The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment in San Marcos offers full-moon kayak tours of Spring Lake, pairing the experience of enjoying the lake in a unique way, with marveling at the astral spectacle from another perspective. Part of Texas State University, the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment manages Spring Lake, in the Texas Hill Country, and has teamed up with REI Outdoor School to provide both kayaking and stand-up paddleboard tours and lessons, giving visitors an athletic experience as well as the opportunity to gaze upon the natural setting in ethereal light, listening to the frogs while floating under pecan and cypress trees.
Things to Do
Full Moon Paddle Tours at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas Offer Solitude Unlike Any Other
By |
Photo: Facebook/The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
REI outfits visitors with all of the necessary equipment and an instructor provides the necessary information about Spring Lake and the natural outpourings that feed it, giving the lake its name. Full moon paddle tours provide an opportunity for a type of solitude you might not otherwise experience. You’ll also see nocturnal wildlife, and while floating quietly, you’ll have the opportunity to hear more species than you may see in the daytime at the lake. In a period of 24 hours, Spring Lake completely refreshes itself. Its source flows directly from the Edwards Aquifer (which spreads between seven Texas counties and feeds seven major springs in addition to those at the lake), and there are a minimum of 200 springs emerging from the bottom, some of which you can see bubbling up through the clear water below as you launch. Open spaces of sand at the lake’s bottom mark the springs, while the rest is forested with aquatic plant life including Texas wild rice – an endangered plant species growing nowhere else worldwide! There’s also several species of fish, including redbreast sunfish and largemouth bass, as well as turtles which you can spot on your tour.
Photo: Facebook/The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
In 1926, A.B. Rogers purchased the land around Spring Lake and constructed a hotel, opening in 1929. Twenty years later, his son Paul fashioned a paddleboat with a glass bottom in order to show visitors the underwater springs. Eventually, he constructed more of the glass-bottom boats and tours became so popular he developed an entire theme park around them, called Aquarena Springs. It included an observation tower, a submarine theater, a sky ride, pioneer village, trails, and a restaurant, operating into the 1990’s. One of its claims to fame was a swimming pig called Ralph and the mermaid shows that used to be performed in the submarine theater! Texas State University bought the land in 1994 and developed the property into an environmental education center, replacing the hotel with office space together with a 1,000-gallon aquarium, an interactive Edwards Aquifer exhibit, and an exhibit featuring endangered species.
Photo: Facebook/The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment is located at 201 San Marcos Springs Drive in San Marcos, Texas. Their website features their mission details, recent news, and schedules for opportunities such as this. For REI members, full-moon kayak tours cost $55, and for non-members, it’s only $5 more. It’s a small price to pay to experience the opportunity to paddle and drift along seeing the moon and its reflection on the water as it ripples from the springs that feed it, fireflies lighting up in the trees, and the sounds of nocturnal Texas. With a select number of your paddling counterparts alongside you, it can be a surreal moment in the darkness, peaceful with its lunar lighting.
Source:
