Ft Davis/Davis Mountains Loop

Today, I went hiking. It was about 7-8 miles. I did a figure 8 loop between Davis Mountains State Park and Ft. Davis NHS. The loop began in the state park and followed the trail north next to the Interpretive Center. (A map can be found here). The trail follows a canyon and makes a quick climb up a ridge.


From the ridge you can see the McDonald Observatory. The picture below shows Limpia Canyon heading west from the park toward Mt. Locke, the home of the observatory.



It then closely follows Skyline Drive to the edge of the state park. Along the way, it swings by a couple of scenic overlooks and even a restroom. At the edge of the park, the trail crosses the fence line into the NHS.

Inside the NHS are several trails that form a loop. When entering the park, I followed the North Ridge Trail to the Tall Grass Loop. Along the trail, you can begin to see the fort.

View of fort from North Ridge Trail Note the parade grounds in the
center and Officers Row to the right.

Post Hospital from ridge trail

Upon reaching the fort, I followed a short trail to an abandoned military cemetery. When the fort was abandoned in 1891, the graves were dugup and moved to Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio. I then went to the visitors center to pay my entrance fee. At the visitors center, they show a short video on the history of the fort narrated by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

I walked the grounds of the fort, seeing the post chapel and some of the officers quarters before heading toward Hospital Canyon. The trail in hospital canyon meets up with the North Ridge Trail just before reaching the state park.

Post Chapel

Officer Houses

Back inside the state park, I finished the figure 8 loop by following the mountain bike trail to Keesey Creek. This trail drops over the ridge and slowly descends into Limpia Canyon before it turns up Keesey Creek and back to the main park road.

During the day, I saw several mule deer, tons of birds including a pair of quail, squirrels, and even a few flies. It was a great day of hiking and a good trail to follow if you are ever in Fort Davis.