Hill Country parks beckon with riches Express-News Copyright 2013 Express-News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 5:27 pm, Friday, February 15, 2013 “That's the advantage of this park — you can get out here and get close to animals,” Kenn Sutton of Spring Branch said after he heard the sparrow's heart during a birding program at Guadalupe River State Park. The 18 state parks and natural areas in the Texas Department of Parks & Wildlife Hill Country Region are filled with wildlife, and more than 1.8 million visitors flock to those parks each year to see them. People wet their lines, walked their dogs, and watched the wildlife in the Hill Country region second only to parks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in fiscal year 2012, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The bats funnel out of a 150-foot tube, rocketing up into the evening past a patio overhanging the cavern's mouth. [...] Blanco State Park supplies fishing rods, reels and bait for adults and children the day after the section of the Blanco River is stocked with trout. Elsewhere, kids and adults circled a picnic table covered with fishing equipment. Whether it is fishing, hiking, camping, caving, biking or birding, getting outdoors is the biggest attraction of the state park system.