Saddle Up! For the Texas Trail Roundup. San Antonio, Texas, Febriary 24-26, 2017

Three days of glorious walking, from the dense urban core of the 7th largest city in the USA to nearby quiet trails that will make you think you have drifted back 300 years in time.

2019 Walk Info

Over the next few months we’ll be sharing our secrets about the best of the best places in San Antonio. Most of them are on the walk routes! You’ll be in town for the last three days of the Stock Show and Rodeo and you’ll have time to see The Saga, a world-class sound and light show projected onto the facade of San Fernando Cathedral. Stay tuned! (And watch the video . . .)

Panel from Toad Bridge in Brackenridge Park

The Not-A-Frog Bridge in Brackenridge Park

After the Texas Trail Roundup Sunday walk someone asked us about San Antonio's "Frog Bridge." Actually, it's a TOAD bridge (although everyone calls it the frog bridge. Goes to show what we know.) The city commissioned ceramicist Diana Kersey to decorate a new bridge...

The Unique Ceramic Trail Markers in Brackenridge Park

You may have noticed the unusual trail markers in Brackenridge Park. The eastern part of the park has four wooded trails, each about a mile long. The markers at the trailheads are by Susan Budge, who at the time of the trail markers' creation in 2006 was the head of...

The Gunter Hotel, Robert Johnson & the Birth of Rock-and-Roll

On November 23, 1936 Robert Johnson created the template for electric blues, which became rock-and-roll, in Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. You'll pass the Gunter, which opened in 1909, on the Friday Friendship Walk: it's on E. Houston St., across from...

The Little Train in the Big Park

Since 1957, the San Antonio Zoo Eagle has chugged along the tracks skirting the banks of the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park, on the route of the longer Sunday walks of the Texas Trail Roundup. Stops include the Witte Museum, Kiddie Park, and the Japanese Tea...

Alamo Stadium Murals: a WPA Project

During the 20k+ walk on Sunday, the Texas Trail Roundup takes you by Alamo Stadium at 110 Tuleta, across the street from Trinity University. If you have a spare moment, check out the murals at the west entrance. The federal Work Progress Administration (WPA)...

An un-CONVENT-ual Art School on the River

The Texas Trail Roundup does not take you by the Southwest School of Art -- the old Ursuline Academy -- but if you have a bit of extra time on Friday, it would make for a pleasant side visit. Their Copper Kitchen Cafe is a lovely place for lunch and the striking...

The World’s Ugliest Statue, Right Here on Market Street

You may have a limited window to see what may be the world's ugliest statue, currently located across from the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on Market Street. San Antonio is in the midst of approving a master plan for Alamo Plaza, which is expected to result in...

Beginner’s Guide to Salsa (the eating kind, not the dancing kind)

At every Tex-Mex restaurant in San Antonio you'll be greeted with a basket of tortilla chips (pronounce it: tour-TEE-ah) and a bowl of salsa. Salsa just means "sauce" in Spanish. Every country has their own: piri-piri in Peru, chimichurri in Argentina and mojo in...

Native People of the Yanaguana: the Coahuiltecans

The natural springs and river valley of our region have attracted human visitation and settlement for thousands of years. Prehistoric artifacts dating back at least 11,000 years have been found in Brackenridge Park, at San Antonio Springs and in the Olmos Basin. . The...

We Love Our Henry B So Much We Named the Convention Center After Him

Henry B. González is just known as Henry B in San Antonio -- and the nation. He was a force of nature. Born in 1916, he was the son of Mexican immigrants -- his father was a mayor in Durango -- who fled the 1911 Mexican Revolution. Henry B served on our city council,...

Vision Zero: Safe Streets & Sidewalks

In September, 2015, San Antonio joined the international "Vision Zero" movement, dedicated to eliminating pedestrian fatalities on our streets and sidewalks. Proponents of the plan say these deaths are preventable accidents that can be systematically addressed with...

Imagine Plaza de las Islas 300 Year Ago . . .

Friday's friendship walks will take you through downtown San Antonio. Imagine what it looked like almost 300 years ago when the plans for the city were first laid! In 1573 the King of Spain, Philip II, decreed an extensive set of rules for the building of towns and...

Need groceries? Go to Your H.E.B.

Need groceries while you are at the Holiday Inn-Downtown, our event hotel? Go to your H.E.B. at 516 S. Flores, only a 5 minute walk. Turn right after leaving the hotel and walk down West Cesar Chavez one block to S. Flores and turn right. It's there on the corner....

The Six Flags That Flew Over Texas

Since its founding in 1718, six countries have claimed sovereignty over Texas. The slogan "Six flags over Texas" has been incorporated into shopping malls, theme parks, and other enterprises. The six flags are also shown on the reverse of the Seal of Texas. The first...

This River Here: The Yanaguana

For much of their duration, all of our walks during the Texas Trail Roundup will follow the course of the San Antonio River. Our river starts in a spring about four miles north of downtown (The "Blue Hole", located on the campus of the University of the Incarnate...

Eligible for credit toward IVV Achievement Awards

IML credit will not be available for 2019 but we hope you will support the Texas Trail Roundup in our four-year-long quest to become a sanctioned IML!