Comal Country

The busiest water in the Hill Country, a dammed lake feeding it, and two towns that never stopped being German about any of it.

Two rivers meet here. The Comal is the shortest navigable river in the country — spring-fed, constant temperature, two and a half miles start to finish. The Guadalupe below Canyon Lake dam runs cold all summer because the water comes off the bottom of the lake.

This is the one region that gets genuinely crowded. Summer weekends on the Guadalupe are a scene, and if that is what you want it is the best version of it anywhere. If it is not, come midweek, or in October when the water is still warm and the parking lots are empty.