Texas Hill Country Winter Weekend (#44)

One of our favorite getaway destinations is the glorious Hill Country here in Texas. While my favorite season tends to be the wildflower explosion during a great spring, every season reveals something special about this beautiful region. This last time we decided to try a little winter camping over the long MLK weekend.

Our first destination was the far western reaches of Hill Country and a little adventure at Caverns of Sonora. Located just west of Sonora of US 10, we knew we met West Texas went the posted speed limit went up to 80 mph. We love exploring caves and caverns and found this one to be an extraordinary gem for the spelunking crowd. The tour was almost two hours and included over 350 stairs taking us more than fifteen stories below the rugged desert above. We saw some very unique formations we had never seen before like fishtails, war clubs and geodes embedded into walls. What I found the most striking though, was the variety of formations included in each room. Both physical effort and tour cost ($20) were well worth it.

We had our choice of several very nice campsites at South Llano River State Park in Junction, but I imagine when its warm a little prior planning and a few inter tubes would be wise. There were several nice hiking trails including one straight uphill to a scenic overlook and a couple very comfy bird blinds to watch some of our fine feathered friends.

We wandered our way back home through some of the
most scenic roads I have encountered in Texas...and this was January! We headed south from the state park on RR377 and made our way toward Rocksprings, self professed Mohair Capital of the World. On our way there we stopped at Telegraph (Population 3, 2000) and admired the picturesque old general store & post office. Telegraph is an interesting little ghost town and holds the distinction of having the first commissioned postmistress in Texas in 1900.

About six miles north of Rocksprings we turned east onto 41, then south again at RR335. This was the first of two Twisted Sisters roads we would wander. The incredibly scenic road hugs the side of mountains named Schoolhouse, Graveyard and Turnpike and then crosses the Nueces and Frio Rivers. A little over half way we stopped at the fence of an exotic animal farm to watch kangaroos, giraffes and exotic antelope play. Then a few miles later we encountered a few camels. Just above Barksdale we joined 55 and followed it into Camp Wood.

At Camp Wood we turned east onto the second Twisted Sister RR337. Just before we left the town proper we had to stop at Holy Smoke BBQ who's slogan was "Never Trust a Skinny Cook!" We left with a pound of brisket and the appropriate fixings and headed down the road to find a picnic table to feast. A picnic table there was not, but the beauty of this highway begged for us to stop....somewhere. We rounded a curve and there was a small turnout overlooking the valley so we pulled over and made a make shift picnic table of our cooler. I love Texas BBQ and brisket is KING!
Just south of Leakey we headed south on US83 to Garner State Park to do a little hiking. Before leaving we checked out the extensive network of campgrounds, this park has so much to offer and is definately a must future camping trip. We headed east on 1015 to Utopia and then north on 187 to Lost Maples SNA. This time we drove right into the park, but an earlier fall visit found us several miles south of the park waiting more than an hour to enter and see the beautiful Bigtooth Maples bursing into a flame of fall color.

Heading back east on FM337 we stopped in Medina, apple capital of Texas. Here you can pick your own apples in season at Love Creek Orchards or stop in any time at the bakery store for one of their tasty apple baked goods. We loved their "Adam's Favorite Pumpkin-Pecan-Apple Bread" and Apple Strudel as a nightcap. We need to come back during apple picking time when the orchard is full of dwarf trees bearing some of my all time favorites like Jonagold and Pink Lady as well as their special "Lone Star Little Sugar" Gala.

January was a great uncrowded time to spend a lovely MLK long weekend exploring, but every season holds something special here. So come any time and if you really love fall there isn't anywhere else in Texas quite like this heavenly slice of Texas Hill Country.