Texas State Parks and Travel Tour

Monday, January 2, 2017

Devils River State Natural Area, 12/26/16

46. Devils River SNA has campsites, but we were leery of taking our little Scamp down the dirt road to the park - turns out we were right! It would have had a hard time getting to a campsite in the park, so we got a spot at an RV park on the edge of Del Rio and made this one a day trip. We talked to the Ranger at the office and he gave us hiking suggestions: there is a 12 mile loop (which seemed a lot to ask of our dogs) and a shorter road to the river. He recommended walking to the river, checking out Finnegan Springs, and then doing the loop just to the top of the first hill and back again. So we did exactly that. There are signs in the park that give WAY more information about paddling the park than is available on the website; someday we'd like to return and do a little paddling there. The campsites are lovely, this is a VERY remote park, but there is a bunkhouse available that sleeps 10. It looked like they might be building a second bunkhouse too.
If you go, make sure you have a high-clearance vehicle (and trailer), and the recommended tires and supplies. There is no go-back-to-town to get stuff - town is at least an hour's drive away, and cell service is non-existent as well. The Ranger office doesn't even have a cardswiper and there are no toilets at the campsites!

Road to the river, composting toilet at river.

Hiking trail map. Note that only 4.76 miles of the trail is actual trail - the rest is dirt road. Bring 2 vehicles and shuttle?

Paddling map. Very helpful.

Devils River.

Hike up to the top of the hill. Look for rock cairns.

An absurd trail marker. Made us laugh!

View from the top - that's the river way out there.

Our Scampsite at Lonesome Dove RV Park.

Nearby Devils River SNA: Del Rio. It has lots of RV parks, restaurants, groceries, movies, bowling, and a lovely 3-mile (roughly) walking path along the San Felipe Creek. We walked the dogs there twice and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. It's located between the Lions Park and the Country Club. Val Verde Winery is also Texas' oldest winery, and the drive to it is gorgeous.

Lake Amistad is part of the National Park system, and is an international reservoir. There is camping available there too, but not much more "luxurious" than Devils River would have been. Definitely not as nice as most other Texas State Parks. Probably easier access for our Scamp than Devils River would have been.

Kickapoo Cavern State Park, 12/23/16 - 12/15/16

45. We are the ONLY campers in the whole park (other than the Camp Host, Don) - highly unusual apparently. (I'm still not sure if it's unusual that we were there or that we were the only ones.)
Scampsite #7; despite the misty, chilly drizzle, we hiked the Long Way Home Trail, about 7 miles. It was mostly flat and beautiful. This park used to be a working sheep and goat ranch, so the Ranger's house is the old ranch house, which we passed on our hike. And we think we saw a coyote running outside the old ranch house. We also hiked the Seargeant Memorial Trail to the top of the hill. The Cavern tour was not available, seeing as how we were the only folks there, so we are saving the rest of the hikes for when we go back to see the caves for which the park was named. This is a lovely park, with just a handful of campsites. It's pretty remote and neither of us had any cell service (AT&T and Verizon).

Scampsite 7.

Long Way Home trail - notice the water tank on the right.

Kickapoo history.

Water tanks, windmill.

View from the top of the hill, Seargeant Memorial trail.

Merry Christmas!

Sunset from the Scamp.

Nearby Kickapoo Caverns: Brackettville is the closest county seat, Rocksprings is just a little further. Both towns have gas, groceries, and cute courthouses. Rocksprings has the Historic Rocksprings Hotel, if your campsite gets rained out! Devils Sinkhole SNA is nearby as well; it would be relatively easy to add that to this trip, if you were there when the bats are visiting.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery, 12/17/2016

44. We visited this park for its Trail of Lights, since that is something unique to this park and it's very pretty as well. Monument Hill is the actual tomb of 56 US soldiers who were killed by Mexican troops in Texas' War of Independence - 36 from Dawson's Massacre, 16 from the Black Bean Lottery.

