OLD TUNNEL STATE PARK Far from the cityfind amazing burgers and bats

SECLUDED Wonders

Contributed photo by Samuel Beaver

Story by Jenna Carpenter, photos by Parastoo Nikravesh L ocated on Old San Antonio Road, several miles off Interstate 10 is Old Tunnel State Park. It’s aptly named, as it used to be a railroad tunnel of the Fredericksburg and Northern Railway.

Railroad operations stopped in 1942, and the property came under the purview of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 2012.

It now functions as a state park and the tunnel itself is home to three million Mexican freetailed bats.

For Nyta Brown, superintendent of Old Tunnel State Park, that is what makes the park special.

“It is the smallest official state park in Texas, but has the largest population of any mammal in one place,”

Brown is the only person who staffs the park, so she is responsible for all operations, interpretation and maintenance. “I couldn’t do my job without all the wonderful volunteers that assist me at the park,” she said. People can watch the bat emergence from May to October, and the best time of year to see them is August and September, Brown said.

“They usually emerge earlier and there are more of them,” she said.

There are two ways to view the bats. One is from an upper viewing area, which is open to the general public.

The lower viewing area is open Thursday through Sunday for nightly tours. Here, guests get an up-close view of the emergence, and have the opportunity to hear the flap of their wings as they go out into the night.

It’s an experience that never gets old, Brown said.

The way to ensure you see the bats is to do your research, Brown said.

“The best tip I can offer is to know that bats do not follow a schedule,” she said. “Emergence times can vary nightly.”

She suggests calling the bat information line at 866-978-2287 or checking the official Old Tunnel Facebook page to get the most accurate bat time information.

The park is open year-round. Guests are welcome to hike the half-mile trail, which opens at sunrise and closes at 5 p.m.

Last year, 75,000 people visited Old Tunnel State Park, Brown said.

Old Tunnel State Park is located at 10619 Old San Antonio Road in Fredericksburg.

Alamo Springs Cafe

After you walk the trails and see the bats at Old Tunnel State Park, eat up at Alamo Springs Cafe. Open since 2006 it is right next door to Old Tunnel State Park and serves as a fuel station of sorts for visitors to the park.

Wednesday through Sunday, Alamo Springs Cafe dishes out half-pound burgers, chicken sandwiches, fried pickles french fries, onion rings and desserts like chocolate cake and a variety of pies.

The cafe is famous for their burgers and has become a destination for burger connoisseurs, who make the trip just to get their hands on the hamburgers.

“We get a mix of people — some of our guests are people who have lived on this hill for 20 to 30 years. And we get people who come to try out our cover burger,” said Brian O’Neil, owner.

The cover burger was a burger that was featured on the cover of Texas Monthly in 2009. That edition featured the 50 best burgers in the state.

That burger, which is a fan favorite, is topped with the basics like lettuce, cheese and tomato, but also contains grilled onions, avocado, and green chiles — all on a jalapeño cheese bun. “It’s a combination that people had put together and it was already popular,” O’Neil said. “It’s also pretty photogenic.”

Each burger comes with a choice of cheese,mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. Add-ons include chili, avocado, bacon and mushrooms.

And while the burger is massive — each weighing half a pound — you don’t feel weighed down after eating it. “It’s all about the right blend of beef, so it’s not super greasy,” O’Neil said. O’Neil, restaurateur from Austin who has managed places like Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden, Uchi, Max’s Wine Dive, and Gus’s Fried Chicken, bought Alamo Springs Cafe about a year ago.

“I’ve been coming out here for years, and I thought it was a cool place,” he said.

The menu he inherited from the previous owner hasn’t changed.

“I don’t mess with success,” he said. Alamo Springs Cafe is also home to the Jefe’s Challenge — where brave souls take on a massive creation of six beef patties, six slices of cheese and a large order of fries.

If you eat it in under 30 minutes and stay at the table for another 15 minutes, you get the meal for free. You also get a free T-shirt and will be featured on the “Glutton’s Wall of Fame.” If you lose, you pay $38.

There’s a new contender about five times a week. But only one person every three weeks is successful, O’Neil said.

Other hot-ticket menu items include the catfish, portobello mushroom sandwich and fried shrimp platter.

With Old Tunnel State Park nearby, the restaurant tends to get busy around 7 p.m., which is when the bats that live in the tunnel wake up for the night, O’Neil said. So he suggests to plan accordingly, and stop for dinner

around 6 p.m. or 8 p.m.

Alamo Springs Cafe is located on 107 Alamo Road in Fredericksburg. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday. On Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, it closes at 8 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, it closes at 9 p.m.

Wildseed Farms

When you think of the Texas Hill Country, fields filled with wildflowers like bluebonnets and Indian paint brushes may come to mind.

Every spring, these flowers pop up along the interstate, highways and country roads. It’s a beautiful sight unique to Texas.

But you don’t have to stop along a busy road to experience the vibrant hues of lilac and orange.

Wildseed Farms, located a little ways out of Fredericksburg, is home to 200 acres of wildflower fields.

The flowers that pop up along those fields vary with the season, but depending on when you visit you can expect to see gloriosa daisies, cosmos, red corn poppies, bluebonnets, rocket larkspurs and sunflowers.

Here, people are welcome to walk the trails, take photos, enjoy the outdoors and stop and smell the flowers. There is also a nursery, where visitors can buy wildflower seeds and other native Texas plants.

In addition, there is a biergarten that serves up cold beer, snacks, jams, jellies and salsas.

Make sure to try their peach ice cream, which is made from peaches grown in the Stonewall area.

Wildseed Farms is also home to a 20-acre vineyard, which opened in 2015. Varietals include albarino, tempranillo, mourvedre and vermentino.

Wildseed Farms, 100 Legacy Drive, is open seven days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.