On our way home from a Rocksprings trip this past June, we finally had enough time for the detour off I-37 to visit Choke Canyon State Park. The park comprises of two units on near opposite sides of the Choke Canyon Reservoir created by damming the Frio River and is best known for fishing. Unfortunately, due to the last couple years of drought conditions, the lake levels are severely low and much of the activity in the area has declined. So, we made the most of our visit with a look around at the current state of things.

We started with the larger Calliham Unit with its expansive day use and camping area. We only went to the day use area and could tell by the shut down boat ramp just how low the water levels were. Nathan, Sally and I found a trail that lead out to what should have been a jetty into the lake while the kids ran down to the banks of the boat ramp.

We then loaded back up and drove a couple more miles to the day use only South Shore Unit to pull up on another closed down boat ramp and got a view of the dam.

In it’s heyday (which I’m convinced will come back around) this park was quite popular for it’s water activities, wildlife (campers usually report lots of javelina, whitetail and alligator sightings) and fishing. With how close this park is to home, it’s an easy “last minute” camping trip option for the future.

-Lindsay

Crazy to admit, but I have been visiting the area a couple miles away from this state park for 35 years and NEVER made it to this park until June of this year! I guess I was just waiting to do it with my own little family 🙂

The Devil’s Sinkhole Society volunteers maintain the park and headquarters and run access tours by reservation only Wednesday through Sunday. Peak bat emergence season is May-October and evening tour times vary based off the sunset. Our tour for June 20th met at 7pm at the headquarters on the town square of Rocksprings where we paid our admission fee and watched a short film on the history of the area and some safety tips.

After everyone had checked in, the tour guide had us all caravan in personal vehicles from the headquarters out to the sinkhole area a couple miles away. The road in was a fun paved drive that ended at a parking lot and picnic area with bathrooms. Our guide gave some brief information on the flora and fauna of the area and some cool eyewitness stories of the wildlife. Then each group took turns peering down the 140 ft drop down to the cave that spanned 320 ft in diameter.

Archer was selected to pull up the basketball the guide had lowered down at the beginning of the tour so everyone could feel its cool surface temp from being down in the cave. We then all settled into the seating around the sinkhole as bat flight time approached. Expectations had already been tempered previously when the guide was describing this year’s activity compared to other years, but we were hopeful to see something.

So we saw about 15 bats, but the way they emerged was such a cool swirl before shooting off to the south. Apparently there’s no solid explanation for the smaller population at this sight while areas further east are packed this year. Regardless, I was just happy to have finally witnessed this amazing Texas marvel.

-Lindsay