Here, the three stops we made in early May as we blasted our way out of Texas:
South Llano River State Park
At a mere 65 miles from Fredericksburg, a couple of days at South Llano River State Park ease us into the upcoming desolation of West Texas. This beautiful and peaceful park has a lovely river running through it, plenty of oaks for shade, miles of hiking and biking trails, and a very pretty campground with spacious sites. It’s also a birder’s paradise, with numerous elaborate bird blinds set up throughout the park.
This was our first time here during spring migration, and we delighted in finding dozens of species, including beautiful painted buntings, bright red cardinals, comical black-capped titmice, and brilliant summer tanagers feeding and bathing. In the backcountry, we enjoyed hearing and watching a variety of warblers and other songbirds in the enormous oaks and junipers.
Balmorhea State Park
About 200 miles of barren landscape along US 290 brought us to Balmorhea State Park, a true oasis in the middle of pretty much nothing. The park is built around a natural spring-fed huge swimming pool created by the CCC in the early 1930s. The water is a comfortable 72 degrees year-round, and you swim with whatever happens to live in the spring—tadpoles, fish, and assorted ducks. The campground is a barren desert landscape, with attractive CCC-built picnic shelters in Spanish Colonial style with stucco exteriors and red tile roofs. And the sunsets here are generally stunning.
Hueco Tanks State Park
The desolation of West Texas increases in the 200-mile stretch along I-10 to El Paso. Staying in El Paso is not high on our list of desires, so we were delighted a couple of years ago to discover Hueco Tanks State Park, located just 30 miles northeast of the city, but hundreds of years away in history and culture. Hueco Tanks is known for fabulous rock art—more than 3,000 pictographs have been documented in this ancient outdoor art gallery, including 200 unique masks scattered throughout the boulders in caves, under overhangs, and on rock faces.
The state is serious about protecting the treasures found here. Before you can set foot in the park, you’re required to attend an orientation and watch a short video; you’re then issued a permit that’s good for a year. Although there are four distinct hiking areas, three are accessible only with a guide (a couple of years ago, we were lucky enough to be there to do a guided tour). The fourth, North Mountain, is open to the public—but only by permit, and limited to 75 people per day.
The rock art is mostly hidden and you have to work to find it. Sometimes it’s a relatively easy hike, other times finding the art requires an adventure—the Kiva Caves, for example. This spectacular hike is within the North Mountain area, which means no guide is required, but with no signage, you need directions from the rangers, which go something like this: “Hike toward the boulders that look like a duck, then hike toward the rock formation that looks like an alligator. The alligator is pointing directly to the mouth of the cave.”
The rangers leave out the part about scrambling over the boulders, climbing up the rock face, and figuring out how to navigate the last steep rocky area and chasm that lies just before the alligator. The first time we hiked to Kiva Cave a couple of years ago, I turned to Eric and said, “You have got to be kidding me.” The entrance to the cave is about 18 inches high, which means to enter you have to slide in on your belly. From the outside, the cave simply looks like a yawning black hole. Eric went first, and then lured me in with, “I found them!”
The cave opens up immediately into a beautiful sunlit cathedral of rock. As your eyes adjust, the first two masks appear, colored red with ochre; the other five take a bit more searching. The masks were painted 900 years ago by the Jornada Mogollon, a farming and foraging culture that made this area home; the huecos (hollows in the boulders) captured enough rainwater to make life in this arid land possible. To the Jornada Mogollon, the painted masks represented their ancestral spirits and acted as a bridge between the human and the spirit worlds.
We saw only a handful of other people hiking the two days that we were there. The campground is beautiful, with 20 sites nestled into the red rocks. The tight restrictions extend to campers—you must return to your campsite by 5:00, and you’re not allowed to wander outside of the campground after that time. I admit to feeling a bit shackled by the curfew; we would have liked to hike up the mountain at sunset. But it’s worth it to know that these gorgeous pictographs are so diligently protected.
I love your pictures! If you get back home (where ever home is now…Ashland?) Stop by Lassen Volcanic National Park, Carol & I are going to be camp hosts in the Manzanita Lake Campground with our 20′ trailer. We will be starting about the middle of June. Hope to see you.
