SHPRESA – Texas Road Trip March 20th – 23rd

DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS IS WHAT THEY SAY

SO, LET’S GET TO KNOW IT

KEEP IN MIND BEFORE THE TRIP • ONE BACKPACK PER PERSON ONLY FOR

CLOTHING AND TOILETRIES (SPACE IS LIMITED)

• WAKE UP EARLY!!! WE SHOULD LEAVE HOUSTON AROUND 9:30AM

• BRING TWO PAIR OF SHOES (CASUAL AND SNEAKERS)

• WE WILL ALL BE MEETING AT ONE LOCATION AND LOAD IN THE VAN. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A RIDE THAT EARLY MORNING.

Fredericksburg 3hrs 42min from Houston

(238mi) • Fredericksburg, Texas, is located in the

Texas Hill Country, 80 miles west of Austin, and 70 miles north of San Antonio. Home to a thriving German community, Fredericksburg, Texas welcomes visitors from all over the world who want to experience the beauty of the Hill Country, and stay at a romantic Hill Country Bed and Breakfast!

• Gillespie County produces 40% of all the peaches grown in the state of Texas. Roadside stands line many of the roads leading into Fredericksburg, Texas,with a major concentration along Highway 290 between Fredericksburg and Stonewall and along Highway 87 South. The peach season in the Texas Hill Country runs from mid-May through the first week of August in a normal year. Several orchards offer pick-your-own. The Hill Country Fruit Council produces a listing of its members in a brochure entitled Fredericksburg Stonewall Peaches

Kerrville 27min from Fredericksburg (25mi) • Next stop is Kerrville, which you

can reach by looping around on Highway 16 or cutting straight to it on 173. Stop for a meal at Billy Gene's Restaurant (1489 Junction Hwy.; tel. 1 830 895 7377; www.billygenesrestaurant), known for its chicken-fried steak and its views of the Guadalupe River. Then check in at the Inn of the Hills (1001 Junction Hwy.; tel. 1 830 895 5000;www.innofthehills.com), with such amenities as live country music and an Olympic-size pool. Next door is a family sports center with a 16-lane bowling alley, so pack your finest bowling shirts.

El Capitan 6hrs 13mins from Kerrville (431mi)

• Guadalupe Mountains National Park is the world's premier example of a fossil reef from the Permian Era. The park is known for its extensive hiking and backpacking opportunities in one of the nation's most pristine wilderness areas. Birding, history, and many other opportunities to learn and have fun await visitors in this hidden gem of West Texas.

Fort Davis & Davis Mt. Park2hrs 27min from El Captian (140mi) • Fort Davis is one of the best

surviving examples of an Indian Wars frontier military post in the Southwest. From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and on the Chihuahua Trail.

• Davis Mt. Park - Activities include camping, sightseeing, nature study, picnicking, hiking, backpacking, day and overnight equestrian use, mountain biking, and interpretive programs. Attractions include scenic drives, two scenic overlooks, and 4 miles of hiking trails.

Big Bend National Park 1hr 40min from Fort Davis (95mi) • The rocks of Big Bend are a complex lot.

Two seas, one after another, flowed and subsided in the region hundreds of millions of years ago, leaving thick deposits of limestone and shale. The present mountains, except the Chisos, uplifted along with the Rockies, roughly 75 million years ago. Around the same time, a 40-mile-wide trough—most of the present-day park—sank along fault lines, leaving the cliffs of Santa Elena Canyon to the west and the Sierra del Carmen to the east rising 1,500 feet and more above the desert floor. In the center, volcanic activity spewed layer upon layer of ash into the air and squeezed molten rock up through the ground to form the Chisos Mountains some 35 million years ago. Molten rock also cooled and hardened underground later to be exposed by erosion.

• Big Bend's topographic variety supports a remarkable diversity of life, including 1,200 plant species—some found nowhere else in the world.

• People have passed through this terrain for at least 10,000 years. The human pageant in historical times has included Apache, Spanish conquistadores, Comanche, U.S. soldiers, miners, ranchers and farmers, Mexican revolutionaries, and international outlaws and bandits.

Map of Our Trip