Roads usually serve a utilitarian purpose: to get people from point A to point B. But in the Hill Country, you might suspect that a road was paved purely for pleasure—to take drivers past stirring vistas, expansive pastures, or dense spreads of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes. In the spring, wildflowers dot nearly every corner of the landscape, but particularly flamboyant throngs can be found on Farm Road 1323, which heads west off U.S. 281 about 3 miles north of Johnson City.

For even more dramatic driving, head to where the hills get larger and take on shapes like traffic cones and gumdrops. The incomparable Farm Road 337 in the southern part of the Hill Country, west of San Antonio, winds from Medina through Vanderpool to Leakey, skirting rock ledges where oaks and cacti barely cling to solid ground.



