Pitcher Plant Trail: A Carnivorous Plant Paradise In Big Thicket, Texas

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I knew nothing about almost any of our stops on our camper van road trip. I actually had never even heard of most of them.

And one of those stops was Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas.

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The day before we got to Big Thicket, Jennifer started looking at hikes and figuring out what we were going to do.

We wanted to see as many different units as we could, and we did that to the best of our ability with the time we had. But as soon as she said “pitcher plants” I knew we needed to do that trail.

And we did! And I loved it SO MUCH!! We had already done the Sundew Trail where I got to see a couple of pitcher plants, but no sundews, and I was excited about that.

But boy was I not prepared for the amount of pitcher plants I would see on it’s namesake trail.

I’m getting ahead of myself though. The Pitcher Plant Trail was actually our third stop of the day, after the Beechwood Trail and Sundew Trail.

There were a couple of other people on the trail behind us, but other than that we had it to ourselves.

The trail starts out with a short paved section before turning to boardwalk since the landscape becomes boggy.

It’s a little wooded area, but it’s not dense woods, it still feels pretty open, I really liked it.

I kept looking around hoping to spot a pitcher plant but no luck so far. It was still nice but I was worried I would miss them and just not spot them.

Or that there would only be a few of them. But as we continued along the boardwalk, there were more and more of them popping up.

The boardwalk does a little zigzag through this area on the first side of the rectangle loop that is the trail.

Worry not, though, because just a tiny bit longer and we got to a curve in the boardwalk where the landscape opened up into the open boggy area.

And what did I see? Literally thousands of pitcher plants on both sides of the boardwalk!!

And not only were there pitchers everywhere, but some of them even had their flowers!

My other worry was that there wouldn’t be any plants close enough to the boardwalk to get good pictures of them, but that wasn’t an issue either.

We probably spent 5-10 minutes in this spot enjoying the view and plants.

There actually isn’t a huge portion of the trail that has pitcher plants by it, it’s really just the latter part of the boardwalk and this corner of it.

But the number of plants in this spot makes up for that. Shortly after this spot the boardwalk ends and the trail becomes packed dirt in a totally different type of woods.

The res of the trail isn’t particularly interesting. It’s dense-ish woods without much to see.

The highlight of this portion for me was seeing a really nice jelly ear mushroom. That’s one of my favorite mushroom types.

This trail also wasn’t buggy (thankfully!) so there wasn’t that sense of urgency to get away from them and we were able to really enjoy the hike.

Before we knew it we were back at the van and deciding where to head next. And spoiler alert, but that trail was unbelievably mosquito-y and unpleasant (but pretty).

While the majority of the trail isn’t all that exciting, it’s 100% worth doing just for the pitcher plant corner.

You don’t even need to do the whole loop, to the corner and back would actually probably be better.

So, if you’re planning a trip to Big Thicket, or love pitcher plants or carnivorous plants, or want to see carnivorous plants in the wild, or live nearby and want to hike, this is a fantastic trail.

I’m so glad we found this one and decided to do it, and that it wasn’t a long hike to get to the plants. I loved it so much!

National Park Goodies

If you’re planning to visit three or more national parks within a year from your trip, definitely get the America the Beautiful pass. It will save you money in the long run if you’re going to more than three parks in a year. Buy the pass here.
If you’re planning on doing a lot of hiking on your trip, or even at home, check out AllTrails! This is my favorite app to find, keep track of, and track my hiking activity. And it’s FREE! Sign up here.
This Ultimate National Park Planning Bundle is a must-have. You get two ebooks and a planner, saving 50% by getting them as a bundle! If you want all the details, this is the bundle for you. Buy the Ultimate bundle here.
Doing a road trip? Want an adventure? Consider an Escape Campervan Rental! It’s a great way to see the parks and is perfect for couples and small (but close) friend groups. Book a campervan here!
This National Park Planner (one of the ebooks from the bundle above) is perfect if you just want some guidance in your planning. Buy the planner here.
Get yourself a National Park journal for all of the NPS sites (400+!) to keep track of your travels!
Consider reading some of these books set in national parks before your big trip, on your adventure, or once you get home to take you back to the parks until next time.