TEXAS LIFESTYLE | REVIEWS TEXAS
Explore a Hill Country Crown Jewel Westcave Preserve offers an unforgettable walk with nature
By Terri Schexnayder
Visitors to this magical place, with its astonishing 40-foot waterfall, soon learn of an incredible history of preservation. Located just 30 miles west of downtown Austin, Westcave Preserve’s story began long ago as a favorite picnic spot and swimming hole for campers. Steady wear-and-tear and growing graffiti motivated landowner John Covert Watson to establish a full-time manager to protect it.
Davenport, a Westcave docent, appreciates the reactions of those she welcomes. “It’s the whole amphitheater—the waterfall, emerald plunge pool and cave—that makes them go, ‘Ooh’ and ‘Ahh,’” said Davenport. “This fern-covered grotto could be in a rain forest.” In addition to guided tours into the canyon, where you will discover a fast-flowing stream, there are many nature trails through the drier upland plateau on which to connect with the nine-banded armadillo or Greater Roadrunner. 24814 HAMILTON POOL RD I ROUND MOUNTAIN WESTCAVE.ORG
Photo courtesy Texas A&M University Press
Authors S. Christopher Caran and Elaine Davenport share the tale of survival, and now-flourishing flora and fauna in Discovering Westcave: The Natural & Human History of a Hill Country Nature Preserve (Texas A&M University Press, 2016).
Westcave Preserve’s “Must See & Do” Look up at the limestone ceiling of the cavity, for which Westcave was named. You’ll see shells of fossil oysters from a time when part of this central Texas area was an ocean. Visit Ahrns Grove, named after former Preserve Director John Ahrns. Among the variety of trees, be sure and sniff the Mexican Plum, which reportedly smells like a tortilla. The Warren Skaaren Environmental Learning Center houses the Solar Observatory. Here, wrote Davenport, “a spot of sunlight crossing the meridian line has been rigged” to play a few bars of the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”
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