Category: Texas

Willow City Loop, Willow City, Texas – Texas Wildflowers

Things to Know:

• No admission fee. State road.
• A 13-mile drive through some of the most scenic areas of the Texas Hill Country.
• Two lane, winding road with numerous cattle grates and several unguarded bridges.
• Incredible spring views of Texas wildflowers, particularly the famous Texas bluebonnets.
• Adjoining land is privately owned. Pull-out areas are narrow and should be carefully navigated.
• Dogs could be taken from the car on a leash, but owners should be very careful, as shoulders are narrow or non-existent, and traffic is heavy during the spring.

Roughly 50 miles west of Austin lies a quiet country road known as the Willow City Loop. For 11 plus months of the year, it’s a fairly typical Texas Hill County route: a bit narrow, somewhat winding, and sprinkled with its share of cattle grates and iconic cement bridges that’ll take you safely over the creek so long as the weather’s dry.

However, for several weeks each spring, the fields and pastures along both sides of the loop burst forth in blankets of dazzling blue and eye-catching red-orange, with a handful of well placed ivory white and yellow-gold mixed in for good measure. Those few weeks are the Texas Wildflower season, and with the flowers come scores of camera-toting enthusiasts inching their way along each and every one of the loop’s 13 miles.

We made the drive in early April, and a visit to Texas Hill Country.com will tell you that late March through early April is typically the peak period for wildflower viewing.

If you make the trip, which is well worth the ride from whatever more populated area you may be starting from, there are few things you should know:

• The Willow City Loop is not that easy to find. We advise Googling and following GPS directions, rather than trying to locate it on a map.
• Upon entering the roadway, you’ll see signs advising that all properties along the route are privately owned, and stopping or venturing onto adjacent land is prohibited. That said, if you visit during wildflower season, you’ll quickly notice the abundance of vehicles parked on either side of the road, and you may see a few folks venturing into fields to snap pictures.
• Venturing into the flower fields is not advisable. First of all, the property is privately owned, fenced in most areas, and posted in some spots with no trespassing signs. Secondly, wading out into a thick wildflower field on a warm spring day is a good way to experience something else for which Texas is well known: rattlesnakes. Locals will tell you that snake bites in the middle of wildflower fields are unfortunately not uncommon.

In addition to wildflowers, the road is also known for it’s “western boot fence-line”, a quarter-mile stretch where each fencepost post is adorned with a Texas cowboy or cowgirl boot. The picture below, from Texas Hill Country.com, shows a section of the boot-covered fence.

The Texas Hill Country is a rugged but beautiful part of the state, filled with rolling hills and rocky buttes such as the one below, visible from the Willow City Loop. The region is considered the border between the American Southwest and Southeast, with hills composed primarily of limestone and granite. The scenery definitely has an “old-west” feel to it, and we could easily imagine John Wayne or Clint Eastwood bounding across the hills on horseback.

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The bottom picture was taken in nearby Fredericksburg, Texas at Wildseed Farms, a sprawling 200 acre nursery that is the nation’s largest working wildflower farm. Visitors can purchase seeds and enjoy strolling amidst rows of bluebonnets and other indigenous wildflowers. The facility also includes a beer and wine bar, which allows flower watchers to take in the sights while sipping a cool cup of their favorite adult beverage.

Recommendation: We highly recommend a drive on the Willow City Loop if you’re looking for things to do in the Austin area in late March or early April. If you are in the area during that time, ask around at your hotel or local eating/retail establishments to be sure the wildflowers are in bloom. Wildflower viewing is similar to leaf watching, in that peak periods vary from one year to the next. The loop would be a scenic and interesting drive without the wildflowers, but it becomes spectacular with them.

As noted, the loop is not easy to find – it’s very much “in the middle of nowhere”. Make sure you have a good idea where you’re going before you set out to find it.

If you are there during wildflower season, be advised that the road is very congested on weekends. We toured the area on a Friday, and even then the route was filled with slow traveling cars and vehicles at roadside around nearly every bend. Be prepared to drive very slowly due to the number of passengers on the road. With a few picture stops along way, the 13-mile trip can easily take over an hour.

If you have a dog, you may want to consider keeping it in the car while you’re on the loop. As noted, there is very little roadside space on which to stand or walk, traffic is heavy, and drivers may be distracted by off-road views.

Longhorn Cavern State Park – Burnet, Texas

Things to Know:

• Admission fee for 90 minute, 1 mile long, guided cave tour. Other park facilities, including trails and picnic areas, may be used free of charge.
• Approximately 1 mile of nature trails and a short wildflower trail at park.
• Wild Cave Tours, available on weekends only, allow adventure-seeking visitors to crawl and slosh their way through narrower, less accessible passages in the caverns.
• Visitor center with gift shop and limited food and beverages.
• Dogs on a leash are allowed on the trails and other above ground outdoor portions of the park, but are not permitted in the caverns or buildings unless registered as a service animal.

