25, 2026

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Bench facing a pond covered in floating leaves — One of the quieter views we brought home from a visit best remembered for an alligator blocking our route.

We talked about our work and our recently published article in Texas Wildlife Extra, and left some one-pagers for staff to share internally. They also told us about the park’s history with feral hogs. Several years earlier, hog numbers had become serious enough that professionals were brought in to round them up. They weren’t describing a current hog problem during our visit.

Afterward, we spent time walking around the ponds and wooded paths. There was plenty to stop for: orb-weaver spiders, a blue heron, alligators, and smaller things like mushrooms growing through broken wood beside the grass.

Kelly Trotman standing beside a leaf-covered pond — Kelly taking in the pond during our first visit. We only explored part of the park, but there was plenty to enjoy.

We’d hoped to make it to the observation tower, but a very large alligator changed that plan.

It was blocking the trail we needed to take. I got a couple of photographs from a distance I felt comfortable with, and then we turned around. Neither of us needed to see the tower badly enough to negotiate that particular stretch of trail.

Alligator on the ground beneath slender tree trunks — Dappled sunlight reaches the ground around an alligator beneath a tangle of slender trunks.

Close view of an alligator resting among fallen leaves — The reason we didn’t reach the observation tower. A few photographs from a comfortable distance, then we turned around.

That’s why most of our photographs cover one side of the park. We didn’t get to explore everything, but we still came home with plenty: Kelly beside the pond, reflections on the water, wooden walkways, wildlife, and details we might have missed if we’d been rushing.

The alligator photographs are probably the most memorable, partly because of how easily it blended into the leaves and shade. But the quieter pictures belong to the story too.

We missed the tower. We still had a good visit—and a pretty convincing reason to leave something for next time.

A question to bring home

How do we connect what we notice during a visit with evidence collected over time?

This visit photo does not establish local hog numbers, management results, or water quality.

Photo gallery

Every photograph we kept from Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center, in one place.

Open all 11 Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center photos

Pond views, woodland paths, wildlife, and smaller details from Sheldon Lake. Photos by Texas Hog Dispatch. Open any image for the full-size photograph.

Sheldon Lake State Park entrance sign — Sheldon Lake’s heron-shaped entrance sign marks another stop in our visits around the Houston area.

Wet wooden boardwalk with fallen leaves curving into trees — A few fallen leaves break up the shine on the wet boards as the walkway curves into the trees.

Wooden shelf display holding logs, bricks and branches — Logs, bricks, and small branches fill the shelves of a wooden display tucked among the trees.

Two mushrooms growing through broken wood and grass — A much smaller discovery from the same walk. These two were growing through broken wood beside the grass.

Covered walkway framing a path across a road — A shaded walkway frames the path across the road, with greenery filling both sides.

Aquatic Ecology Study Pond sign beside a pond — An “Aquatic Ecology Study Pond” sign puts a question in front of the view: what is happening beneath the surface?

Efrain Ruiz standing on a wooded trail — Me on the trail at Sheldon Lake, with another bend in the path behind me.

Harris County research profile Health & Environmental Risk