- (groans) I'm Dylan Thuras, reporting for Atlas Obscura.
(wind whooshing)
Ah.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] With over 700,000 miles of highway,
Texas has more room to roam than anywhere in America.
And that's before you step into the water.
Turns out Texas has more aquatic gems than meets the eye.
This is "All Roads Lead to Texas," "Freshwater."
- We are at the beautiful Inland Divers Association
here at Possum Kingdom Lake.
We're just a bunch of divers that come out
and hang out at the lake.
- A few years ago there was, like,
a sponsored cliff diving thing here.
- We are going to Hell's Gate.
There's several coves here, that is the most infamous.
- That's the height that the professional divers
jumped from.
- I have not jumped from 75 foot Hell's Gate.
I have friends that have
and they have body parts missing, still.
- I'm gonna go look up there and see what it looks like.
Unfortunately, they have barred passage,
but I would've done it.
Now I'm gonna have to go do a small jump.
This is a more approachable cliff level.
Here we go.
- [Bobby] It's gonna be cold.
- Ah.
Looking a little tall.
- If you land stomach first, you're gonna get hurt.
- Any minute now.
(heartbeat thumping)
I'm not, like, a big cliff jumping person.
Okay.
(water splashing) (dramatic music)
(Dylan gasping)
I might, actually, want the buoy.
(water splashing)
(Dylan groaning)
I may need to do it again.
- People are adventurous by heart.
- It's kind of addictive.
Once I went once, I was ready to go again
and again and again. (water splashing)
It's a good way to start the day.
(water splashing)
I'm glad I started with jumping
'cause I got it out of the way.
(upbeat music)
We are a couple hours outside of Austin
in Colorado Bend State Park.
There are waterfalls in Texas, as it turns out.
"Our most popular trail," this one, Gorman Falls,
"very rocky, has little shade,
includes a steep and slippery descent near the falls.
Know your own limits."
(water roaring)
Very pretty, weird, fantasy landscape.
Now I'm gonna nap.
(gentle music)
- Most people when they think of Texas,
they're thinking cowboys, longhorns and that's great.
You know, we have all that,
but we also have this fantastic wind.
It's one of the windiest places in the country.
- So windy out here.
These birds are just, like, holding still.
People are flying into the air.
This is a wild place.
Two things I don't know how to do; kites and surfing.
- Your first jump's gonna be on accident.
(Dylan laughing)
We're gonna spend about an hour on the ground,
going over safety and set up and wind knowledge.
There you go.
They call that the kite boarder's mating dance.
- A little nervous.
Not getting tangled is like an important part of this sport.
- [Tom] Once we get that, we'll launch the kite.
- [Dylan] Ah.
(triumphant music)
- [Tom] And then we walk out to the water.
- Oh, there's a fish.
What are you?
This is crazy.
You're going so fast.
There's so much power.
It's like having a team of horses attached to you.
(water splashing)
I think I'm gonna get pulled onto my face (laughs)
and dragged underwater.
(upbeat music)
(water splashing)
I'm learning bit by bit, how to keep
from just being pulled face first into the water.
(water splashing)
This is, like, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.
(Dylan laughing)
I think now we're gonna get on the board.
(water splashing)
(upbeat music)
When you think of Texas,
water might not be the first thing that comes to mind.
But from leaping off cliffs, to hiking out to Gorman falls,
to coming here to Corpus Christi
and whipping around on the water pulled by a sail.
All I'm saying is when you come to Texas,
don't forget your bathing suit.