Texas Local Customs

The Texas Hill Country is a popular location amongst Texans during the scorching summer months, where people tend to take to the great outdoors – enjoying a hike somewhere out in the rugged hills comprised mostly of limestone, engaging in canoeing or kayaking in one of the numerous waterways, or swimming in a natural pool, river, or lake.

My family and I particularly fond of the Hill Country, spending many of our holidays and other vacations roaming around this region like a small band of nomads. Every opportunity we receive – which haven’t been many as of late – we pack the Honda Pilot with a weekend’s worth of supplies, a small amount of clothing, our trusty roadmap and just drive deep into the heart of this region.

During one such outing, in which the temperature remained well above one-hundred degrees all day long for four days straight, we visited Inks Lake State Park, in the town of Burnet, some thirty or forty miles northwest of Austin – a park owned by the State of Texas and operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), which encompasses some 1,201 acres of land.

Since the 1800s the park has been used for cattle-ranching and, until 1940, it had remained a part of numerous privately owned ranches. During their stay at the Longhorn Caverns, the Civilian Conversation Cops (CCC), while working for a measely dollar pre day during the Great American Depression, constructed all the culverts and roads that exist in the park today.

Being that the lake is manmade and thereby never affected by droughts, it has become a popular summer destination with locals. Another reason why it is so popular – and some would say this is the only reason – is because of its location: it is located in the Highland Lakes chain (7 lakes total), surrounded by numerous granite hills; and as you can clearly see in one of my pictures and videos as well, people like to jump into the lake from the highest elevations of the hills’ cliffs and granite rocks.

The Pictures

Photo #1: My children standing on one of the cliffs.

Photo #2: Some kids jumping off a cliff.

Photo #3: Another kid about to jump of one of the highest cliffs.

Photo #4: A view of the landscape.

Texas Local Customs

Visiting Texas?

Visiting Texas?