47: Soaked In

Love Creek Preserve, Medina, Texas

M E D I N A,  T X

When Ranch Road 2828 intersects Main Street in Medina, Texas, I’m surprised by how small this town is.  Everything’s bigger in Texas, right?  But Medina is small.  I was hoping to stop here for breakfast and a few water bottles before heading off to visit Love Creek Preserve.  There’s not even a gas station here.  But then I spot a divey BBQ joint that surprisingly is open for breakfast.  I skeptically pull into the empty parking lot, and while getting out of my rental car a woman named Karen emerges and stoutly asks “Where’d you come from?”  I say Virginia but she doesn’t like my answer.  She wants to know specifically which roads I drove in on this morning.  Some areas got four inches of rain overnight and many of the roads in the area have flooded.  Apparently, I chose a flood-free route to Medina.  I tell her I was unimpeded in my hour long drive over from Fredericksburg. 

By coincidence, Karen happens to know Love Creek Preserve quite well.  She lives on the access road to the property but didn’t go home last night for fear that the road was washed out.  She tells me about the Elam Creek crossing I’ll have to negotiate on my way to the preserve this morning.  But then adds with Texas confidence… you’ll be OK.  With that, thoughts of getting washed away in a Hill Country creek crossing stay front-and-center while I eat a bean burrito for breakfast. 

The Nature Conservancy’s Love Creek Preserve is a 2,500 acre property in the western Hill Country of Texas.  Its namesake crystal clear creek emanates from numerous springs and flows for two miles through deep, cool canyons, enabling a wide variety of native plants and wildlife to flourish.  By some measures, it represents one of the more diverse habitats in the nation and flows through some of the most scenic land in Texas. 

Love Creek is not open to the public.  In fact, it sits off a private road blocked by an eight-foot high locked gate.  But I was given the combination after contacting Karen’s neighbor Rebecca Neil, the Love Creek property manager.  To get to that gate though, you must first cross a creek.

As I pull up to the edge of Elam Creek, it brings with it a decision I rarely have to make - to cross or not to cross.   But frankly, with Karen’s you’ll be OK comment behind me, I confidently accelerate into the water assuming momentum will carry me across.  It works.  I splash out the other side and trudge onward now toward that eight foot gate, which a half-mile up the road I find wide open – no combination necessary today. 

Further on, at the intersection with Loop Road, my 2WD car can take me no further.  Without 4WD, the road becomes a hiking trail.  It meanders atop the highest ridge on this property for half a mile and leads to the Love Creek Trail junction.  Here the trail drops down a sharp ravine for another half-mile to creek’s edge.   It’s a very quiet, peaceful walk through a wet mix of bluestem and switchgrass, oak, juniper, and lost maples. 

Arriving at the edge of Love Creek brings with it an ultimate sense of accomplishment.  A few days ago, the chances of actually seeing Love Creek were pretty remote.  Here I now sit creekside in one of the most beautiful and pristine spots in Texas.  The water’s clarity is stunning.  The bright beige limestone base adds an element of lucidity to the water.  Peeling off boots and socks is the final barrier to totaling embracing Love Creek.  Wading shin-deep into the earthy-warm clear water surrounded by an invigorating canyon is an ideal prescription for a life chock full of all-things-artificial.  After a time, I come ashore, find a comfortable seat to slowly let my feet dry, and simply soak in more of this wonderland. 

On the way out, walking up Loop Road, I veer off onto a side trail leading to an even higher spot – perhaps the most-elevated knob on this entire property.  Hill Country is on full display in all directions.  It’s a great spot to revel in the joy of having visited two amazing Nature Conservancy preserves over the past twenty four hours.  

Karen mentioned during breakfast that most people don’t realize just how beautiful Hill Country is.  She’s lived here all her life and still has not become jaded.   It’s refreshing to hear such enthusiasm from a local.  And now having spent the past few days driving around wide-eyed, I’ll leave here agreeing wholeheartedly with her.  The Hill Country of Texas truly is a beautiful place.  

LEARN MORE ABOUT TNC’S WORK AT LOVE CREEK HERE.