Nature

Heart of Texas Wildlife Trails Give Texas Travelers an Insider’s Look at the Lone Star State

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Developed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department together with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Heart of Texas Wildlife Trails give travelers an insider’s look at wildlife and natural areas across and throughout Central Texas.

Heart of Texas Wildlife Trails Give Texas Travelers an Insider’s Look at the Lone Star State

Photo: Facebook/Great Texas Birding Classic

The Heart of Texas West trail map, features 12 travel loops and covers the western Texas Hill Country region, including Fredericksburg, and traverses across the Lone Star State to Lake Amistad and San Angelo. The Heart of Texas East trail map, has 14 travel loops between Bastrop and Laredo. It includes wildlife and natural sites in the eastern Texas Hill Country, the Highland Lakes area, Austin, and San Antonio.

Heart of Texas Wildlife Trails Give Texas Travelers an Insider’s Look at the Lone Star State

Photo: Facebook/Friends of Blue Hole

Including many of the most popular state parks in Texas, the trails feature stops at Enchanted Rock, Lost Maples, Garner, and the like, as well as hundreds of wildlife-watching hot spots in lesser-known areas like private ranches, nature lodges, bed & breakfasts, and city parks.

Heart of Texas Wildlife Trails Give Texas Travelers an Insider’s Look at the Lone Star State

Photo: Facebook/Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation

Each loop that’s identified within an East or West Texas trail map is a travel section that connects a specific group of nature sites. The Laredo Loop, for example, offers Bravo Bend Nature Reserve and smaller birding locales along the international border. The Rio Frio Loop, guides you through wildlife-viewing lodges and other special birding spots that are renowned for their species population in Texas. The Stone Bluffs Loop includes guesthouses and private cabins, Canyon of the Eagles Lodge and Nature Park, Lake Buchanan, and Colorado Bend State Park.

Heart of Texas Wildlife Trails Give Texas Travelers an Insider’s Look at the Lone Star State

Photo: Facebook/Guest Ranches of North America

To discover much of the Texas Hill Country according to these guides, you’ll require both maps. Details for each can be found online at links provided for Eastern and Western trail maps. You might also be interested in wildlife driving-trail maps of the Panhandle Plains Wildlife Trail, the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trails, and the Prairies and Pineywoods Wildlife Trails (both East and West,) which can be found online at the links provided. Wherever you go within the Lone Star State, enjoy the ride, follow the map (or the stars,) and have fun exploring the great state of Texas!