- ANNOUNCER: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks and Wildlife... - I like to challenge myself in a lot of situations to test my limits and see what I can do.

[arrow thuds] Ooh!

- Now people can go that whole 20 miles biking and walking and even horseback.

- During the week after the full moon in August, one of nature's most remarkable events unfolds.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

[bag ruffling] [zipper rasping] [bag ruffling] - LEVI: We got up just like at regular time to go to school.

But Jonah was lucky, we pulled him out of school to do some real life hunter's education.

- All right.

Ready to roll?

- Mm-hm.

- LEVI: Drove down from the North Dallas area and had some good father-son bonding time on the way here.

We moved down to Texas about five years ago and kind of making the shift from hunting in Iowa, to hunting in Texas has been a, a big change.

Living in a major metro, you have to put in some effort to make those kind of experiences happen.

So this is affordable, and gives you access to places you would never get otherwise.

[upbeat music] - HUNTER: We're here in Lampasas County to do a youth hunt with the Texas Youth Hunting Program.

- INSTRUCTOR: So push your palms to the sky.

It stretches all those tendons, and all those muscles that you're gonna use to draw any type of bow.

- Texas Youth Hunting program exists to help kids that are interested in hunting, get started.

- INSTRUCTOR: Range is hot.

- BOB: If you have the interest, we have everything that you need to be able to go hunting.

[arrow thuds] We'll help you have a place to go.

We'll help you learn what you need to know.

We can give you the gear you need.

A little bit more of an involved event than a lot of our hunts because bow hunting's a little bit more complicated.

- INSTRUCTOR: Your changing your point of an aim to adjust your point of impact.

- You, you have to be a ninja.

[Jonah chuckles] It's basically, you gotta be sneaky, right?

- Mm hm.

You gotta creep in there, you gotta be set up before they come around.

- BOB: Bow hunters are a curious group of people.

We are choosing to make everything harder.

[bow clicks] [arrow thuds] - Ooh nice.

- Your form is... - BOB: So it takes a little more preparation, takes a little more thought sometimes into what we're doing and how we're doing it.

- INSTRUCTOR: With everybody watching too, that's not hard, right?

Good job, Jonah.

[arrow whacks] [owl trills] [wind blowing] All right, well if it starts getting too cold, then it's definitely- - LEVI: I think it's pretty cool to have like the base camp experience.

A lot of kids don't get that these days.

- HUNTER: When you walk down the fence line, you won't have a problem seeing- - LEVI: They don't get to experience being around other parents that are interested in outdoor activities.

[engine hums] - JONAH: There's something on the road up there.

[zipper rasping] - JONAH: I've shot a bow before, but this is my first time bow hunting.

[rain pelting] - LEVI: It's raining.

It's like sleet.

I like the extra challenge.

I like to challenge myself in a lot of situations to test my limits and see what I can do.

[thunder booming] [rain pelting] - LEVI: [whispering] If we were buck hunting, we could put like a doe over in that area and if they hear that call, they catch that wind, it'll come running right in.

- Yeah.

- I wouldn't be surprised if he comes and pops out in the same spot as that other guy.

- Excited.

I'm hoping we'll see a doe, because we saw a buck earlier.

He wasn't legal to shoot.

- JONAH: Come on.

Come on.

Oh there she comes.

- LEVI: She's here again.

- JONAH: She's walking out right now.

- LEVI: Turn your bow up vertical when you get a chance.

- JONAH: Dad.

- LEVI: Get it vertical and get ready.

- She stopped.

The feeder wobbled.

[Levi exhales loudly] - LEVI: She probably winded us.

[gentle banjo music] - JONAH: Didn't get a chance, but I was really excited.

My heart was pounding, I felt kind of jittery.

- Could you hear your own heart?

- No, but I could feel it.

- [chuckles] Yeah, that's awesome.

- [whispering] You can hear her crunching the corn.

[soft upbeat music] The veterinarian said he needed to get braces.

- That one?

- Yeah.

- You know why?

- Why?

- They said he has buck teeth.

[Levi chuckles] ♪ ♪ I don't think he like my joke.

- No.

- Anytime you're out hunting is better than any other day for the most part besides your wedding day or your wife's birthday or your anniversary.

Well, I said that your wedding, did I get my anniversary, yeah.

[chuckles] I think about it more about like filling your heart and mind with memories than your freezer with meat.

