Charlie Llewellin
Stories
If you're looking for a nice out-of-the-way Hill Country spot to cool off in, this gem, twenty minutes from the site of the Kerrville Folk Festival, is your answer.
Whether you want to swim, kayak, fly-fish, or simply be part of the joyful throngs of tubers who crowd the river in the summertime, the Guadalupe is the place.
This river seems to have a little bit of everything—juniper trees reminiscent of the Hill Country, tall pine trees as in East Texas, and the dense hardwood bottoms one would expect to find in these parts.
A trip down this waterway is one of the last real adventures you can have in this state.
The Neches's only natural waterfalls, Rocky Shoals, can be a mere two feet high in low-water conditions.
Throw a canoe on the roof or a tube in the trunk and head for the Llano, the Brazos, the Pecos, the Trinity, the Guadalupe, or any of the other rivers on this list of the twenty best trips to take on Texas waterways this summer.
Tourists and natives mingle along its tree-lined concrete walkways far below the fantastical jumble of the downtown skyline.
Fly-fishing on this waterway is one of the best ways to surrender to the rugged and beautiful Hill Country.
Aquarena Springs, which has never gone dry, not even during the worst drought, has been the cradle of life in Central Texas for eons.
Watch out for sunken logs and fallen trees, which rest in the river like sleeping monsters in tangle of smaller deadwood.
Impounded, channelized, and pumped dry, the river gives up the ghost in the desert at Fort Quitman and is resuscitated at Presidio by the Rio Conchos.
Pass through the thick piney woods of Memorial Park, and you'll find yourself worlds away from the nearby crowded freeways and malls of Houston.
Next time there's a big rainstorm, go online and check the water flow at Wimberley. If it's over 250 cubic feet per second, call in sick and head for the Hill Country.
This stretch of the waterway is both safe and exciting, a great place to introduce kids to Texas rivers.
You might be tempted to dismiss this waterway as the Pecos lite, but the Devils packs a bigger punch into less than one hundred miles.