TEXAS HILL COUNTRY MARCH 2016

 Monday, March 28

Left home this morning about 8AM.  It is 53 degrees and warming.  We are headed for the hills – Texas Hill Country – which is an area roughly from San Antonio to north of Austin, and from Austin west to central Texas.  It is known for hills, obviously, rocky terrain, rivers and lakes, bbq, wineries, wildlife, and in Spring, blankets of wildflowers.

We take hwy 290 west through some pretty famous bluebonnet areas around Brenham, Texas, but the flowers are a tad behind the Hill Country, so not as many flowers here yet.

We decided to first head to Lady Bird Johnson’s Wildflower Center, just south of Austin.  As First Lady, beautification and conservation were her projects, and the preservation and spreading of wildflowers was important to her.  The Wildflower Center has gardens and an arboretum where different flowers and trees are grown and displayed, as well as trails that go through meadow and other landscaping that supports flowers. Bluebonnets and paintbrushes are prominent, with prairie verbena, phlox, winecup and others.

Indian Paintbrush

Bluebonnets and more

In addition there is a Great Horned Owl nesting here (6^th year it has built its nest in the same location.)  There are two chicks in the nest, though we couldn’t see them behind her.  We spent about three hours walking the various trails and avoiding several classes of 2^nd and 3^rd graders!

Great Horned Owl

From here we took a short ride to Driftwood, Texas and Salt Lick Barbque.  Here is the pit where many things are cooked or finished.  Their meats were superb and their sauce a tangy mustardy sauce…yum!

Since this was pretty close to our next destination, we decided to check out Hamilton Pool.  It is a collapsed grotto with a tall waterfall and beautiful blue pool.  It is small in area, with a parking lot that supports 50 or so vehicles.  Once the lot is full, they close the park unless you want to wait till someone leaves. We read later that they are going to start a reservation plan.

  Today, a sunny, warm day, the lot filled by 10AM we’re told.  We opt to come back first thing tomorrow.

A ranger there mentions a few camping spots and we decide to stay at nearby Rock Dog Primitive Campground.  Nothing fancy here, just spots for a dozen or so tents.  We tuck in among the juniper, oak and cedar trees and pay our $5 at the self-pay area.  We sit outside for a bit, wander the grounds and then call it a night.  Not great, but the closest thing to where we want to begin the day tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 29

It is 53 degrees and overcast at 7:30 and we decide to drive over to Hamilton Pool and have coffee and breakfast there as we wait for the gates to open at 9:00.  Unfortunately you can not park in the short drive to the gate, so we go down the road a bit and pull over to have our breakfast.  Back to the gates at ten till 9, with one other vehicle already parked where we were told we couldn’t….  

It is a short, kind of steep, rocky trail to the pool, along Hamilton Creek and huge cedar trees.

 

The pool itself  is beautiful, with plenty of water in the falls and the pool a beautiful aqua color. 

 There is only one other couple there when we arrive. Greg runs back to get the tripod and we spend the next hour or so exploring and taking photos. 

A group of folks arrive and do meditation. 

A few brave souls take the plunge (water temp 60 degrees).

Beth makes the mistake of leaning against a railing that wasn’t properly bolted and takes a tumble on the rocks, but saves the camera and has no serious damage.

From the pool, we backtrack to another trail which follows Hamilton Creek from the pool to the Pedernales River, about a mile through hilly, wooded terrain. 

Nice walk but the Pedernales is unimpressive.

We chat with a few folks and then head back to the parking area for some R&R and water.

We leave about 12:30 and there are still a few spots in the parking lot – also still misty and overcast.

From here we take 12S towards Johnson City and Fredericksburg.  Beginning to see lots of flowers along the highway.  We stop for a few pictures and again in Johnson City which has a nice mix of blue, red and yellow flowers.

We continue on towards Fredericksburg and stop at Wild Seed Farms.  They have been around for 30 years and specialize in Wild Flower Seeds and plants. 

Beautiful fields of poppies, bluebonnets and more!  Lovely gardens and walkways and a neat gift shop full of garden things and flower-themed items.  The sun would have helped the photos, but we managed lots anyway.

We take a little detour to Luckenbach, just because there might be a photo op.  We consider camping (dry camping $15) by the dance hall but move on to Fredericksburg.

  This has become THE German tourist town, with plenty of Willkomen signs, restuarants, shops, antiques, etc.  And the place is very busy.  We get some gas but decide to forego the crowds.  We have been here before but it has expanded quite a bit.  We check out a potential boondocking spot a few miles outside of town but it is little more than a wide shoulder with a picnic table, so we opt to head to a Walmart we had passed earlier.  It has a huge parking lot and five or six of us find a nice remote corner to set up for the night. Another Road Trek is there with folks from Florida on their way to Carlsbad Caverns.