I know we'll look back 20 years later and say, oh, you remember that time we went out with all those crazy guys and got to do some deer hunting.

Like, that'll be what we talk about.

[wind blowing, indistinct chatter] - NARRATOR: Lake Mineral Wells State Park, west of Dallas-Fort Worth, is known for a few things-- camping in the shade, fun in the water, and some scenic terrain.

It is also known for its wealth of trails, but one trail in particular sets this place apart.

- We have a trailway, and this was an old railroad corridor from Weatherford.

They have abandoned that line and they have made it into a trail.

- NIKKI ELMS: The rails-to-trails project is a 20-mile trailway from Weatherford to Mineral Wells.

- DAVID: Now people can go that whole 20 miles biking and walking and even horseback.

- NARRATOR: The pathway is a unique avenue for exploring some pretty crazy Texas history.

- RIDER: A little water tower here.

- DAVID: The town is historic.

[train whistle] They came to it in droves because of the mineral water.

[fast folk music] In the 1920s, it was considered the South's greatest health resort.

[fast folk music] - NARRATOR: Mineral water turned Mineral Wells into a destination, and the railroad brought visitors by the thousands, including a few notable names.

- DAVID: Being a resort town, they had entertainment while they were here and so you had people like Will Rogers, there's photos of Judy Garland here, the Three Stooges that were here.

That trail is a different way to experience history because you are traveling the same route that the people coming in on train came in to Mineral Wells.

You're on that same route.

- RIDER: That's neat.

- NIKKI: The Mineral Wells trailhead was the point where it came into town and the train depot is not very far from there, the original train depot.

And there was a spur line that went from that trailhead up to the Crazy Water bottling company.

And so a lot of history there.

- DAVID: Crazy Water was most famous, and it was even dehydrated into crystals, boxed up and shipped all over to rehydrate, and they could have Crazy Water all over the country.

- NARRATOR: Dehydrated water may be a thing of the past, but you can still buy fully-hydrated Crazy Water in town.

And you'll need some water if you plan to take the trailway all the way to Weatherford.

- JOSEPH RUSSELL: It's great for our area.

I own Flying Tire Bicycle.

And it's good for not only our business but all the businesses in Weatherford.

[upbeat music] Since it was a railway, it's graded for trains, so for the everyday rider or for the family, you're not going to encounter any steep hills.

Great trail.

[upbeat music] - BRANDON WALTON: Slow and steady.

[upbeat music] It's very well marked, it's safe, it's good for the whole family.

Good way to utilize an old railway.

Is it hot today?

- Yes.

- Are you having fun still?

- Yeah.

- Alright, good deal.

[laughs] [upbeat music] - DAVID: That trail is a good one for biking and walking and even horseback.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: So if you're looking for a getaway that is about the destination as well as the journey, a place to both soak up the scenery and get active, consider a trip through time on the Lake Mineral Wells State Park Trailway.

- RADIO ANNOUNCER: Thank you for listening to our program, which originated in Mineral Wells, Texas.

[wheels on gravel, staticy folk music] [wheels on gravel, staticy folk music] [energetic music] - I've come up with a new idea, and that is, if you can't remember having seen a bird, it's a new bird for you.

So, the older you get, the easier it is to get new birds.

What's on top of the Mesquite?

I'm Victor Emanuel.

I was born in Houston, Texas.

And one thing, guys, I didn't get to mention about scope procedure... Look, to the right!

A flock of birds are coming in.

I got interested in birds when I was eight years old and it's changed my life.

When I was in the Cub Scouts, one of the boys said, "You should join the Outdoor Nature Club.

"You should go to their meetings, because I can tell you're interested in nature and birds."

So, I went.

And there, I met my mentors, Frank Watson, Armand Yramategui, and Joe Heizer.

And there I understood how important mentoring is.

Those men gave me two great gifts.

One, to appreciate every bird and animal that I saw, even if I'd seen it before.

To savor it, to look at all the marks on it, all the detail.

And, to be interested in conservation.

So, they gave me that.

Those were the gifts my mentors imparted to me.

We've got some young birders in front of us who are scouting.

- I've known Victor my whole life, and he's got me into birding.

- VICTOR: Interesting.

- ELIOT: He's a big reason why I like the outdoors.

- VICTOR: Now, here's a summer tanager here.

