Smithwick, Texas

     Smithwick. I love the name. It sounds old-timey. Smithwick, though, has been a thorn in my sides for years. I've always wondered where the actual 'town' part of it was, if it still existed. Generally, Smithwick is on FM 1431, one of my favorite roads between Lago Vista and Marble Falls. Once you see the sign for Smithwick, though, you don't see much else besides a church, a graveyard, and the Smithwick Store, which was open and then closed and is now open again. I would pore over Google Maps looking around the county roads hoping to see something that looked like it might have structures.
     Recently, while going over the map again I thought I would take a Street View tour down one road because it came off a road that branches off of 1431 and is labelled on Google Maps as "Farm To Market 1431 Business." It's funny because there are no businesses there. At least, there isn't now. There might have been one situated on the island created by the "1431 business" and FM1431. There are a couple of old buildings, a stone sign, a fire pit, and steps that lead to nowhere.
     Near the center of 1431 'business' is county road 344 that heads south for quite a ways. It's a really nice drive if you like narrow roads with curves, hills, and some really nice views of the hills that remind you of why this area is called the Hill Country. I imagine at night it would be pretty scary if Camp of the Hills wasn't located back there. When you get to the end of it there are a couple of buildings that comprise at least part of what Smithwick was.

     It turns out it's a Freemason Lodge. It's been one since 1876, not long after the building was erected. There was a store on the first floor so I'm guessing this was probably "Smithwick" itself. It's still active, too.
     More pictures can be found here.

McKinney Roughs

In Texas, during the summer, it's not always a good idea to say, "Hey, we should go for a walk," without having a really good idea of where you're going, what time it is, how long are you planning on being gone, what time is it, what are you bringing with you, and what time it is. If you're going to go walking around the woods at two o'clock in the afternoon, you damn well better bring some water with you.

A whole lot of nature

And that's totally what I didn't do when I went for a walk with a friend of mine. At McKinney Roughs. Which I now hate forever mostly because of my lack of planning but also for promising a river and not mentioning that it's, like, ten miles away from the sign that says "<- River."

Still not seeing a river

We saw the sign and thought, yeah, let's go down by the water. After the first mile we realized it wasn't going to be that close. After the second mile we started thinking about turning around, but, what if it's just around the next corner? It wasn't around the next corner after mile three. Or four. But, after the fifth mile it was at the bottom of a hill.

Whoop, there it is!

The trail, by the way, is made of rocks and sand. Climbing back uphill was unpleasant, like walking across the worst beach in the world. On Jupiter. In the end, I didn't die and I was happy about that.

Driving back to Austin on SH 71 we decided to stop at a place that sells pecan related items and, much to my delight, cold drinks. They also had a giant squirrel. 

America needs more odd roadside attractions