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Just west of Interstate 35, in the region where the flat Texas coastal plain ends and the rolling Hill Country begins, ancient history rules us still. It was here, 20 million years ago, that the limestone began to shift and break in a stair-step pattern of fractures and form the Balcones Fault Zone, providing an infrastructure for life. From above, moist air from the Gulf rises over the escarpment and swirls, forming generous, pregnant clouds; from below, cold and clear springs burst through the porous limestone. Those who first roamed this mostly fertile, green strip—and the ranchers who live here now—would tell you that when those cumulonimbus clouds surrender their rain, the water drives into the limestone like thousands of nails. Some of the rainwater…

The post Deep—Very, Very, Very Deep—in the Heart of Texas appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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