This event was actually the reason for our initial visit to La Grange in 2010, during which we decided, while gazing upon the Fayette County Courthouse, to visit all 254 County Courthouses in Texas. It was the beginning of the end. And I didn't realize that our visits were EXACTLY 6 years apart (12/17 2010 & 2016) until I uploaded the older photos here. 😀

Fayette County Courthouse, La Grange, 12/17/10

Kreische house, 2010

View from Monument Hill & Kreische Brewery, 2010

Kreische Brewery ruins, 2010

Kreische Brewery sign, 2010

Us, 12/17/2010

Us, Fayette County Courthouse, 12/17/16

Trail of Lights, 2016

Kreische house, Trail of Lights, 2016

Guitarist, Kreische House, 2016

The Monument and tomb, 2016

Trail of Lights, 2016

Tile mural of the Black Bean Lottery, 2016

Trail of Lights, 2016

2016

La Grange is a cool town - there is a lovely restaurant, Bistro 108, where we ate dinner both years. The cemetery has some of the most fantastic stone monuments in it - we haven't seen another cemetery that compares. La Grange had a highly skilled stonemason at one point and it shows. Weikel's Bakery is always worth a stop - in addition to wonderful kolaches (and my favorite, the Czech shortbread), it has clean restrooms and a nice gift shop. The Courthouse is gorgeous inside and is unique among Texas courthouses in its design. The old jail is now a museum, but has the cells inside still, so one can pretend they're locked up!

Monday, November 21, 2016

Government Canyon State Natural Area, 11/21/16

43. We brought our parents here for a day trip while Mom and Dad were visiting from Colorado. We hiked the Joe Johnston trail to the dinosaur tracks and then Aaron and I also hiked the Canyon Overlook trail just to where we could see the tracks from above. It was a lovely trail, not a lot of elevation change, some smooth flat areas, some rather rocky parts. The dinosaur tracks were under water, so that made it harder to see them, but the view from the Overlook was pretty good.

Government Canyon is on the northwest side of San Antonio, so not close to the courthouse or Riverwalk, but we did stop at Freetail Brewing on the way home for beers and an early dinner.

Aaron at the top of the canyon.

Government Canyon Creek.

Dinosaur tracks.

Sign about the tracks.

Government Canyon Creek from above.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Goliad State Park, 10/1 - 10/3/16

42. We camped at Scampsite #20 to celebrate our friend's birthday. 20 was a nice site because there was nobody next to us, but really #17 is the best site in the Karankawa Camping Area. These sites are also "full service": they have a grey/black water dump hole at each site! (The tent camping areas were all closed, as was the River Trail, due to recent flooding.) Jacales Camping Area was okay, but better for large groups.
Goliad State Park is perfectly located near Goliad, which is also a county seat, and there is a paved trail connecting the park to the town, called the Angel of Goliad trail. We rode the whole trail (2 miles each way I believe) more than once and it is lovely. Lots of wooden boardwalks over otherwise unnavigable terrain. Once we set up camp, we rode our bikes to the 2-year old Goliad Brewing Company, which has a remarkably big tank system and a wonderful beer garden. There were lots of different games on site and a live band playing country covers.
Sunday we explored the park, the Mission Espiritu Santo and the adjacent Presidio La Bahia. These historic sites are of incredible historical significance, not just to Texas, but to Mexico as well. Spanish missionaries established the Mission in the 1700's, it was restored by the CCC between 1935 and 1941. The CCC even used the original kiln and quarry to make more bricks for the restoration! "General Ignacio Zaragoza (1829 - 1862), Mexican general and the hero of Cinco de Mayo, was born in Goliad when it was a sleepy village on Mexico's northern frontier." (Texas State Parks State Park Guide) Zaragoza's birthplace is on site, as well as a commemorative statue and amphitheater.
Presidio La Bahia "was built in 1749...was one of the major links between Mexico and east Texas and was the principal military post between San Antonio and the Rio Grande...In 1836 during Texas' War of Independence, Texian troops under the command of Col. J.W. Fannin evacuated La Bahia and were caught out in the open and taken prisoner. All 400 were executed. This, along with the defeat at the Alamo, was used as a rallying point to win sympathy for Texas' fight for independence." (https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/tx/tx20.htm)
There is also a statue honoring the Angel of Goliad - Francita Alavez, a woman who accompanied a captain in Texas and who helped evacuate the Presidio, hid several men, delivered messages and provisions and is recognized as a heroine of the Texas Revolution.
Aaron and I also walked the dogs on the Aranama Trail and I checked out the bird blind as well.

This park is amazing - there is so much to do here and in Goliad, which is a Texas Main Street City. There are several very good restaurants in Goliad, antique shops, and of course the lovely old courthouse.