Texas - Part 3 (March 28-30, 2021)
“Hike more. Worry less.” - Unknown
Whoa! Texas is big! And we’ve officially driven all 866.5 miles of Interstate 10 which runs east/west through the state. After leaving Lockhart we headed west for what would be a 7-hour drive to our next overnight location, Davis Mountains State Park near Fort Davis, Texas. Seven-hour drive days are against our list of rules for this trip but once you leave San Antonio and head west on Interstate 10, things get pretty rural and there aren’t a lot of camping options. Davis Mountains was really just intended to be a stopover as we made our way through the western part of the state. I honestly didn’t even think Davis Mountains would warrant its own blog post but the landscape and views were incredible, so different from anything else we had seen in Texas and I took a lot of pictures.
The Davis Mountains State Park campground was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corp (actually every Texas campground we stayed at was built by the CCC) as part of FDR’s New Deal, a series of public works projects enacted during the depression to employ young men during that time. Driving into Davis Mountains, felt like we were truly in the middle of nowhere, forcing me way outside my comfort zone. The campground appeared to be nestled in a valley between what looked like two different mountain ranges – therefore no cell service at the campground (which also took me way outside my comfort zone). The unique aspect of this park is that it’s also home to Indian Lodge, also built by the CCC. We only had one full day to explore the park so we made the most of it by hiking to the top of each of the mountain ranges, logging about eight hiking miles that day. The second hike took us down the backside of the mountain near the lodge. We stopped in the gift shop there and the staff on duty encouraged us to check out the lodge’s lobby and grounds. If camping isn’t your thing but you’d still like a quiet place to escape to, this lodge would be perfect for that. It’s so beautiful and must be a popular place because rooms are booked about a year in advance. We were also introduced to a new critter at Davis Mountains – the javelina. We had heard of them prior to our visit and were surprised to see one pass right in front of us shortly after we arrived. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to decide if I should be afraid of it to take my camera out and get a picture. It didn’t seem to mind being in the presence of humans and just wandered through the campground blissfully unaware that several people were watching it. I was happy that it was a javelina that we saw and not a mountain lion, which was also mentioned in the park flyer.
Davis Mountains is definitely one of those places we wished we had a little more time to explore. Hopefully, we’ll get to visit again one day. Maybe I could convince Charley to book a room in the lodge J
Next stop – New Mexico
