Descriptive Essay: Frio River

With towering bald cypress trees and long stretches of calm water, the Frio River in Concan, Texas, provides public waters for visitors looking to go tubing. Sitting next to Garner State Park, which provides ample recreational activities like hunting, fishing, and hiking, the Frio River has created my best summer memories. I have enjoyed countless summers burning my skin under the hot southern sun. Tradition calls my family to Frio County each summer, along with hundreds more families looking to escape their daily lives. Driving in, cell phone reception dies and people get the chance to look up and see the wondrous nature provided by the Texas Hill Country.
My first view of the river makes me breathless. Shallow water washes over the road’s cement pavement. Men, women, and kids break the river’s flow; some sit in fold-up chairs and read a book, but most others are leaning back in a colored tube floating the slow water. A giant cypress tree waits patiently by the road; two large nails pin a rusted metal sign to it, warning visitors of state rules and regulations. Every river crossing has the same sign posted the closet tree. The tree’s familiar sight and significance still makes me excited, because I finally feel summer vacation starting. However, the sight also makes me impatient for we don’t start tubing until the second day. I never
The river opened in three different Texas areas: Real County, Leakey, and Uvalde. In Real County, Texas, cool springs create the West Frio River, which then joins the East and Dry Frio Rivers in Leakey and Uvalde. For two-hundred miles, the river runs southeast until it drops off into the Nueces River. Perhaps two hundred miles is too long for a day ride, but the feeling remains. For years, I plead my case to tube the river once when we arrived, yet I always lost the fight. The drive only took three hours, which is definitely not long enough to get tired. Well, to each their