Balmorhea State Park is Ready for Summer Visitors
Sometimes the best summer moments are unplanned—a spontaneous road trip, a lazy day at the lake, or an impromptu backyard barbecue. But some of our state’s most memorable summer diversions require advance planning. Balmorhea State Park's star attraction, the pool, reopened March 1 after being closed nearly 10 months for repairs, and visitors are already returning in droves to cool off in the aquamarine water of the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. Read More »
The Daytripper’s Top 5 in Colorado Bend State Park
No need to travel “just around the bend” when the bend itself is the main attraction. From the tops of its panoramic vistas to the bottom of its darkened caves, Colorado Bend State Park offers more than 5,000 acres of pure Hill Country heaven to explore. Read More »
Tracking Elusive Mountain Lions in the Mountains of West Texas
The cat has been gone for hours by the time Bert Geary comes upon the footprint. He sees it as our utility-terrain vehicle bounces over a rough ridgeline trail, the wind gusting over golden grass, heavy and cool with incoming August rain. The tracks are perhaps 5 inches across, clear and distinct. “It’s too big to be a bobcat,” Geary says, swinging out of the vehicle to examine it. “I think that’s a mountain lion. Young one, too. Maybe 60 pounds.” Read More »
National Forests in Piney Woods Closing Some Trails, Campsites
Planning a wilderness escape to the Piney Woods? Consider double-checking the availability of your preferred camping areas and hiking trails—particularly in East Texas’ national forests, which are closing some campsites and trails to ease the financial strain. Read More »
Visit Canyon Lake in the Texas Hill Country with Our New Video Series “A Piece of Texas”
Check out our new video series “A Piece of Texas” and follow Rich, Amberly, and Luke as they head out on the road, making music and exploring the state’s hidden gems. First stop: Canyon Lake. Read More »
New Virtual Batting Cages Open in Round Rock
Game days at the Dell Diamond just got more exciting with Home Run Dugout Read More »
A Runner Reflects on Lady Bird Johnson’s Legacy and the Companionship of Nature
Johnson described nature as her daily companion. “The song of the wind in the upper branches of the pine trees is the most evocative symphony I’ve ever heard.” Read More »
Four New Trailheads Lead Hikers to El Paso’s Wild Outdoors
Four new urban trailheads opened this March in El Paso, providing stunning views and helpful amenities for hikers and mountain bikers trekking from the city’s streets into Franklin Mountains State Park, the largest urban park in the country. Read More »
A Palo Duro Canyon Community Offers More Than Meets the Eye
Your first time in Canyon, you’ll be forgiven for wondering where this Panhandle community of about 15,000 gets its name. Heading into town, you pass beehives from a local honey farm, the sprawling campus of West Texas A&M University, and tidy brick houses. What you won’t see is anything resembling a canyon. Read More »
Hike, Fish, and Play—but Watch Out for Bigfoot—at the Mineola Nature Preserve
Past the sign for a wastewater treatment plant on the southern edge of Mineola, one of the largest municipal parks in the nation awaits. The Mineola Nature Preserve sprawls 2,911 acres across garden trails, forests, wetlands, grassy fields, and river. More than 193 species of birds roam here, as well as delicate butterflies, roly polies, thundering buffalo, and Longhorn cattle. Read More »
Explore the Guadalupe Ridge Trail with Texas Highways and New Mexico Magazines
This month, we’re partnering with New Mexico Magazine to share the story of this dual-state treasure with our neighbors to the west. For our joint feature story, Managing Editor Wes Ferguson made his second trip to explore the Guadalupe Ridge Trail. As the fall 2017 artist-in-residence at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, he had spent nearly four weeks hiking and writing while immersed in the highest and wildest country Texas offers. “This assignment brought me back to the Guadalupes for the first time in nearly a year,” Ferguson says, “and it felt like a reunion with an old friend I don’t see nearly as often as I wish.” Read More »
Hike from Texas to New Mexico on This 100-Mile-Long Trail
Pieced together from several existing trails, the GRT begins near the depths of New Mexico, not far from the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and ends on the top of Texas—Guadalupe Peak, which at 8,751 feet is the highest summit in the Lone Star State. The trail connects Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains national parks via the Lincoln National Forest, most famously the site of Sitting Bull Falls, which tumbles from a spring-fed creek over a mossy, 150-foot-high canyon wall. An oasis flowing year round, it fills clear pools where visitors come to relax, wade, and cool down in an otherwise desolate stretch of desert. If you’ve been hiking for nearly a week on the Guadalupe Ridge Trail, you’ve certainly earned a dip and drink from the falls. Read More »
Photo: Clymer Meadow Preserve
With their characteristically droopy petals, Black Samson coneflowers seem ready to turn down for the night as the sun sets on the Clymer Meadow Preserve northwest of Greenville. The preserve protects remnants of the Blackland Prairie, a tallgrass prairie that once stretched from the Texas coast to Canada. Prairies and pastures in North Texas and the plains of the Panhandle provide native habitats for this perennial, which blooms April through July and can also be propagated in gardens. Read More »
Watch Out for Tiny ‘Fairy Shrimp’ on Your Next Hike Up Enchanted Rock
Shallow pools that form after rains on the massive granite dome north of Fredericksburg are among the few places where fairy shrimp are found in Texas. Growing about a centimeter long, the translucent freshwater crustaceans exist on the constant edge of survival, laying eggs that endure the dry season only to hatch when the pools refill with rainwater. Read More »
The Adventure Seeker’s Spring Break at McKinney Roughs
With 18 miles of hiking trails— 13 of them open to mountain bikes and horses, along with plenty of flora and fauna along the Colorado River— McKinney Roughs Nature Park lives up to the “nature” in its name. Adding the word “adventure” seems more appropriate though, given the current offerings of zip lining, universal terrain vehicle tours, survival skill classes, and more. All of the above makes this Lower Colorado River Authority property an excellent destination for a family spring break adventure. Read More »
Photographers Capture Texas’ Spectacular Variety of Wildflowers in Every Region of the State
Awed by the spectacular variety of wildflowers throughout Texas, we sent four photographers on a springtime mission across the state. They combed seven distinct regions of Texas, from the shaded forests of the Piney Woods to the mountains and deserts of the Big Bend, from sandy coastal dunes to rolling hills and the vast plains of the Panhandle. The results are as magnificent and diverse as the lands that nurture our abundant blossoms. Read More »
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