Lee
How exciting that you’re going to be camp hosting at Lassen! We would love to see you if we can manage to be in the area while you’re there. (We still have our home in Ashland, but are going to continue traveling full-time for the foreseeable future.)
What a fabulous tour through Texas. I had no idea of any of these places until I began reading about those who wintered in TX. I had always seen the state as rather desolate but no longer. When you mentioned the small opening into the Kiva Cave I immediately thought “not for me” given my claustrophobic ways, but may have had to reconsider given the surprises inside. I loved all your photos but the one of Eric looking out at the trail at curfew had me grinning. :)
We’ve discovered so many treasures in Texas over the past few years — much to our surprise! I don’t like enclosed spaces either, LuAnn — but because the Kiva Cave opens up immediately as soon as you belly-crawl through the opening, and it’s so bright inside, it didn’t feel claustrophobic. You would love the rock art.
Your photos are beautiful. I’ve put those parks on my “to-do” list for our next Texas crossing!
They’re definitely our favorites for that particular route — it’s a good thing those parks are so interesting, because there’s nothing else we’ve discovered in that barren part of Texas!
Those all sound like great places. Llano River SP is one the places we are considering stopping as we make our way across Texas this fall, so it was nice to read your endorsement. I LOVE the photos of the masks at Hueco Tanks. The restrictions sound kind of annoying, but I can understand why they want to preserve this amazing bit of history.
If you’re traveling through in the fall, you won’t notice the “curfew” as much with the shorter days. :-) And if you call ahead and can go on a guided tour at Hueco Tanks, then you can explore other parts of the park — well worth it. We did a tour when we were there a couple of years ago and it was fantastic — unfortunately there were no tours available while we were there this time.
Originally our plans were to do a slow meander through Texas this past spring and take in some of these places but the polar vortex had us high tailing it to AZ in search of warmer temps LOL. We will try and make them a priority this fall. Great info and lovely photos as always.
The fall will be cooler, so definitely nicer to be at Hueco Tanks. Call ahead for a tour — they’re free and take you into the backcountry. We loved the tour we did a couple of years ago (I wrote a blog about it) and would like to do another.
What a lovely variety of birds you’ve seen. I’m jealous! Loved the alligator too. Did you manage to get out of that rock crevice or did Eric post this? lol
Hahaha! (help! help!)
I would have LOVED to be with you and see all those birds at South LLano River and hunt for the pictographs which I LOVE. I really appreciate your telling me exactly how to get through West Texas. I am going to follow your lead for sure. All three of these parks sound fantastic and definitely a light at the end of each barren 200 mile tunnel. Can’t thank you enough for the info and the magnificent pictures. Send me your 2015 winter schedule as soon as you have it so I can just plan to caravan around after you for all of 2016. ;-)
Sherry, you are such a wonderful trip planner yourself — you always find places that we would love for hiking, kayaking and biking. We definitely need to caravan together for some travels!
Thank you for this one!!!! Fantastic bird pictures. As you know, I get pretty excited about birds. Several of those species I have seen on trips out West, especially SE Arizona. Isn’t it amazing how you can see such varied species in the different regions of the U.S.?
So happy that you’re enjoying the birds, Barbara. It’s been wonderful for us to follow the spring migration from Florida along the Gulf coast, through Texas, and then up into SE Arizona. Lots more bird photos to come! :-)
Ah….the painted bunting…would so love to see one! See you soon…
Yes, we’ll be seeing you VERY soon! Can’t wait! xo
OH MY! I’m so jealous the birds are hanging out with you. The eyes of Ally was really focused on Eric. We liked South Llano Park! And thanks for the other tour/stops you shared with us. These will be on our list for winter.
We’ve been following the spring migration, and it’s been fabulous! I think you and Steve will really like Hueco Tanks — and then we can meet up with you guys on the coast of Texas! :-)
Someday we may get to Texas. It isn’t high on our list right now but that Kiva Cave sure has my interest. What a very cool hike!! I saw the alligator:) So glad you went all the way and braved crawling inside. This is our kind of adventure. Thanks for taking us inside.
That Painted Bunting is just too cute. What beautiful coloring!
Isn’t it amazing how that rock formation really looks like an alligator? It’s a great hike; I’m sure you would love it! You just might need to make your way to Texas someday in your travels. :-)