STORY AND PHOTO BY LAURENCE PARENT

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY

RIVERS FLOW THROUGH CANYONS COVERED IN SEASONAL GLORY ON THIS LONE STAR DRIVE.

LENGTH

70 miles

NOT TO BE MISSED

Fiesta San Antonio, San Antonio; Rodeo (summer), Bandera; Texas State Arts and Crafts Fair, Kerrville

FUN FACT

One of Texas’s most enjoyable spectacles are the wildflowers that carpet its roadsides—the result of decades of planning. Beginning in the 1930s, the state harvested tons of seeds from donors and planted them along the highways (thus eliminating mowing expenses). In 1982 one of the program’s most ardent champions, Lady Bird Johnson, founded a national wildflower research center in Austin.

SIDE TRIP

Medina earned its nickname as Texas’ apple capital thanks to an abundance of orchards. Pick your own or find delicious apple products at Love Creek Orchards. lovecreekorchards.com

I START MY 70-MILE DRIVE across the most rugged part of Texas Hill Country at the Medina River in Bandera. Tall bald cypresses arch over the clear water, their needles starting to show a rusty orange autumn hue.

Known for its rolling hills, rivers, lakes and spring wildflowers, Hill Country has plenty of scenic drives. But the route that starts in Bandera, the “cowboy capital of the world,” is one of my favorites.

Texas Highway 16 moves past Bandera’s quaint downtown. I follow the river upstream and soon arrive in the small town of Medina, known for its surrounding apple orchards.

Going west on RM 337 (the RM stands for ranch-to-market road), I climb out of the Medina River Valley, over a steep divide, and down to a junction with RM 187, which leads to a side trip to the Lost Maples State Natural Area in the town of Vanderpool.

Established to preserve the area’s trees, rare plants and animals, Lost Maples is home to deeply incised canyons at the headwaters of the Sabinal River that offer shelter from the sun and wind, and a rare, isolated stand of bigtooth maples.

I admire splashes of gold and scarlet along the Maple Trail, one of several in the park. Heading up the East Trail to Hale Hollow, a narrow, rocky passage with ferns growing from the canyon wall and flaming maples spreading overhead, I breathe in the scent of turning leaves and then hike out over a ridge and head to my car.

Back on RM 337, views of multiple canyons open up from the highway. After only a few miles, the narrow road snakes its way down into another valley, this one cut by the bald cypress-lined West Sabinal River. Here, the vistas are never-ending, popping up with each bend in the road.

Soon the highway drops again into yet another valley and continues to Leakey, crossing the Frio River on the east side of the small town. I go south on U.S. 83 and end my drive at Garner State Park. The Frio River tumbles over boulders as it flows through the park. I park my car; the clear water beckons.

The Sabinal River rolls past bigtooth maples and black cherry trees.

DEAN_FIKAR/GETTY IMAGES

Dawn breaks over a field of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes near Fredericksburg, Texas.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

—LADY BIRD JOHNSON