Ranger Recommendation
Watching the sunset at the overlook on Skyline Drive is a popular evening activity. Many visitors leave once the sun disappears behind the mountaintops, but ranger Charlie Ewing suggests staying until the sky is totally dark and watching the emergence of the stars. It costs $3 per person for day users to stay on Skyline Drive past 10 p.m., but it is well worth it for the perfect stargazing and night photography location. On select Wednesday nights, Ewing gives Dark Sky Tours: the state park version of McDonald Observatory’s Star Parties.
Park Staff Pet Peeve
“People have left bags of trash hanging in a tree branch. They think that they’re doing the right thing because the javelinas, skunks or racoons can’t get into the trash… but we’ve seen ravens fly down and tear apart trash bags and make a big mess.”
– Ranger Charlie
Wildest Staff Story
“So when I first got a job here, I was working the front desk at the Indian Lodge. It was a Friday night, maybe 11 o’clock at night, and a woman came up to the office of the lodge. She had just returned from a star party at the [McDonald] Observatory. She walks in and she says, ‘I want to report robbery at my campsite. And I’m pretty sure it’s my neighbors. I think that they stole my food in my cooler.’ And so she starts describing the scene: her cooler was open, her carton of eggs was strewn all over the place and just food was everywhere… And so [the superintendent] went and walked around with her flashlight, and she quickly assessed that it was the work of javelina and not the people next door. Yeah, so the javelina can open up a cooler (if it’s not the lockable kind), they can open up Tupperware… they will get into your stuff and they will make a big mess.”
Kristen Tibbetts | TPWD photographers