Postcards from North Padre Island
I’m starting a new series called Postcards to share some of the travel I’ve been doing lately. So often I make quick day and weekend trips but find it incredibly cumbersome to edit all of the photos, write a ton of copy and then get it all published. So that I don’t get behind and to share more experiences with you guys for hidden gems I’m starting a new series today called Postcards where I give a short synopsis of the location and then a curated collection of photographs for you to view. I’ll also share links to other content I’ve created such as Instagram Reels and videos on Facebook. I hope you enjoy this new series and I’d love for you to comment or send me a DM on social with feedback :)
To start the series I’m sharing about an off-roading experience I had the pleasure to join someone on this past weekend. North Padre Island is the longest stretch of island land from Texas up to Maine. The island acts as a natural barrier to protect the coastline. The seashore is a protected area where you can go camping, take an RV or do like we did and just spend the day exploring the coastline. The first five miles of the seashore are open to all vehicles. At mile marker number five you have to have 4x4 to continue your journey. As you drive down the beach you’ll find a variety of different scenes. Beautiful sand dunes create undulating lines in the horizon as the sun sets on the west side of the island. About 25 miles in you’ll discover beaches covered in smooth shells where you can walk barefoot. It was incredible! So different from other Texas beaches like Galveston and Matagorda Bay. This beach is uninhabited and remote. You could pick up buckets of seashells there were so many.
The island stretches a full 60 miles until you reach the Mansfield Channel that separates South Padre Island from North Padre Island. It’s absolutely beautiful and I look forward to getting the opportunity to come back and camp for a few days. I highly recommend bringing hiking boots so you can explore the beautiful sand dunes and grasslands. You’ll need to watch out for rattlesnakes, but other than that it’s a pretty mild hiking environment. You can watch the sunset over the Madre Lagoon which is one of seven estuaries in the world. I also recommend bringing a cooler with extra food and snacks in the event you were stuck. There’s not a lot of people as you get further down the coast (sometimes miles in between campsites) so keeping enough food and water on hand is essential.
If you’ve ever been to a National Seashore, I’d love to hear about it! You can check out a video I posted on Instagram here recapping the whole trip.