If you’re interested in caves, caverns, and underground geology, you will very much enjoy Longhorn Cavern State Park. These caverns don’t receive the notoriety of other underground attractions such as Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave or New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns, but they are every bit as interesting and spectacular. Guided tours are extremely well done, and quite reasonably priced. We weren’t at all familiar with Longhorn Cavern prior to our trip, and we came away very impressed with the length and quality of the tour, the beauty of the formations, and the interesting history of these caves.

The picture below is from the Longhorn Cavern State Park Walking Tour website.  This is the entryway into the caverns, which tracks directly beneath a naturally formed limestone bridge that can be seen in this photo.

Ninety minute tours cost $18 for adults (ages 13 and above), $13 for children ages 3 to 12, and nothing for children 2 and under. Our tour guide was Mark, and he was excellent – a great sense of humor and very knowledgeable of the caverns’ history and geology.

Longhorn Cavern is a flow-formed cavern, meaning it was formed by the underground flow of ancient waterways that traversed the rocks millions of years ago.

The cavern contains a number of unusual formations, such as the “Hall of Marble” shown below. While the surface of this chamber looks very much like unpolished marble, it actually contains no marble whatsoever. These dolomite walls were transformed into a marble-like smoothness by centuries of flowing water.

As unlikely as it may seem, the formation below, known as the Queen’s Watchdog, was formed naturally. While it appears to be a sculpted rendering of a dog, it was actually formed from natural water erosion over many years. The formation was moved from another, less accessible section of the cavern to its present location.

The formations below are found in the region known as the Hall of Diamonds. While they deceptively sparkle and glisten like a diamond, they are actually large, protruding quartz deposits.

The walls of the Termite Room, shown below, contain holes resembling those often made in wood by termites. These holes are the result of air bubbles bursting at a time when the cavern was almost entirely filled with water.

Longhorn Cavern has been visited and used by humans for thousands of years. Native Comanche Indians used one of the largest chambers, now referred to as the Indian Council Room, for tribal meetings and later as a holding area to detain soldiers who were captured in battle.

Oddly enough, during the early part of the twentieth century, several large chambers were converted into a restaurant, bar, and dance floor in an effort to increase the cave’s appeal to tourists. This was soon found to be detrimental to the cave’s delicate ecosystem, and was discontinued after just a few years.

The picture below shows a band performing in the 1920’s on a stage constructed inside one the cavern’s largest chambers.

Following the Great Depression, from 1934 to 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, built many of the structures in the park and cleared thousands of years of accumulated rock and debris to make the cavern accessible to visitors. Using only shovels and wheelbarrows, the CCC laborers hauled away more than 20,000 cubic yards of dirt, rock and gravel.

The exhibit below, located inside the cavern, shows the grueling nature of the manual labor performed by CCC workers, who were generally paid $30 per month for their efforts. It was during this time that the State of Texas took ownership of the site, closed the bar, restaurant, and dance floor, and instituted a new era of conservation and preservation.

The cavern is home to a relatively small population of tiny, Eastern Pipistrelle bats. Huge numbers of larger, Mexican free-tailed bats once called Longhorn Cavern home. While they no longer inhabit the cave, numerous dark colored areas on the cave’s ceilings and walls (shown below) bear proof of their presence. The discoloration was caused by oils from the bats’ skin that seeped into the porous rock during nesting and hibernation periods. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers collected large quantities of bat guano from the cave for use in making gun powder.

Recommendation: We found Longhorn Cavern to be extremely interesting and awe-inspiring. Before our trip to the Marble Falls area, were not at all familiar with this cavern, and weren’t sure what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised at the magnitude of the cavern, its beauty and history, and the quality of the guided tour. At a price of $18 for adults, we found the tour to be an incredible bargain. It lasts for roughly an hour and a half, and our guide Mark was very knowledgeable and friendly. If you take the tour, you should know that you will be on your feet for the entire time, and there are a few sections that require bending or stooping due to low hanging formations and low ceilings. Though there are no truly tight or narrow passages, we think it’s conceivable that those prone to claustrophobia could find the tour uncomfortable.

As noted, non-service animals are not allowed on the cave tour or in the buildings (visitor’s center, gift shop, and snack area), but can be taken on all trails and other outdoor sections of the park. There is no full-fledged restaurant at the park, though snacks and pizza slices can be purchased.

If you’re looking for interesting and fun things to do in Austin, Texas, we strongly recommend visiting the park and taking the guided tour. For the more adventurous and able-bodied, “Wild Cave” tours are offered on weekends, during which participants crawl, wade through water, and otherwise negotiate numerous small, narrow passages that are not a part of the regular tour. Regular tours can be booked on a walk-up basis, while “Wild Cave” tours must be reserved in advance.

Round Rock, Texas – Old Settlers Park

Things to Know:

• No admission fee.
• Covers 645 acres near Round Rock.
• Includes 3.13 miles of trails and sports fields for baseball, softball, football, soccer, tennis, and volleyball. Also includes playground for younger children.
• Dogs allowed on leashes.

 

All in all, a very relaxing end to a busy day.

 

Recommendation: This is a nice place to spend a few hours, either on a weekend or after work.  Lots of recreational facilities and a trail long enough for a brisk walk or run.