Texas state parks opening to digital treasure hunting

If you've heard about the high-tech treasure hunt called geocaching but haven't tried it, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has launched a pilot project to show people that they need not abandon computers to have fun outdoors.

Participants in the Texas Geocache Challenge will use hand-held global positioning system computers to find boxes of "treasure" hidden in 12 state parks in the Hill Country and southeastern Central Texas.

Inside each box, geocachers will find information about the park, a logbook, small prizes and a paper punch for marking their Texas Geocache Passports to verify the visit.

The search continues through Jan. 31 and, after finding all 12 caches, a participant can mail a completed passport to TPWD to qualify for small prizes and a certificate of completion.

State-park treasure hunts have become popular in recent years. Arkansas launched a geocache program nearly three years ago and now places caches in all 52 state parks plus a final, 53rd, secret location. If park hunts catch on in Texas, TPWD officials say they may expand the program statewide next year.

If you don't own a GPS but want to join the search? Texas Parks and Wildlife is developing a non-GPS version of the game for people who want to follow clues the old-fashioned way. Clues are provided on the TPWD Web site.

Country Coach RV club to hold rally in Kerrville, May 19-23

Country Coach International (CCI), a club for Country Coach motorcoach owners will hold its 2010 rally in Kerrville, Texas May 19-23 at the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort. One hundred CCI member coaches are expected. Entertainment will include the Almost Patsy Cline Band, a country western band; and the Sentimental Journey Big Band.

The CCI Club, in its 26th year, is an independent chapter of the Family Motor Coach Association and is a non-profit organization functioning as the social club for Country Coach Motorcoach Owners. The Club formed at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California in 1983 and became a chapter of Family Motor Coach Association in November of that same year. Since that time it grew to be among the larger chapters in the FMCA organization. All Country Coach owners are invited to join. Information is at the club's website or by calling 800-537-0622.

Remember the Alamo

Many travelers to San Antonio know before they arrive that they want to visit the Alamo, which gained fame during the Texas Revolution and where Davy Crockett's life ended. They may, however, need a prod to remember the Alamo’s four sister sites, the missions preserved in the national historical park that bears their name.

Mission San Antonio (also known as the Alamo) and the missions Concepcion, San José, San Juan, and Espada were founded in the 1700s. The four missions in the park display Spanish Colonial baroque architecture, exemplified by Mission San José, with its ornate façade and rose window. When visitors enter a mission church, they may feel as if they have stepped back in time.

The churches work with remnants of walled pueblos, a reconstruction of a 1794 gristmill, and an 18th-century stone aqueduct to bring the Spanish Colonial period into focus. The park’s museum and daily tours also illustrate this chapter of the past.

Although people visit San Antonio Missions National Historic Park (NHP) primarily to discover architecture, art, and history, the park also offers outdoor recreation. The four missions have accessible, short walking paths and a route along the San Antonio River for hiking and bicycling.


San Antonio Missions NHP preserves and interprets the largest concentration of Spanish Colonial resources in the country. Admission to the park is free and open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Texas Motor Speedway to add family RV campground

Texas Motor Speedway is adding fan amenities with the addition of a family RV campground area that will be in place for the 2010 race season.
Utilizing a four-acre tract on the northeast corner of the property they will carve out a 158-space camping area that will cater solely to families. The family campground area will be completely fenced in and feature reserved spaces, around-the-clock presence by the Fort Worth Police Department, 10 p.m. noise curfew and zero tolerance policy for disruptive behavior of any sort.
The pricing also is family friendly at $350 per year or $200 for each NASCAR race weekend and $75 for the IZOD IndyCar Series weekend, making it the least expensive reserved RV campground area that Texas Motor Speedway offers.

Holiday Gifts ideas for for Texas outdoor enthusiasts

If you’re fresh out of holiday gift ideas for your eco-minded cousin or that relative who would rather spend his or her spare time in the woods, on the lake or at a state park, or even for yourself, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department invites you to shop the outdoors.

How about customizing your "sled" with one of TPWD’s four conservation license plates to show your affinity for wildflowers, horned lizards, largemouth bass or white-tailed deer? A portion of every $30 license plate goes to support state parks, wildlife diversity, state fishing programs and research, and wildlife management and research. Since their inception, the conservation license plates have generated more than $4 million in sales for Texas land and water conservation initiatives.

Help support TPWD conservation efforts while adding to your art collection by purchasing the 2008 collector’s edition of hunting and fishing stamps. The collection sells for $21.65 and includes six different stamps designed by noted wildlife artists.

And what self-respecting conservationist would want to be without a subscription to the state’s premier outdoors publication for more than 50 years, Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. Go online to see special offers, including two gift subscriptions for $20 that includes choice of either a "Go Fish Texas" map or "Texas Saltwater & Freshwater Fish Pocket I.D. Guide." Teachers receive a special $9.95 annual subscription rate to foster outreach to the state’s increasingly urbanized school populations.

Other featured products this year on TPWD’s "Shop the Outdoors" Web page include "Life’s Better Outside" bumper stickers, maps of the Texas Wildlife and Great Texas Coastal Birding trails, a colorful Hummingbird Wheel featuring the 16 species documented in Texas and nine different videos of programs produced for the Texas Parks & Wildlife television show on PBS.

TPWD’s online gift shop also offers colorful posters from the past 17 Texas Wildlife Expos held each fall in Austin for only $10 each. Or for that special saltwater angler on your shopping list, pick up the "Saltwater Fishes of Texas" poster, or one of Sea Center Texas’ posters featuring a spotted sea trout or redfish. Freshwater fishing aficionados may prefer the "Freshwater Fishes of Texas" or the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center’s largemouth bass poster. All posters sell for under $20.

After shopping for everyone else on your holiday list, why not buy something special for yourself. You can purchase a Lifetime Super Combo License for $1,800 that will allow you to hunt and fish in Texas without ever having to buy another license or stamp. Lifetime licenses solely for hunting or fishing also are available for purchase. Call 1-800-792-1112, option 9, for requirements and processing time for licenses.

Books and DVDs about RVing in Texas.

Port Aransas debuts nature preserve

The island community of Port Aransas is home to winged, four legged, and tourist wildlife twelve months out of the year. The debut of 1,217-acre Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture is a chance for all of them to get closer to each other.

“It’s a chance for people to walk into nature,” said Joan Holt, the University of Texas Marine Science Institute’s director of fisheries and mariculture who helped develop the birding sites in the preserve. “People of any age and ability can get a view of an area not a lot of people could get to before. I think it will be used a lot for enjoying nature, sunsets, fishing, hiking, kayaking, and birdwatching.”

Two miles of crushed granite trails and boardwalk now wind through the terrain providing visitors with a bird’s-eye view of habitat that is home to a variety of species including alligators, birds, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, jack rabbits, feral hogs, and endangered sea turtles. The boardwalk ends on Salt Island, an upland land mass out in wetlands surrounded by tidal flats, providing a two story observation tower.

The close-by Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve also provides recreational opportunities such as boating, fishing, kayaking, and shellfish harvesting.
Camping is available at Island RV Resort, Port Aransas, from which you can walk to seafood restaurants, shopping, and the boat harbor.

The Reserve consists of coastal prairie with unique oak motte habitats, including riparian, fresh, and salt water marshes with open bays, extensive tidal flats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, and oyster reefs. And if you get lucky, you could see endangered whooping cranes.