Texas Hill Country Route

I picked up OnX Offroad after reading about the various options for planning and navigating routes.  I have really enjoyed using it, and feel that it has expanded routes and given me scenery I might not have realized was available otherwise.  It has a number of pre-planned routes with detailed information and occasionally pictures supplied by users.  I started by testing it out close to home on their Texas Hill Country Tour route.  Starting in Fredericksburg the route loops around Junction and Barksdale, ending up at Rocksprings. 

The majority of the roads are paved county roads, but there are a handful of well-maintained gravel roads.  OnX gives the route a technical rating of 2/10.  But when the roads are dry I would be hard-pressed to do more than give it a 1/10.  The roads go through private property – just stay on the road and you’ll be fine.  There also are a number of gates for livestock.  Just follow the Texas gate rule: close behind you what you find closed, leave open what you find open.  I found a series of bump gates along one stretch.  Bump gates are hung to swing closed by themselves so you can “bump” them open with your vehicle as you go through.  But unless your vehicle is well protected or you don’t care about getting it scraped with a metal gate, you can manually open and hold it open as you go through.  Unfortunately I was by myself, so I got pretty tired jumping in and out of my Jeep so many times!  There are several easy stream crossings, and they could be challenging after a heavy rain. 

If you enjoy fly fishing, I recommend finding some public access spots along the South Llano river southwest of Junction.  The South Llano is a spring-fed river that has Guadalupe Bass and different species of pan fish in them.  The Llano Bug is a pretty famous local top-water fly for the area.  I tie a variation with a size 8 hook primarily to keep all the baby pan fish from getting on the fly. 

You might want to stop to have a bite or two along the way as well.  There are several good places to eat in Fredericksburg including Altdorf Biergarten (with Warsteiner Pilsner on tap) and the Old German Bakery (breakfast and lunch only).  The Hill Top Café is well worth the stop.