Texans flock to recreation areas
Lure of the great outdoors draws residents looking for a break from social distancing
A collection of riverfront cabins known as the Rio Bella Resort overlook the Frio River in the Hill Country.
AnaLisa Glass, the resort’s general manager, has been juggling the calls, texts, web messages and emails from people looking to nab a spot. There have been so many requests that one day, when she finished work at 9 p.m., she saw she had 59 voicemails from calls she had missed while answering other’s questions.
“People just want to get away,” she said.
State parks are booked out weeks in advance. Reservations for Hamilton Pool Preserve, a Travis County park famous for its waterfall-fed swimming hole, are sold out through August. Local biking trails and fishing ponds have seen their traffic swell. Throughout the state, people are turning to the nature as a freeing way to socially distance, saying time outside almost makes them forget the re
strictions on everyday life.
“It breaks up our ‘Groundhog Day’ syndrome,” said Charles Villafana, who recently took up fishing with his fianceé and their two young sons.
A few months ago, if you had told him he’d soon spend his days fishing as much as he could, he wouldn’t have believed you.
But when he pulled his first fish from the waters of Reedy Pond in The Woodlands, the thrill reminded Villafana of hitting his first home run.
“I needed an outlet,” he said. “And work and Call of Duty weren’t doing it for me.”
While people have been rushing outside, Texas Parks and Wildlife has been playing it safe. Each state park has reduced its capacity by varying amounts in order to prevent people from forming clusters near entrances, bathrooms or attractions.
Brazos Bend State Park, for example, which has sold out of day passes for the next two weekends, has reduced its capacity by 60 percent. “We’re reaching that limit virtually every day,” said the park’s superintendent, Chris Bishop.
Alain Rouault found that out Friday when he decided to take his daughters off his wife’s hands and out of the house. Brazos Bend was his first choice, but it had sold out. Instead, he took the two girls to Sheldon Lake State Park, where they enjoyed a picnic.
Park-goers seemed to appreciate the limits on crowds. “If there are too many cars in the parking lot, I turn around,” said Arturo Jimenez as he walked alongside Sheldon Lake.
The need for social distancing has brought cities and small towns together in complicated ways.
Rio Bella Resort is located in Real County, a sparsely populated region of roughly 3,500 people.
Not a single case of the novel coronavirus has been reported within its borders.
So Glass wasn’t sure what to expect when people from the cities started coming in. City-dwellers needed an escape, and small towns needed the business, but safety was paramount. To her relief, guests have followed social distancing guidelines.
“My faith in humanity has been restored watching people be so respectful of everybody,” she said.
Those who leave the city have experienced their own restoration. Lora Clay’s family and those of her three best friends spent last week together on the Frio just south of Glass’ resort.
“It was a huge sigh of relief being there,” she said. She felt herself settle into river time.
When they stopped at Buc-ee’s on the way home, Clay’s daughter, a high school senior, was startled when reminded to put on a mask.
“She said, ‘Oh, wow,’” Clay recalled. “‘I kind of forgot about COVID while we were gone.’”