Texas Highways Magazine May 2022

I’ve lived in the Hill Country for five years now, yet I’m still finding new reasons to admire its grandeur on a regular basis. I love that my kids get to grow up in such a beautiful, wild landscape, and I hope their kids will have the same opportunity. As Central Texas faces rapid population growth and development, measures to conserve the beloved region are increasingly vital to its preservation. The Texas Hill Country Conservation Network (THCCN)—a partnership comprising dozens of public and private entities—released a “State of the Hill Country” report in February that outlines eight key conservation and growth metrics to mitigate the threats facing the 18-county area. (The full report can be viewed at ourtxhillcountry.org.) “The Hill Country is a sensitive area,” THCCN manager John Rooney says.…

For all its acclaim and marketability, the Texas Hill Country is difficult to define. Writer-at-large John Nova Lomax attempted to draw the upper limit of the popular travel destination in “Pushing the Boundaries” (Page 21). “I got to looking on Google Maps, and I was scanning for places that call themselves Hill Country businesses,” the Brazoria-based writer says. “I got to the Oklahoma border.” Some people Lomax spoke with define the “Hill Country” by the people who settled it. “That’s what we think of as the Hill Country: Where Germans settled, that’s the Hill Country,” he says. “Where Germans didn’t settle, that’s hilly country.” Though Lomax found no easy answer, he did come to a realization. “If all you really want is scenery and a campfire by the side of…

Ian Dille The Austin-based author and video producer wrote about his family’s exploration of Onion Creek during the pandemic in “A Ripple in Still Water” (Page 56). “This essay had been bubbling around my brain for more than a year,” Dille says. “Working on the piece was almost as therapeutic as the creek itself.” Dille’s work has appeared in Outside and Bicycling, and his stories have been reproduced by This American Life. His most recent book, The Cyclist’s Bucket List, was published by Penguin Random House in 2015. Fowzia Karimi Karimi wrote and illustrated “An Open Palm” (Page 14) about her trip to Glen Rose during a period of grief. “I’m a very visual writer and relished the opportunity to both write and illustrate this essay,” the Denton-based artist says. Karimi’s debut novel,…

I loved going on volksmarches when I was stationed in Germany. After 45 years, I still have some of the medals. @KatherineNobles Thrill-Seekers I spent much of my childhood at Six Flags and AstroWorld [“Upside-Down Smile,” April]. It broke my heart when they bulldozed AstroWorld. Loved the Texas Cyclone, even in the rain. Bill West, Dallas Seeing Stars I love those Davis Mountains and the star parties [“An Elevated Outlook,” April]. I’ve been there several times; just awesome! Randy Terrell, Kerrville Plane on the Plains I had the pleasure of meeting John Valentine Pliska’s grandson while working for Boeing back in 1991 [“Take Off,” April]. The grandson is an aerospace engineer who has been to Midland and told me there is still family there. @rojoraider58 Coastal Coaster In your April issue, the writer did not mention the roller coaster…

More than 300,000 people visit Enchanted Rock State Natural Area each year, and a majority of them test their legs on the Summit Trail. The nearly mile-long trail climbs to the 1,823-foot peak of the park’s namesake granite dome, an ancient geologic formation known as a batholith. Austin-based photographer Kenny Braun took this photo in July 2014 while hiking the Summit Trail with his daughter. Though Braun has been taking photographs at Enchanted Rock since the mid-1990s, he says each visit introduces new perspectives. “To me it looks different every time I go out there because the light is different, the weather is different,” Braun says. “You could never get bored photographing all the angles out there, but in the summer-time you’ve got to be careful because it gets hot.”…

The tiny town of Concan, tucked in the rolling hills of Uvalde County, has been a summertime recreational haven since 1926, when Tom and Vida Neal built a restaurant and cottages along the banks of the Frio River. Nearly a century later, their great-grandson Chase Roosa carries on the family tradition as general manager of Neal’s Dining Room. Every year, from March through Thanksgiving, Roosa greets vacationers who come for a meal after swimming and floating in the Frio’s chilly spring-fed waters or hiking at Garner State Park, located 8 miles north. Long before it was a Hill Country tourist attraction, the Frio provided water for the Lipan Apache and other Texas tribes who frequented the southwestern edge of the Edwards Plateau. In the mid-19th century, Anglo settlers established ranches…