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[Deep Blue Dives]

I have done a few nice rides in the 250 mile range NE of Ft. Worth, and down to Somerville this past weekend.  It's the greenest, and nicest our state has looked in many years.  The blue bonnets are off the hook, and the paint brush wild flowers are really coming on line.

Love the sisters - my favorite in Tejas!

[DDavidson]

The pics are good and I was curious so I looked up "Texas Hill Country".
Very cool, nice lookin' Polecat.  

Texas Hill Country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the American Viticultural Area, see Texas Hill Country AVA.
Coordinates: 30°10′27″N 99°03′55″W
Texas Hill Country
Region

Hill Country, Bandera County
Country    United States
State    Texas
Region   Central Texas
Coordinates   30°10′27″N 99°03′55″W
Highest point   
 - elevation   750 m (2,461 ft)
Lowest point   
 - elevation   300 m (984 ft)

Map of Texas Hill Country
Website: Handbook of Texas: Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite.[1] It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located 18 miles (29 km) north of Fredericksburg. The Hill Country reaches into portions of the two major metropolitan areas of Central Texas, especially in San Antonio's northern suburbs and the western half of Travis County, ending just west of downtown Austin. The region is the eastern portion of the Edwards Plateau and the easternmost region of the American Southwest[citation needed], and is bound by the Balcones Fault on the east and the Llano Uplift to the west and north. The terrain is punctuated by a large number of limestone or granite rocks and boulders and a thin layer of topsoil, which makes the region very dry and prone to flash flooding. The Texas Hill Country is also home to several native Southwestern types of vegetation, such as various yucca, prickly pear cactus, and the dry Southwestern tree known as the Texas live oak.[2]

Texas wine country?

[Deep Blue Dives]

Texas wine country?

Yes it is!  This picture was sent to me from a friend that was a bit further South and West of where I was this past weekend, the bluebonnets are awesome this year.

Highway 306 from New Braunfels to Purgatory Road (almost to Canyon Lake).

[RGMax]

Nice one!

[Trapperdog]

Yes it is!  This picture was sent to me from a friend that was a bit further South and West of where I was this past weekend, the bluebonnets are awesome this year.
Highway 306 from New Braunfels to Purgatory Road (almost to Canyon Lake).

I had to look up bluebonnets. Turns out it's the Texas state flower and what we call lupine out here but doesn't flourish quite as well as in your friends pic. I didn't know that there is a hill country there either. Learn something every day. Nice to know too as we may be out there in early June.

[MKW]

We put 980 miles on the bike this weekend and had a blast in the Texas Hill Country....Feel free to Post some of your Texas Hill Country photos...this first picture is the Willow City Loop.....

Hey, RGMax, I'm a member of THCC (prior Caliente).  Do you ride with a chapter?

[DDavidson]

the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock

Any Enchanted Rock pics?

 

From Wiki:
Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name 'Enchanted Rock'). While attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, where they were invisible from the ground below. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists attribute to the rock's night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The name "Enchanted Rock" derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore; the name "Crying Rock" has also been given to the formation.

The following is on a plaque on Enchanted Rock[11]
From its summit in 1841, Captain John C. Hays, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company repulsed the whole band and inflicted upon them such heavy losses that they fled. Marked by the State of Texas 1936

In reality John Coffee Hays did defend himself in the rocks against an attacking Comanche band for a long period of time until the Rangers arrived to repel the warriors. After this the Comanche considered Jack to be a mystical warrior of great bravery and honor. This has been documented on both sides, Comanche lore and Texas historians.

[Deep Blue Dives]

Any Enchanted Rock pics?

Here are a few from when I took my kids and their German Exchange student friend to the Hill Country last fall.

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