Texas Region Guide

The sheer size and scale of Texas defies overview. Home to three of the most populous cities in the United States, Texas is also home to acres beyond acres of "empty" land and not all of it is prairie, either. Rivers and deserts and beaches draw outdoors enthusiasts every year and hiking and mountain biking are as popular as in the more stereotypically mountainous states.

Texas's Big Bend Country is its answer to the Rocky Mountains, and also its answer to the desert. Dunes and desert grassland coexist with mountain slopes and dramatic canyons. The Panhandle Plains may be more what you may think of when you think "Texas," and yet has dramatic features of its own. The Hill Country rolls over hills, indeed, its cities intersected by trees and rivers. Prairies and Lakes, even wetter, stretch near the eastern end. The far eastern woodlands of the Piney Woods are even more lush. The grand sub-tropical stretch of the Gulf Coastal Plains is a different kind of green - these are were native palm trees grow. Last are the South Texas Plains, birding paradise and borderland with Mexico.

Below are overviews of each of these seven areas.

Big Bend Country is all complex and varied terrain, and this is reflected by its two grand national parks. Big Bend National Park is mountain, river, and desert (indeed, the Rio Grande flows right through it) with long stretches of mesquite and elevated basins. It also has more species of birds than any other national park. The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is all high peaks and even contains the finest fossilized reef in the world. Both are paradisical for hikers, campers, and birders. And El Paso's Hueco Tanks, beyond being extremely significant historically, is a rock-climber's heaven.

The Panhandle Plains tend to be associated with long, dull vistas, but this is the home of Texas's canyon. Caprock Canyon State Park, between Lubbock and Amarillo, is one Southwestern style canyon in the middle of cow country. And Palo Duro Canyon is not only a Texas canyon, but the second largest in the country.

Hill Country has something of the plains to it, but those hills can have a startling lushness, as exemplified by Austin. Austin is one of the healthiest cities in the United States and you'll find parks fit for hiking, biking, and rock-climbing within city limits. Hill Country's smaller towns are no less green. You'll find plenty of riverside walks here.

The Prairies and Lakes area is far more wooded than the Panhandle Plains and wetter. Indeed, it's so wet that the boater and fisher will find endless acreage of lakes to explore. The golfer will find Dallas and Fort Worth astoundingly well-populated with courses. For the casual leisurephile, the Prairies could hardly be nicer, but the weekend warrior won't be disappointed by the trails, either.

The Piney Woods region is a patch of the eastern United States, before it hits bayou and gulf (as one goes further south). Trees are, expectably, everywhere, everywhere is well-wooded and flowered, and hikes tend to be very pleasant and shaded affairs. Many scenic drives start here as well.

The Gulf Coast is slid up right up against the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico itself. These subtropical coastlands are popular spots for coastal fishing and birding. The beaches are not the grand white sand of Florida, but are very pointedly natural. There may not be lakes, but the ocean is wider. And there may not be mountains, but the bayous near Houston, for example, may be a welcome change of pace for the hiker and biker.

The South Texas Plains are home to the Rio Grande Valley, one of the great birding centers of the United States. Why? It's situated on that very border between Mexico and the United States and two countries' worth of species mingle here. And trails meant for birders work very nicely for hikers.

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Texas Overview