UT students walk the Rancheria Grande Trail

On Friday, Sept. 22, UT Professor Nicole Wiedemann and her Architecture students, along with Steven Gonzales, Executive Director of the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association (ElCaT), John Asher of Blackland Collaborative, and Sugarloaf Mountain expert Dave Cummingham, were given a guided tour of the Rancheria Grande Trail near Gause. 

This semester these students will be working on providing feedback about significant areas all along the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.

The group was greeted at the Trailhead by Paula Sisco and cedar Hill nature Preserve owner Mike and Joyce Conner, all members of the local Rancheria Grande Chapter of ECaT. The tour was led by Mike Conner and follows the original path of the l Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trails as it winds through the Conner’s Nature Preserve and the adjacent Baumann Ranch, leading to the hilltop site of a native American Indian village. At the village site they were joined by Eugene and Claire Baumann who brought a display of many of the artifacts that have been found at the site.

The tour continued with a return trip to the conner’s property, going along additional parts of the trial, and ended at the Conner’s home. There they enjoyed a lunch, hosted by the Conners and Baumanns. After the lunch, Dave Cuningham took the group to visit Sugarloaf Mountain before they returned to Austin.