highest
Fort Davis
is the
town in Texas
Texas is the second largest state in the USA and is perhaps the most ecologically diverse state in the nation depending whether or not you are speaking with someone from Alaska or Texas or another place. Texas is where the Davis mountain community of Fort Davis is located. This area is a fantastic destination to explore by motorcycle, bicycle, foot and of course the automobile. Recent studies have found that 80% of North Americans can no longer see the Milky Way due to light pollution. Progress is great in many ways but losing sight of where we are in the galaxy is no good. The Milky Way is easy to see whilst visiting Fort Davis. All you have to do is look up at the sky at night. Below are some photos and a little information about the historical community of Fort Davis and the unique Davis Mountains area. The famous artist town of Marfa is located about 20 miles from Fort Davis and the town of Alpine is also 20 miles from Fort Davis and about 20 miles from Marfa.
Marfa Public Radio is one of the coolest public radio stations anywhere. The station has an immense library of interesting music to bop along with that you might well have never or rarely heard and are a very interesting radio station. It's radio for a wide range.
Give the station a listen sometime especially at night. Here is the link. http://www.marfapublicradio.org/
The nearby town of Alpine has a great blues bar called Railroad Blues featuring Guinness and Shiner beer on tap. Marfa has a lot of art galleries as creative people from all over the world like to live, create art and hang out there. Big Bend National Park is around 90 miles south. This area of Texas is home to a lot of very interesting people that enjoy living in a unique environment that is far from the maddening crowd yet has two nearby airports.
Sunrise in the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis
Some moments in the life of Blue Mountain near Fort Davis
A thistle flower on Blue Mountain.
Sunset.
Snow on the Davis Mountains the home of the McDonald
Observatory about 15 miles from Fort Davis.
Fort Davis, the highest town in Texas exists at an altitude of around 5050 feet or 1539 meters within the Davis Mountains. The town is about 20 miles from Marfa, 20 miles from Alpine, around 225 miles east of El Paso, 586 miles west of Houston and around 80 miles north of the Big Bend National Park, 1780 miles from Miami, 1003 miles from Los Angles, 2549 miles from Bangor, 1927 miles from Seattle and 390682810 miles more or less from Jupiter. (the planet)
Fort Davis is in the middle of everything or pretty much nowhere depending on where you are.
The area is truly unique even in Texas, a huge state with a lot of territory as the Davis Mountains are the only mountains in the entire state and are volcanic in origin. The ancient mountains are the eroded remains of massive 300 million year old lava flows. If you like to go on road trips and anyone that loves the cars on our website likes a good road trip, the Balmorea Highway 17 exit off I-10 will take you through 35 beautiful miles to the mountain town of Fort Davis. Nearby are the world famous McDonald Observatory and the Davis Mountain State Park with the historical Indian Lodge, a jewel of historical lodges built by the CCC in the 1930's. The original restored historical Fort Davis site can be toured as well.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public works relief program for unemployed men age 18-25, providing unskilled manual labor related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural areas of the United States from 1933 to 1942 as part of the New Deal legislation promoted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Between the years of 1854 and 1891, soldiers were stationed in the original Fort Davis and their mission was to guard stagecoaches and travelers along the San Antonio to El Paso road. The old historical fort is considered the best preserved in the Southwest.
McDonald Observatory is located atop a mountain about 12 beautiful winding miles from Fort Davis. The Observatory features regular Star Parties that are a lot of fun to do. The area is one of the darkest in the USA and the night sky is wonderous to behold.
There are mountain lions, javalinas, jack rabbits, racoons, foxes, coyotes, mule deer, rattlesnakes, auodads, tarantulas, road runners and many species of birds that live around the Davis Mountains. The area is well known to birders that enjoy seeing the various species flying through.
The entire area is marvelous and most enjoyable for walking, driving motorcycles, riding bicycles and sports cars as the roads are smooth, nicely banked and just very well done. Driving fine cars in crowded big cities is a drag and a very different experience than driving the same car in an exquisitely beautiful place with nicely banked roads like the Davis Mountains. There are many Bed and Breakfasts, hotels, motels, camp grounds, RV parks and lodges in or near Fort Davis. Amtrak trains make a stop in Alpine and there are several small nearby airports serving the area.
Here are a few links about the Far West Texas area.
http://www.davis-mountains.com/pages/Davis%20Mountains/sl.html
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/indian_lodge/
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/davis_mountains/
Here is a link that shows some of the diverse country of West Texas and some of the animals that live here. Palo Duro canyon is featured and is a truly wild place on the earth that is Grand Canyon-esque. Texas is so large that we have to separate the West from the Far West. Eventually you might get to the far out West.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/22132017?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0