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Hill Country - Texas Overview
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. Rivers aren’t the only water here, either. Lake Travis is one of six hilly Highland Lakes, all popular boating destinations. The golf is good and birds are everywhere. All in all, Hill Country is the perfect synthesis of wild and cultivated – the trails are rougher than you might expect, but you’re always within shouting distance of the town.
Sometimes, you may find yourself sharing the trails with cows as well as other bikers, but the Hill Country has a surprising variety of trails. Not that Austin's trails have much in the way of cows, but they're often well-loved, well-trafficked greenways where the pedestrians have the right of way. The trails are usually worth it for all the crowds and one ride, the famous Emma Long Metro Park, is so scarily tough that bikers brag about riding it. In the less populated Hill Country, cows may be more a possibility, but the trails remain wooded and lovely and maybe a little less crowded. The workout is often no less intense.
Lake Travis, near Austin, is one lake that's noted as quite the spot for boaters . . . it's beautiful and has plenty of amenities on the shore. Not only that, but Lake Travis is only one of the Hill Country's six Highland Lakes, the others of which are Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, and Lake Austin. Another notable Hill Country lake is New Braunfels' Canyon Lake, a reservoir dammed off of the Guadalupe River. Water-skiiers, sailors, and boaters all love it here.
The Hill Country in general is the camper's paradise, be they travelling in RVs or backpacking across Texas with a tent strapped to their load. Lakeside sites seem to be scattered around the shore entire in some places and RV parks and campgrounds are often pressed right up against rivers. For Austin itself, expect no different. Expect green sites, often with lots of water and plenty of amenities.
Austin is the lake center for the Hill Country, which is perhaps more about rivers than reservoirs; and river fishing in Texas is just a little bit tricky, although Junction is a good place for it. Much like the Panhandle Plains, largemouth bass is the most common species and the most sought after, but do keep a line out for the white bass, the Guadalupe bass, the striped bass, the crappie, the catfish, and the sunfish. Yellow carp sometimes make an appearance in the rivers.
The Hill Country is scattered here and there with golf courses, but Austin is absolutely swarmed with them. Many of these courses are highly ranked nationwide for beauty and that general (and necessary) fun factor. Crystal Falls is among the difficult and well-renowned courses in the Austin area, and Barton Creek Golf Course holds within its borders two of the best courses in Texas.
The Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin is one of the better known hikes in the Great Plains. Like Austin in general, it's very green and well forested and . . . popular. Mount Bonnell, with its hundred steps to its romantic summit, is a must-see, but may also be crowded. If solitude is of a bit more interest to you, less popular (and outlying) trails may be more your speed. The Spicewood Valley Trail is a newly built Austin trail that's rather steep and strenuous, and a bit more isolated. In general, Hill Country trails are mellow and scenic with the occasional leg-burning surprise. One particularly well-known trail is the hike up to Enchanted Rock, a massive pink granite dome that rock-climbers quite enjoy as well.
If Hill Country's Devil's Backbone is more leisurely than it sounds, it's extremely scenic, as is the River Road. The Hill Country is brim full of scenic drives, really, with the Willow City Loop rounding through fields of wildflowers, and the Lost Maples, well, is lined with maples and is especially spectacular in the fall. Austin is always scenic and winding through the Highland Lakes is just one drive of many. And as another of the many, the Bee Caves Road (if you drive it a little further out from town) is just one gorgeous view after another. |
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