Happy Halloween!

This year, the Runaway Fright Train from Jefferson will be overrun by Freaky Fairy Tales characters as childhood stories come to life!  The first run of each night is family-oriented, while the later runs are for patrons that want to be scared to death! Take a ride on the 40-minute 5-mile long Haunted House along the tracks of the Historic Jefferson Railway. Go to Terror on the Bayou to purchase tickets and for more information.

Before or after your excursion, you may want to walk through the Creepy Screamin’ Corn Maze, a dark walk through Piney Woods, a haunted cemetery and the 100 foot underground Tunnel of Doom.  There is a daylight G-rated excursions through the Screamin’ Corn Maze on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 pm.

There are several nearby campgrounds and  RV parks.  For more information, see Corps of Engineer parks on Lake O’ the Pines.

It took me forever to pick out the photographs for my last post on Longhorn Cavern State Park.  I wanted to fill in some of the details on the Longhorn Cavern State Park in this post. Longhorn Cavern State Park features Longhorn Cavern, a Texas Hill Country wonder created over thousands of years by the dissolving and abrading action of water on the limestone bedrock of the area. Longhorn Cavern is one of the few river-formed caverns in the world, which makes it unique.

Fossil remains show that Ice Age animals once occupied the cave. Earliest records indicate that the Comanche Indians were the first people to use the cavern. The cavern was used as a Confederate stronghold where gunpowder was stored  in secret during the Civil War. The cavern is also rumored to have been the hideout of Sam Bass, a legendary Texas outlaw.  Legend has it that there is a treasure trove from his last bank robbery stashed in the cave. During Prohibition, a Speakeasy operated inside the cavern, complete with a 9-piece band.  On Sunday mornings, bleachers were set up in the same area so that people could attend services.

The park was dedicated in 1931.  Work began shortly thereafter on the park using convict labor.  Due to the concerns of neighbors, this practice was discontinued.  Not much work was completed until the Civilian Conservation Corps began work on the park.  During the four years the CCC was active in the park, 2-1/2 million cubic yards of earth, guano and rock were removed using only manual labor, buckets, shovels and wheelbarrows.  This cleared a  1-1/2 mile trail within the cave that includes the tour of today. Most of this rock and fill was used to form the base of Park Road 4.  World War II stopped all CCC activity in the park and all parks in Texas and the USA.

Today, in addition to the standard tour, there are special tours that may be arranged, like geology tours, biology tours, paranormal tours, phototography tours, wild cave tours, as well as weddings and concerts.  This cave has more action than downtown on a Saturday night.

We are leaving to stay at Medina Lake, east of San Antonio.  This Thousand Trails refuge has a huge herd of White-Tailed deer. We are looking forward to seeing this year’s crop of baby deer.  These deer come up and eat out of your hand. It is such a neat way to end the day.

I  hope we can travel while based at Medina Lake.  I would love to see the Sabinal, Frio and Nueces Rivers again. Especially if they have water flowing.

I also want to drive Hwy 16 to Bandera, which is supposed to be just beautiful (and haunted).  Woo-ooo.

There is wireless access; so I will be checking in with photographs.