Hill Country State Natural Area

It got cold overnight.  We woke up this morning to temperatures in the mid 30s.  Quite a change from the 96 of Friday.  Because it was so cool, we didn’t rush out of the house for our adventure today.  We took our time to sip coffee, enjoy breakfast, and read a bit before heading out the door.

Our destination was about 25 miles north of Hondo at the Hill Country State Natural Area.  We got there about 11, went in the park office to pay our fee, and were on the trail by 11:30.

This is apparently a very popular park with the horse people.  There were several horse trailers in the parking lot.  There were campsites large enough to accommodate those trailers with picnic tables and fire rings.  There were no hook-ups, however, and no running water at all.  There was one Johnny-on-the-spot and a pit toilet. Several sites were occupied with RVs set up for dry camping.

View from the trail

Backcountry campsite

We did a 4-mile loop hike.  Because these are horse trails, they are very wide and because it hasn’t rained here in a long time (we’ve heard the last real rain was in October) the trails are very dusty.  The area reminded us somewhat of the cedar glades in Tennessee.  There was very little topsoil covering rock, grass, cactus (mostly prickly pear), and cedar trees.  These were not the Eastern Red Cedars of Tennessee, however.  The land is not so flat here, but rather rolling.  There were no steep areas to climb but the ranger cautioned us about the rocks along one area of the trail, but obviously he has never been hiking in Pennsylvania or New Hampshire where there really are rocks.  We had to look on the map to know when we passed this “strenuous” area.

Looking toward Comanche Bluff

View from Comanche Bluff

It was very good to be on the trail again.  Of all the wonderful things to see and do in this great land of ours, hiking is my favorite.

We had our picnic after the hike while watching the horsemen care for their animals then a pleasant drive home through Texas farm country.  We’ve had our showers and are just waiting for ice cream social at the clubhouse.

We are planning to move our home to a campground a little closer to Fredericksburg and Austin on Tuesday.  It will actually be a little closer to San Antonio for the rest of the things we want to do there.  Anyway, tomorrow will be a day to get ready to move.