Natural Features in Val Verde County
Texas·3 places
Nature
Goodenough Spring
Before 1968 this was the third largest spring in Texas, pushing roughly 140 cubic feet per second into the Rio Grande. Then Amistad Dam closed and the reservoir rose over it, and the spring mouth now sits about 165 feet underwater — it still flows, it simply has a lake on top of it.
Transport
Pecos River High Bridge
The bridge crosses about 273 feet above the water, which makes it the highest highway bridge in Texas. The Pecos has cut a slot canyon into the limestone here on its last few miles before joining the Rio Grande, and the depth is the reason the crossing mattered — the Southern Pacific built a viaduct just downstream in 1892 that was the highest bridge in North America at the time.
Nature
The Devils River
Often called the clearest and least spoiled river in Texas, and it is clear for a specific reason: almost all of its water arrives as spring flow through limestone rather than as runoff, so it carries very little sediment. It runs through country with essentially no towns on it, and access is so limited that the state manages both a natural area and a paddling permit system for it.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
