Davis Mountains, Texas

In July of 2014, I visited the Davis Mountains of West Texas.

The Davis Mountain range forms a unique “sky island” surrounded by the lowland Chihuahuan desert. Due to the higher altitude, the summer is a perfect time to visit. The temperatures were between 50F and 85F.

We stayed at the National Conservancy Preserve, which is around 33,075-acres. There are many great hikes of varying difficulty in the park. Baldy Peak atop Mount Livermore is at 8,382 feet, and is the fourth highest peak in Texas. We had a beautiful day to hike to the summit and found a “loveliness of ladybugs”.

The birders in the group had lots of great birds to see; there were several hummingbird feeders near our tents so we would sit and watch them in the evening.

We also stopped by the McDonald Observatory to check out a few of the telescopes. I was able to “drive” the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), which has air-cushions that inflate when the telescope needs to move. Really cool!

I was also able to visit the Balmorhea State Park. It is a cold spring pool. The pool is up to 25 feet deep, covers 1.75 acres, and holds 3.5 million gallons of water. The water temperature stays at 72 to 76 degrees year-round. It was perfect for the hot summer days.

Part of our trip was a service project. We removed goat wire-barbed wire fencing one morning. Tough work.

Namaste and Happy Trails!

Some helpful links.