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50@50 – Texas Hill Country, Bandera

People sigh when you say you’re going to the Texas Hill Country for a long weekend. The laid-back funkiness of Austin or the vibrancy of San Antonio’s heritage are the images that come to mind.  And the music!  It’s always a treat.

But truly, Austin and San Antonio are the eastern edges of this area – the hill country expands about 100 miles west and about 50 miles south. The further west one goes the drier and more rugged it gets. I decided to explore the area surrounding Bandera, the self proclaimed “Cowboy Capitol of the World”. The landscape is rocky with veins of limestone; the plant life is rich and varied with bushes, succulents and wild grasses; all adapted to hot summers. Trees include various forms of oaks, pecans and, near creeks, cypress trees. Streams are plentiful when it rains, and the wildlife is varied and abundant. I saw several deer, two antelope, a jackrabbit, hawks, pheasants, and a turkey just walking beside the highway.

The region has been the site of human habitation for thousands of years. Archeological artifacts suggest that the earliest human inhabitants arrived around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago and settled in rock shelters. Lipan Apaches and, later, Comanches subsequently drifted into the area. By its namesake, evidently the Spanish came through here, but they didn’t stay.[1] Mexican Independence in 1836 and statehood in 1845 opened up migration to Texas. In 1855, 16 Polish families came to work in the sawmill, which was built by two of Bandera’s founders, and the town slowly emerged.

The semi-arid conditions, combined with the rocky topography made farming difficult and the settlers turned to ranching.  If Buffalo and antelope can survive here, surely cattle can too!  In 1870, Bandera was a key point on the Great Western Cattle trail from South Texas north to Kansas.[2]  The town briefly boomed. But by the 1880s, sheep and goats, which adapted to the sparse vegetation more easily, outnumbered cattle 3:1, shifting the county’s economy to wool and mohair. [3]  Overgrazing and farming attempts wore out the land and the waning cattle drives ceased.  After 1900, the local economy continued to decline after a series of floods.

In 1920, a ranching couple began taking summer boarders at their ranch on Julian Creek. Other families followed, opening Dude Ranches, and the town offered river camps, restaurants, dance halls, and rodeos. Access to Bandera remained difficult; the railroad never came here.  Except the road San Antonio, roads remained unpaved as late as the 1950s.

Ranching, and Dude Ranching, still predominates in Bandera County, and several historic ranches are still in operation today. Many offer a diversity of cultural ranch experiences.

Spring and fall offer more temperate hiking conditions than summer, and in spring the bushes, wildflowers and cactus bloom spectacularly. I chose a hike just a few miles southwest of the town of Bandera in the Hill Country State Natural Area.[4]   Its nine trials encompass a variety to conditions from easy creek side trails to steep hilltop viewpoints.  I try to select hikes that almost anyone can do. Excluding arctic hiking, three elements normally impact trail difficulty: elevation, steepness and the material and condition of the trail (what you’re actually walking on – dirt, rocks, wood, asphalt etc.). There is a fourth – horse dung. This park is very popular with equestrians.  Fortunately, some trails provide a double track that separates horses from hikers and cyclists. Unfortunately, I did not choose one of those. I hiked trail 5a and 5b, which goes up and down a little bit and crosses a creek. A very short (less than ¼ mile) side jaunt takes one to the top of a hill – another ¼ mile trek circles the top providing 360° views. There is a peaceful serenity here.

Along the highway, the land blurs in passing. But in hiking, one can truly experience the detail and diversity of the landscape. This land is difficult. Some came for conquest, others for religious and political freedom, others for exploitation, and many came to control the destiny of their lives. Hiking in this park really helped me understand the difficulties that early settlers must have faced. The ranching culture evolved here because the land dictated what it could support. Some farming exists, but the land in the western hill country does not support large scale irrigation. Bandera’s population is still only a few hundred people,[5] but growing due to agritourism, as people come to experience the culture of the Texas Hill Country.