Wonderful.

- ELIOT: He's an amazing person, I love him.

- VICTOR: Early, I was interested in being a biologist and then I decided my interest in birds was more just looking at and enjoying them, not studying them in the detailed way a biologist does.

[mellow music] And then I got involved in running bird tours, and I saw that that was a way that I could have more time out in nature.

I look at these catalogues and it just gives me a sense of...

I could start a company and offer in Texas, Arizona and Mexico where I and some of my friends knew those areas.

And very soon we expanded to Panama, Peru, now 150 tours all over the world.

- Victor, there is an oriole visible here.

My name is Barry Lyon.

I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Victor Emanuel Nature Tours.

- VICTOR: There's an oriole on top.

- BARRY: In 1986, Victor started a program of summertime youth camps for young people that were interested in birds and natural history.

Until that time, nothing like that had ever been done before.

Early in 1987, I went when I was 15 years old.

Attending the youth birding camp was a transformative experience in my life.

Ultimately, Victor offered me a job when I was about eight months out of college.

And I've been with him in this company ever since.

I love birds and nature.

I enjoy guiding very much, but I didn't necessarily land in this line of work because this is what I had to do with my life.

I chose it because of the examples that Victor set.

- BIRDER: A lot of activity coming in.

- VICTOR: Immortality is not having a monument named after you, which eventually is going to fall down.

It's to offer good values and change the life of a person that then may change the life of another person that's younger.

And then another person that's younger.

And then another person to younger.

And that can go on for hundreds and hundreds of years.

That's immortality.

[soft music] [birds chirping] [water gurgling] [water splashing] [water splashing] [water sloshing] [dolphin chirping] - MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY: Our coastline is unique due to a distinctive geography.

Texas is protected by barrier islands and peninsulas.

When salt water from the Gulf passes through them, it combines with the fresh water and nutrients from our rivers, creating an underwater prairie of grass that attracts life from across the hemisphere.

[water gurgling] [wind blowing] [birds chirping] [wind blowing] [birds chirping] The migrations that come through our coastline are so vast that the second highest passage rate of migratory birds on earth was recorded right here in Texas.

[wings flapping] [ducks quacking] These coastal marshes are also home to a master of ambush.

[gentle foreboding music] Alligators.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [water splashing] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Islands along the coast provide crucial habitat for colonial waterbirds to build nests, and raise their chicks.

[chicks chirping] [birds chirping] [tense foreboding music] ♪ ♪ As the youngsters grow, they begin to explore their surroundings, creating an opportunity for those with patience.

♪ ♪ [tense foreboding music] [water gurgling] Below the surface, the mixture of fresh and salt water creates a nursery for the Gulf.

[slow dramatic music] Like many coastal species, red fish are born as eggs in the ocean and swept into the bays by incoming tides.

[cheery music] As juveniles, they hunt these shallows until they grow large enough for life at sea.

[water splashing] In September of their third year, a biological urge triggers them to congregate and to begin their migration.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [birds squawking] Driven by instinct and following the tides, they are swimming to the ocean to live out their adult lives.

With them flow nutrients from across Texas.

Transported by our rivers, the gift of fresh water reaches the Gulf of Mexico.

[water gurgling] For the first few leagues offshore, sediment clouds the water, but with distance and depth, the Gulf reveals her true color.

[slow dramatic music] This deep blue world seems far from our own, yet nutrients from our bays and estuaries fuel much of the plankton, which are the building blocks of life in the Gulf.

[upbeat music] In a few very special places, salt domes have risen from the sea floor and combined with tropical currents from the south.

Here, this plankton fuels the Texas Caribbean.

[dramatic music] The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Each of these corals is composed of millions of polyps.

Each polyp feeds on the plankton.

It is an oasis of life in a desert of blue.

♪ ♪ We are still unraveling the mysteries that abound here.

What we've learned thus far is nearly beyond imagination.

♪ ♪ [water gurgling] Shortly after the sun sets, during the week after the full moon in August, one of nature's most remarkable events unfold.

[water splashing] [gurgling] [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ The corals are spawning.

♪ ♪ We do not know how they communicate, but in unison, millions of coral polyps release and fertilize their offspring.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This seemingly alien world exists far from our daily consciousness, yet it is connected in ways that we are just beginning to understand.

[birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [ducks quacking] [ducks quacking] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] This series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.