TEXAS HILL COUNTRY

October-November, 2018

Check out any of the “things to do in Central Texas” websites, and you’ll be directed to travel west from Austin into Hill Country.

The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region located at the crossroads of West Texas, Central Texas, and South Texas.  Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country lies between the American Southwest and Southeast.  The region is notable for its landscape which was formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum, and characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves and tall rugged hills of limestone or granite (karst topography).  Many of the hills rise to a height of 400-500 feet above the surrounding plains and valleys.  The Hill Country is home to the second largest granite dome in the United States: Enchanted Rock.  The terrain throughout the region is punctuated by a thin layer of topsoil and a large number of exposed rocks and boulders, making the region very dry and prone to flash flooding.  Native vegetation in the region includes various yucca, prickly pear cactus, desert spoon, and wildflowers in the Llano Uplift. The predominant trees in the region are ashe juniper and Texas live oak.  OK – ’nuff about all that stuff.  Fact is it is damn pretty in the Hill Country and well worth spending a day or so rambling about.

We mapped out our rambling about into 2 days.  Day 1 included stops at West Cave Preserve, Hamilton Pool Preserve, Luckenbach, Old Tunnel State Park, and a hike to the top of Enchanted Rock.  Day 2 was spent in pursuit of fossilized dinosaur tracks.  We drove through the wonderful towns of Dripping Springs, Round Mountain and Fredericksburg in addition to our stop in Luckenbach.  Yee Haw!

We found West Cave Preserve to be a truly unique experience, and one representative of 2 very, very different worlds.  We first took a hike through the “Upland” – an arid savannah in process of reclaiming itself after years and years of abuse by previous owners.  Our visit then took us through a limestone crevice into a sheltered canyon of lush plant life.  At the head of the canyon stands Westcave whose highlight is a stunning 40-foot waterfall.

Hamilton Pool Preserve is a natural pool and popular swimming spot that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago.  Hamilton Pool Preserve consists of 232 acres of protected natural habitat featuring a jade green pool into which a 50-foot waterfall flows.  A short hike took us from the parking lot along a shaded tree-lined path with a river running along side – beautiful.  Then we crossed over a small land bridge which brought us to the cove and beach area.  Our breath was taken away by the magnificent beauty of  Hamilton Pool.  A circular walkway allowed us to walk fully around the pool and under the waterfall.

 

We drove off into the country and down a single-lane road, turned a corner, and there it was – Downtown Luckenbach!  Downtown in all its glory consists of three buildings: a ramshackle general store, a blacksmith shop and an old-time dirt floor dance hall.  We found out that the town’s reputation among music fans started growing on a summer night in 1973, when Jerry Jeff Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band recorded an album live in Luckenbach, called “Viva Terlingua,” that became a classic of the country/rock “outlaw” scene – the antithesis of a Nashville production.  Then in 1977, country outlaw idols Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson chiseled Luckenbach into music history with the song, “Back to the Basics of Love” with it’s famous chorus of: “Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas. With Waylon and Willie and the boys.  This successful life we’re livin’. Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys.  Between Hank Williams’ pain songs and Newberry’s train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain.  Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain.”  The locals like to say that you can’t find a place more laid-back without being unconscious.

In the back of the general store centered on a wood burning heater is a small bar.  We had the chance to hear a couple of old timers regale their time on the road with country music stars, and they entertained us with a bunch of sing-along covers.  Rusty the Rooster wandered in to stay awhile, and he serenaded us with properly placed cock-a-doodle-doos!

Old Tunnel State Park is a long-vacated railroad tunnel of the Fredericksburg and Northern Railway which ceased operations in 1942.  The property came under the care of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and it was officially made a State Park in 2012. Why?  Well, since the shut down of the railway, the tunnel has become a bat cave, hosting over 3 million Mexican free-tailed bats and 3000 Cave myotis bats.  Unfortunately the bats had migrated a week or so before our arrival.  A short hike revealed this to be a pretty cool site with a decent history – even without a chance to see the bats.

Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain that covers approximately 640 acres and rises approximately 425 feet above the surrounding terrain to an elevation of 1,825 feet above sea level.  The rock is said to be “enchanted” because it “sings” at sundown – creaking and groaning caused when the granite cooks in the Texas heat all day, then cools rapidly after the sun dips below the horizon.

A hike to the top is no easy feat.  The first third is a medium climb with a 2-5 degree upward slope.  Now the next two-thirds of the “rock” is a test of determination and stubbornness, cardio-vascular exercise and a 12-15 degree slope on fairly smooth granite.  Keeping track?  That’s 142 feet pretty much ok and 283 feet of pretty much “gut check.”  Happy to report that both of us are as tuff as you knew we were!

 

We set out on Day 2 to see the dinosaur tracks at Canyon State Natural Area.  After an easy drive out into Hill Country we found the State Park and stopped at the ranger station to pay our entry fee.  The Ranger asked our business and after learning that we were after dinosaur tracks gave us a “no go”; he informed us that the tracks were under 3 feet of water due to the recent amount of rain that had fallen in the area.  Bummer!  But she said “Check out The Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country.”

The Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country, Canyon Lake has carefully protected its tracks by housing some under a pavilion.  While this museum houses fossils and footprints, you can also see other relics of the past of the Texas Hill Country.  From Native American artifacts to aged antiques, the Heritage Museum is one place to step back in time, whether you want to journey 50 years or 150 million years into the past.

There is a small entry fee for the museum and guided tour of the footprints and tracks.  The guide, the facility’s 16-year tenured curator, is exceptionally knowledgeable about his subject, and he is a wonderful educator.  We started indoors and heard a presentation that included a geological history and time line, a lesson about the dinosaur tracks and footprints we were about to see, and a look at fossils that had been found in the area.

Both of us had no idea why this area of the country was home to so many dinosaurs, let alone why so many tracks, footprints and fossils were to be found.  What we learned was that millions and millions of years ago central and western Texas was under water – an ocean.  Then the great tectonic upheavals that created the Rockies occurred and global warming made the news every night (did a ginormous meteor really hit earth and set off cataclysmic volcanic activity?) changed all that.  Texas became a land mass, and the dinosaurs were about to become extinct.  Dinosaurs inhabited the banks of and in those great oceans.  Tracks and footprints that had dried in the hardened cement-like ground were preserved by being filled in with “silt,” that in turned hardened – and repeat – over millions of years so that many layers protected the original tracks and footprints (or encased animal and plant remains – fossils).  The hardened “silt” washed away, and as erosion occurred, tracks and footprints were uncovered embedded in their concrete-like ground.  These tracks are from the early Cretaceous period approximately 110 million years old.

The 2 main dinosaurs that left footprints and tracks in this area are Iguanodon and Allosaurus.  Iguanodons were bulky quadruped herbivores.  The species is estimated to have weighed about 3.4 tons on average, and measured about 33 feet long as an adult.  These animals had large, tall but narrow skulls, with toothless beaks.  It’s footprint is thought to be a rounded heel with flat toes.  Allosaurus was a large bipedal predator.  Its skull was large and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. It averaged 28 feet in length.  Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, its three-fingered forelimbs were small, and the body was balanced by a long and heavily muscled tail.  Allosaurus was on top of the food chain.  Its footprint is thought to be represented by 3 claw-like toes.

 

 

 

How cool is all of that!

Barbara and Brian