Posted in Texas July 29, 2017 by

There’s Something Incredibly Unique About This Texas Railroad Tunnel

One of the coolest things about summer in Texas has to be all of the places where bat colonies emerge at night. We’re all familiar with the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin and Bracken Bat Cave in San Antonio, but there’s another site in the Hill Country that’s much lesser-known. Old Tunnel State Park in Fredericksburg is home to millions of winged creatures that make their presence known at dusk each summer night. It’s truly a spectacular sight.

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The tunnel was part of the Fredericksburg and Northern Railway until 1942 when operations ceased.
Flickr/tnkntx
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department bought the land long after and officially made it a state park in 2012.
Since the railroad's decommissioning, the tunnel has become home to millions of bats.
Flickr/mzmo
Over three million, to be exact - mostly Mexican-Free Tailed, but there are some Cave myotis as well. Each night from May to October, they emerge from the abyss and take to the skies, putting on a spectacular show and blanketing the area in beautiful darkness.

Check out this awesome video of the magnificent creatures in action:

The park is located at 10619 Old San Antonio Road, Fredericksburg, TX 78624, and you can visit this website for more information on the bats.

Make it a bat-viewing road trip and stop at these two places as well!

Have you ever been to Old Tunnel State Park? Are there any other places in Texas to see bats?