Outdoor Fun in the Hill Country of Texas

11-01-16

By Steve Bergsman

The small town of Fredericksburg in the Hill Country of Texas attracts 1.4 million visitors annually. They come for the scenic countryside; the old-fashioned Main Street lined with cafes, restaurants and curio shops; the German cuisine of the town's founding fathers; and important stops such as the Lyndon Johnson Boyhood Home and Ranch and the National Museum of the Pacific War.

But there's something else to consider in this area: the great outdoors.

As an avid bicyclist, I'd often heard talk of the Hill Country emerging as one the great biking destinations in the country, so I was curious to discover what the gear-talk was all about.

Some friends put me in touch with Lisa Nye-Salladin, who owns the Hill Country BicycleWorks with her husband, Adam. Lisa, a former competitive rider who now sits on the board of numerous national biking groups, was willing to lend me a bike for a day and take me out for a morning ride.

Despite its popularity, Fredericksburg is a small place, and after about 10 minutes of shuffling through some local neighborhoods, we hit Live Oak Road and Upper Live Oak Road, which pretty much put us into countryside. After a short stint along Highway 290, we reached our first objective, Hayden Ranch Road. I immediately understood what everyone talks about.

Central Texas is crisscrossed with narrow country roads, unmarked, two-lane blacktop without shoulders. The paving is good and vistas grand. This is ranch country where for miles you see little else but pasture lands spotted by small bits of forestation. Always in the distance are the picturesque hills.

The two things that make these country roads so great for biking are a lack of vehicular traffic and elevation variation. Lisa and I rode side-by-side for miles without being passed by a single automobile. We chatted and pedaled as if we were the only two people in the world. Since this is actually Hill Country, the ribbon of country roads is rarely flat and always undulating, so riders have to pay attention to the shifting of gears. There are some climbs but nothing really strenuous, and the longer one rides, the more it's possible to slip into the fine rhythm of rolling countryside.

My morning ride was just short of 25 miles with a jog down Leyendecker Road and then River Road, which twice crossed the famed Pedernales River. Lisa had wondered if I'd be able to keep up, but when the ride was over, I thought I had done very well.

For those who prefer hikes to bicycling, there are two good ones near Fredericksburg. The most difficult of the hikes is the best, to the top of Enchanted Rock, the second-largest granite dome in the country. Due to time limitations, I didn't get to make this hike, but friends who did said that while there was some tough climbing involved, it was well worth the effort because of the stunning views at the top.

The easier of the two was at the Live Oak Wilderness Trail in the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. I had the good fortune to walk the trails (Vista Loop and Live Oak Wilderness Trail) with Bill Lindemann, the person who created this slice of nature walk and knows every bush, flower, bird and insect along the way. That's a considerable feat considering these small 10 acres of land, which cross and pond and river, are home to 166 species of birds, 60 different butterfly types and 250 flowering plants.

When Lindemann came to this site, the land was mostly a dumping ground for the park. What he saw that others didn't was an amazing variety of fauna and flora. In this one small area, he charted seven different ecosystems: riparian, wetlands, old-growth oak forest, post oak savannah, prairie, cedar break and dry brushland.

The land is uneven, but the trail is well-maintained with one small bridge over the river. With Lindemann leading the way, stopping and explaining the different fauna to me and a few others, we walked both trails in about an hour.

Perhaps the most amazing naturalist activity in the Fredericksburg area doesn't involve bicycling or walking but simply sitting and waiting. Early in the last century the ranchers and merchants in the Hill Country built a rail line to San Antonio, but to do that they had to dig through limestone rock to create a tunnel that measured a little more than 900 feet in length. After three decades, the line was closed and the rails and tracks sold for scrap. When the old tunnel was abandoned by the rail line, squatters moved in — 2 million to 3 million bats.

A farmer who lived not far away from the tunnel saw what looked like a smoke cloud and went to investigate. When he approached the old tunnel, he realized it wasn't smoke at all but a thick cloud consisting of millions of bats emerging to feed in the night air. There are four types of bats that live in the tunnel, but most residents are the Mexican free-tailed species, which are just inches big.

The area is now protected as the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area, where visitors can watch the fun. As the sun sets, the bats emerge. The seating area for most tourists is above the tunnel, but groups who make arrangements ahead of time can sit at the front of the tunnel. The advantage here is that the bats swarm out of the tunnel and at this point in the forest swirl upward into the sky to disperse into the night air. Observers are literally sitting about 10 yards from an encompassing cloud. Although the bats are tiny, there are so many that they create a significant breeze. This phenomenon can go on for 60 or 90 minutes. It was one of the greatest naturalist experiences I've ever encountered. WHEN YOU GO

Where to stay: There are several interesting hotels, B&Bs and cabins in the region. I stayed at the Inn on Barons Creek (www.innonbaronscreek.com), but the Cotton Gin Village Cabins (www.cottonginlodging.com) and the Hanger Hotel (www.hangarhotel.com) looked interesting.

What to do: For biking, Hill Country BicycleWorks (www.hillcountrybicycle.com)

For hiking, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area (www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/enchantd) or Bill Lindemann at the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal park.

To view the bats: www.tpwd.state.tx.us

Steve Bergsman is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.