Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

On November 3rd, the city of Bastrop launched a new paddling trail with the help of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

I think that this trail is just a great half day trip for families and friends and people who just want to get out on the water.

Shelly Plante is the coordinator for Nature Tourism at Parks and Wildlife

This paddling trail, El Camino Real, starts off in downtown but goes through the piney woods as you head to the take out point. So you’re going to see something very different for Central Texas. This is just not the type of trees that you typically see in Central Texas.

The El Camino Real Paddling Trail is a 6 mile paddle.

This trail is actually fairly slow moving, fairly calm. There are a few minor rapids. There are a lot of great sandbars where you can take out and picnic, you can go swim and rest for a while. It’s a fairly leisurely run actually.

Although the trail starts in downtown Bastrop, paddlers will see a variety of wildlife.

There’s a lot of diversity. You’ll see a lot of different kinds of trees and there’s a lot of different birds. You’ll see everything from raptors like hawks, to king fishers, little bitty birds, to some of our large birds such as great blue herons.

More information about the El Camino Real Paddling Trail and the other 10 paddling trails in Texas is available at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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