Outdoor Recreation

Texans love spending time outdoors. Our balmy winters in the south and cool summer temperatures in the west Texas mountain country combined with some of the best spring and fall weather anywhere in the country guarantees outdoors enthusiasts some place to go anytime of the year.

Get Outside!

Hiking, fishing, bicycling, kayaking, birding, camping, and family picnicking rate among the top ten outdoor pursuits favored by Texans. And we’ve got lots of country to do it in. State parks, national parks, national forests, state natural areas, national wildlife refuges, beaches, city parks, country roads, lakes, and rivers all contribute to Texas’ natural world. Half a million people visit our national parks each year and come from all over the world. A nationally recognized bicycling route bisects the southern half of our state, stretching over nine hundred miles of secondary roads in Texas from our eastern border to our western.

Padre Island, our longest barrier island, provides over sixty miles of sandy beaches. Rivers like the Guadalupe and the San Marcos offer summer “toobing”, canoeing, and kayaking or, for the more adventurous, the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande comprise a rugged and isolated stretch of our river border under federal Wild and Scenic River designation. And our birding opportunities are the best in the country. Just ask our World Birding Center in the Rio Grande Valley’s Edinburg. So turn off your devices and get outside!