Rocksprings, Texas

Rocksprings is a town of roughly 870 people in central Edwards County, about 100 miles west of San Antonio at the junction of US Highway 377 and State Highway 55. It sits on Hackberry Creek at around 2,400 feet, on the high, flat surface of the Edwards Plateau rather than in the dissected canyons that define the Hill Country to the east and south. The air is drier, the nights cooler, and the sky darker than in the canyon towns an hour below. One word, capital R: Rocksprings.

Devil's Sinkhole

Devil's Sinkhole is a vertical cave about seven miles north of town — a National Natural Landmark managed by TPWD as an 1,860-acre state natural area. A shaft roughly fifty feet wide drops about 140 feet in a sheer fall to the floor of a chamber that reaches 350 feet deep. It's home to one of the largest colonies of Mexican free-tailed bats in Texas — an estimated three million roost here from late spring through early fall and pour out at dusk to feed. They migrate to Mexico for the winter and aren't present year-round.

Access is by guided tour only, by advance reservation. There's no walk-up and no self-guided option. Every tour departs from the Devil's Sinkhole Visitor Center on the square in Rocksprings, led by the Devil's Sinkhole Society. Visitors don't enter the cavern, approach the rim unescorted, or descend in any form. Evening bat-flight tours run seasonally, roughly Wednesday through Sunday from May through October; the bats are wild and emergence isn't guaranteed on any given evening.

The Plateau and the Ride

Rocksprings sits where the Hill Country changes character. To the east and south the plateau is cut into canyons — the Frio, the Nueces, the Sabinal. Here you're on top: wide, high, and open, with a far horizon and a genuinely dark night sky. The town anchors the western edge of the Twisted Sisters country — Ranch Roads 335, 336, and 337 run the canyons east and south toward Leakey and Camp Wood — and it's a fuel-and-food stop for riders running that country. Fuel matters here: the stations in town are the last for forty-plus miles in several directions.

History and the 1927 Tornado

J. R. Sweeten sited the town in 1891 for the springs bubbling from the rocks, and it became the Edwards County seat the same year. For much of the twentieth century the county was one of the world's leading producers of wool and mohair, and Rocksprings was long billed as the Angora Goat Capital of the World. The national mohair market contracted after the federal incentive program ended in 1995; whether the industry still runs at scale is a question best answered on the square.

On the evening of April 12, 1927, a tornado — later rated F5 — struck Rocksprings and destroyed most of the town's buildings. Published death tolls vary: contemporaneous and later sources cite figures in the range of 72 to 74 killed, out of a population near 600. It ranks among the deadliest tornadoes in Texas history. The town was rebuilt on the same site, and the courthouse square dates to that reconstruction.

Practical Information

Getting there: US 377 from Junction (46 miles north) or Del Rio (76 miles south); SH 55 from Uvalde to the south and Sonora to the northwest; RM 674 from Camp Wood (35 miles east).

Fuel and grocery: Shell (100 W Uvalde St) and Valero (106 S SH 55) — the last fuel for 40+ miles in most directions. Grocery is limited; plan ahead.

Cell service: Unreliable outside town. The plateau is high but coverage is thin.

Water and Safety

Rocksprings sits high, near the headwaters of the Nueces and West Nueces. The draws run dry most of the year and then, suddenly, they don't. This is Flash Flood Alley at its top end — a dry draw is not a safe draw, and water arrives from rain that fell miles away under a clear sky. Low-water crossings on the ranch roads go under early. Know your high ground and keep a weather radio. Never assume a crossing is passable or a river is safe.

Why It Matters for the Hill Country

Rocksprings is the last town before the plateau becomes truly empty. It's the staging point for Devil's Sinkhole, the fuel stop for the Twisted Sisters, and the seat of a county where ranching and open land still define daily life. It doesn't sell itself. It sits at 2,400 feet and waits for whoever has a reason to be there.