On the most perfect Sunday afternoon, I met up with my sister Jessica, and her two little ones Pepper Jo & Danzig, and we make the drive to the southwest corner of San Antonio.
As we drove up, Pepper Jo exclaimed: “I thought you said we were going hiking! This is a neighborhood.“
And then we turned the corner, and saw a country road lined with cars. We had made it to the entrance.
The entrance to the park is just perfect. A parking lot made of stylized concrete blocks, a restroom and pavilion, a map with a scannable QR code, and a wheelchair-accessible mile trail so no one will get left behind.
Once you get off the paved trail, everything is perfectly marked with a clear name, distance, and difficulty level. We chose to go right on the Main Loop and after only about 20 minutes turned around to see a breathtaking view of the Texas Hill Country.
“I don’t want to go to the tippy top!” Pepper Jo screamed at us, while also bragging that if we did go that far, she could beat us to it.
Group photo right as the real complaining set in 
Jessica and Danzig
A note on hiking with kids: Don’t. Unless you’re able to ignore their complaints and keep a good attitude about it. And, if you’re my sister, have the willingness to also carry a backpack full of water and snacks.
We ended up playing a game of “Would you rather?”: Would you rather go on this hike again, or not have me as your Aunt.
I won that game.
My source book Hikes Within 60 Miles: San Antonio and Austin: Including the Hill Country mentioned passing through a stone wall somewhere off the Main Loop. As we were walking along the Upland Range Trail & Vista Loop a stone wall – probably an old property line wall – suddenly appeared next to us.
I joked that the “stone wall” in the book was just an opening in that little wall, and much to the kids’ disappointment, it was indeed just that.
Unfortunately, the search for the stone wall forced us to make a decision. We either had to double back to get to the exit, or we could continue down the Restoration Way Trail and use the Mill Pass loop to cut it short.
We chose Restoration Way, and accidentally added an extra 2 1/2 miles or so to our adventure. The last 45 minutes of the hike was hard not just on the kids, but also on the adults.
We realized we’d reached our limit right as we were the farthest away from the car we’d been all day.
I then got to explain the idea of a paradox to Danzig.
In the end we walked almost 7 miles in 3 hours. For my first hike on this journey, it pushed my limits. But all I could think was how I can’t wait to get out there again next weekend.