I've lived in Texas nearly all my life, moving here from San Diego with my family when I was just five or six years old. I'll be 30 in December. I was here in San Antonio when it snowed and actually stuck --
13.20" of snowfall on January 12, 1985 (my mother's birthday). My parents, having lived in Rhode Island and Georgia, among other places up north, took the family out to dinner on January 12, 1985 only to have to turn back 1 mile from the restaurant because there were a half dozen police cruisers stuck in herringbone fashion along the snow-covered four-lane roadway we were on (Bandera, near Loop 410)! School was cancelled for at least two days, and I remember building a giant snowman in our front yard.
My mother swears if it ever snows like that again in San Antonio, it will be on her birthday again. We've gotten close several times to receiving actual snowfall on her birthday, but temperatures invariably rise or the fronts stall north of us and dust the Hill Country (Kerrville, Llano, Burnet, etc.) instead. So, mark your calendar for January 12, 2003 -- maybe we'll get lucky. As much as I hate driving in frozen precipitation, it's not much of a worry since anything freezing shuts this city down like a nuclear winter. I just love watching snowflakes fall, or seeing the trees encased in crystalline ice formations.
As for Lost Maples and waterfalls, when you're hiking in the canyon and about to meet up with the intersection of the East and West Trails (near the Can Creek ponds & primitive camping area "C")--
see map--if we're not in a drought you will hear the tell-tale sounds of water either rushing or at least trickling down rock and into a small pool. Follow your ears and wander just a bit off trail to your
right (not toward the ponds), find a good vantage point and you'll see the source of the sound -- fern-shaded waterfalls sheltered amongst the vegetation.
After exploring the waterfall, follow the East Trail as it curves to the left and enjoy the beautiful, emerald green pond and rocky bluffs off Can Creek. Should be some healthy fish in there, and squirrels and such skittering around in the trees. There may be primitive campers there, as it's a choice spot, but I've never encountered folks there--it's a fair hike, and often I'm visiting in the middle of winter or the peak of summer.
That's one of my favorite spots in the park...that and Hale Hollow Creek after a storm, when the limestone and ferns are actively dripping water.
I'd heartily recommend a trip out to Padre Island National Seashore on the Texas coast, as well...especially if you have a 4x4 capable vehicle (or visit when the sand's been compacted by rain shower), so you can travel far enough down island to enjoy the feeling of solitude. We've camped there three or four times now, and I don't think I'll ever get enough of the place. We usually camp 20 miles out from the entrance to the beach, so the only traffic you have are passersby in trucks, usually fisherman heading to choice fishing spots. We flew over Padre Island NS this weekend (Justin, my hubby, is a private pilot so we rent aircraft and take jaunts in the air occasionally), and it looked both pristine, thanks to recent storms clearing away Gulf debris and seaweed, and inviting due to only a few visitors.
If I can help you in any way to find things to explore here in Texas, don't hesitate to ask. That's entirely why this site exists!
Welcome, again. Good to have you here!
- Shannon
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