Comanche Lookout Park Adds a Hilltop Landmark on the Northeast Side

One of the higher points in Bexar County rises above the Cibolo floodplain on the northeast side, right where the flat Gulf Coastal Plain tips up into the Edwards Plateau. That hill is the heart of Comanche Lookout Park, 96 acres of city parkland next to the Semmes Branch Library, and being able to see a long way from the top is exactly why people have always cared about it.

Ash juniper, buckeye, mesquite, and huisache cover the slopes. Native peoples almost certainly used the high ground as a lookout, and later it served as a landmark for travelers on the road that became Nacogdoches Road. An almost 30-foot stone tower, built in the 1920s, still crowns the summit.

Stack it up (trails, a library at the base, views from the top, and old travel geography written into the hill) and it's about the best place-note the northeast side has. The climb to the tower is short, and on a clear day the view spells out the whole reason the hill earned its name.