Texas

Texas offers desert mountain hiking, Gulf coast beaches and birding, paddling spring-fed rivers and canyons, caving, and stargazing under huge skies. Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains (with the state's highest peak), Palo Duro Canyon, the Hill Country rivers, and Padre Island National Seashore anchor it.

Spring and fall are ideal across most of the state; the deserts and Big Bend are best October–April. Summer is brutally hot inland, best for the cooler Gulf coast and the spring-fed Hill Country rivers.

From desert bighorn sheep, javelinas, and black bears in Big Bend to the world-class birding of the Gulf coast and Rio Grande Valley (the most bird species of any state) and the Bracken Cave bat colony near San Antonio — the largest concentration of mammals on Earth, with millions of bats.

Chihuahuan Desert, Hill Country savanna and spring ecosystems, coastal prairie and barrier-island beaches, piney woods in the east, and high plains make Texas one of the most ecologically diverse states; Padre Island is the world's longest undeveloped barrier island.

Texas spans the Chihuahuan Desert and the uplifted Guadalupe and Davis mountains in the west (8,751-ft Guadalupe Peak is the high point), the Edwards Plateau and Balcones Escarpment of the Hill Country with its springs and caves, the canyons of the panhandle (Palo Duro is the second-largest U.S. canyon), and the Gulf coastal plain.

Numerous peoples — Comanche, Apache, Caddo, and others — inhabited Texas, which was Spanish, then Mexican, then an independent republic before joining the Union as the 28th state in 1845.

Ranching and Western heritage, a strong river-tubing and spring-swimming tradition in the Hill Country, dark-sky stargazing in the west, and Gulf coast fishing define the outdoors.

Protecting Big Bend's desert and the binational Rio Grande, conserving Hill Country springs and aquifers, dark skies, and Gulf coast habitat are central efforts.

Major airports at Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio; Big Bend is remote, hours from El Paso or Midland. A vehicle is essential, and distances are enormous.

Desert heat and dehydration (carry abundant water), flash floods in canyons and the Hill Country, remoteness in Big Bend with no cell service, rip currents on the Gulf, and venomous snakes are the main concerns.

State parks charge a fee and often require day-use reservations, and Texas Parks and Wildlife administers licenses; Big Bend and the Guadalupe Mountains require park passes.

Carry abundant water, and reserve popular state parks ahead.

Visit Big Bend and the deserts in the cool months (carry lots of water and fuel), tube the spring-fed Hill Country rivers in summer, and stay for the West Texas dark skies. Bird the Gulf coast during migration.

Texas borders New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mexico, linking Big Bend, the Hill Country, the Gulf coast, and the high plains.