Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas state parks have beautiful trails for mountain biking.

I was in west Texas, I’d say, a year ago and rode there. The formations there are like some surrealist painting, and it’s almost too beautiful to ride because you always want to be looking up instead of watching the trail.

Dan Oko, author of Texas Parks and Wildlife’s guide, Bike Texas, tells us about his favorite trails.

Well I call Austin home, so the trail that I ride most of all is the Barton Creek Greenbelt. It’s very challenging. At the far end of the ride from Zilker Park, you reach something called the Hill of Life, which is, I think, a rite of passage for every mountain biker in Texas is to get up that hill without stopping. The most beautiful place I have ridden in Texas is Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo in the Panhandle.

Oko says there’s more to mountain biking than scenery.

I always think of the idea of the balance on the bike as the balance in your life, which is, once you get that sense of balance and the security as a mode of transportation balanced on the bike, then you can feel like everything else in your life can sort of follow that fluidity.

The Bike Texas guide highlights more than forty trails throughout the state, including road bike rides in parks. It’s available online; find a link 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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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Part of the appeal of mountain biking, is the untamed terrain, however, the rocky trails can be a little rough on your bike.

For a beginner, the main things to worry about is do you know how to change a flat? Because if you ride ten miles in and you’ve got to come ten miles back out, you want to have that tire or else its going to be a very long walk.

Dan Oko, author of the Texas Parks and Wildlife guide – Bike Texas, says there are three basic tools that mountain bikers want to pack when heading out for a ride, starting with an Allen Wrench.

They have tire levers which are designed to go underneath the tire so that you can get that inner tube out if you happen to puncture it. I would say those are the two and the third thing is to have a chain device in case you break your chain.

Oko encourages riders to take it a step further than just packing those basic tools

You should learn to use the tools before you have a problem on the trail because chances are trying to figure it out on the trail will be really difficult. I was up in Cedar Hills State Park, outside of Dallas a couple of years ago, and a couple of guys rode up the trail and about two minutes later – they came back out. One of the guys had broken his chain. They didn’t have a chain tool, I did. When I handed the chain tool to the fellow, he didn’t know what to do with it. I ended up fixing his chain.

According to Oko, most local bike shops are more than willing to teach riders who to make repairs.

For more information on bike trails in state parks across Texas, visit 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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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Battleship TEXAS — permanently anchored in Buffalo Bayou — is the last remaining Dreadnaught warship.

That’s a type of battleship that came about in the early nineteen hundreds.

Andy Smith is superintendent of the Battleship TEXAS State Historic site. The ship’s keel was laid in 1911; it was launched in 1912.

We’re looking at almost a hundred year old battleship that is still around, and it’s the only one like it left in the world.

And at nearly a hundred years old, it’s seen better days. November sixth Texans vote on sixteen constitutional amendments. Among them is proposition four — a bond issue that would provide funding for many state agencies for major capital repairs to existing facilities, including Battleship TEXAS.

There is 25-million or so — out of proposition four money — that is earmarked for the battleship. Of course our jobs as stewards of this great ship are to make it last for the next generation and generations after that. We just have not had the money recently to make the repairs like we could with that proposition four money.

The bond money would help build a dry berth. This would get the ship out of the Houston Ship Channel so it’s no longer exposed to corrosive seawater. Learn more about this unique national treasure when you visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Learn more about Proposition 4.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

November sixth, Texans vote on a number of constitutional amendments, including Proposition 4.

Proposition four is a bond issue that would provide funding for many state agencies to make major capital repairs to the facilities that are already existing out there.

Scott Boruff is Deputy Executive Director of Operations.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife it would mean approximately fifty-two million dollars in capital repair money, split evenly between the Battleship Texas, which is in desperate need of some significant repairs, and the rest of the system.

Repairs to the rest of the state park system will include wastewater systems, restrooms, new roofs and other capital repairs.

The proposition four issue we believe will be about one billion dollars – with a b. Of which, only fifty-two million is for Parks and Wildlife. And so, it’s a pretty small percentage of the overall bond issue. I do think parks involvement in bond issues have driven the proposals in the past. And, parks are popular and it is one of those things that I think helps get people out to vote.

Next time — how proposition four would make monies available for the Battleship Texas.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The first time I saw Caprock Canyons State Park I did so from overhead, viewing the…then…14-thousand acre site from inside the cabin of a twin engine plane operated by Parks and Wildlife. The year was 1985; I was a fledgling producer working in public radio, and I was awe-struck.

More than twenty years later, Caprock Canyons SP still inspires awe, and offers even more outdoor opportunities with the addition in 1992 of a 64-mile trailway…bringing the park’s size to nearly 15-thousand acres.

Deanna Oberheu, park superintendent, says on October 20th the park will celebrate its 25th anniversary and the grand opening of a one million dollar visitor’s center.

The new visitor’s center is a brand new facility; it’s over four-thousand square feet. It will have a lot of exhibit space for us to be able to tell the story about Caprock Canyons.

Exhibits won’t be in until spring, but once they are…

The exhibits are going to have to do with the Caprock Canyons Trailway, which visitors don’t get to see a lot of, the Texas State Bison herd, which is housed here at Caprock Canyons SP, and other interesting things about the people and the geology about the canyons.

Visitors may also access a platform adjacent to the new center, overlooking the Texas State Bison Herd pasture.

Find links to information about the celebration and grand opening at passorttotexas.org. That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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October 20, 2007 — Caprock Canyons SP & Trailway — Visitor’s Center Grand Opening — The opening will be held in conjunction with the park’s 25th anniversary celebration. Other special events will occur throughout the day and park entrance fees will be waived. Call for more information (806) 455-1492.

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