A collection of photographs by Laurence Parent which profile the beauty of the Texas mountains.

An overview of a magnificent region of Texas. Since its publication in 1980, The Guadalupe Mountains of Texas has received many honors, including the Friends of the Dallas Public Library Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and recognition for its superb design from the Rounce and Coffin Club.

This controversial, eye-opening book by Elizabeth McGreevy suggests a different perception of Mountain Cedars (also called Ashe Junipers). It digs into the politics, history, economics, culture, and ecology surrounding these trees in the Hill Country of Texas from the 1700s to the present. Since the 1920s, reporters, writers, scientists, landowners, politicians, and cedar fever victims have characterized the trees as a non-native, water-hogging, grass-killing, toxic, useless species to justify its removal. The result has been a glut of Mountain Cedar tall tales. Yet before the 1890s, people highly respected Mountain Cedars. The Mountain Cedars they reported were large timber trees with strong, decay-resistant heartwood. Most were cut down and sold to boost the young Hill Country economy. The clearcutting of old-growth forests and dense woodlands and the continuous overgrazing of prairies that followed led to mass soil degradation and erosion. Acting as nature's bandage, Mountain Cedars morphed into pioneering bushes and spread across degraded soils. This book tracks down the origins of the tall tales to determine what is true, what is false, and what is somewhere in between. Through a series of revelations, the author replaces anti-cedar sentiments with a more constructive, less emotional approach to Hill Country land management.

An introductory chapter briefly reviews Texas' geology followed by a series of road guides with the local particulars. The authors tell you what the rocks are and what they mean. Useful graphics and charts supplement the text and help you to understand

From the rugged Guadalupe Mountains in the west and the deep canyons of the Red River in the Panhandle to the lakes on the eastern landscape, the Texas backcountry is as spacious and diverse as the Lone Star State itself. This guide contains unforgettable hikes that suit all abilities and interests.

The Guadalupe Mountains stand nearly 9,000 feet tall, spanning the far western fringe of Texas, the border of New Mexico, and the meeting point of the Southern Plains and Chihuahuan Desert. Long an iconic landmark of the Trans-Pecos region, the Guadalupe Mountains have played a critical role for the people in this beautiful corner of the Southwest borderlands. In the late 1960s, the area was finally designated a national park. Drawing upon published sources, oral histories, and previously unused archival documents, Jeffrey P. Shepherd situates the Guadalupe Mountains and the national park in the context of epic tales of Spanish exploration, westward expansion, Native survival, immigrant settlement, the conservation movement, early tourism, and regional economic development. As Americans cope with climate change, polarized political rhetoric, and suburban sprawl, public spaces such as Guadalupe Mountains National Park remind us about our ties to nature and our historical relationships with the environment.