Backroads.
A two-lane ranch road curving through live oaks in the Texas Hill Country

Pipe Creek, Texas Hill Country

Spencer Forrest

Storyteller, inventor and software architect. I run Backroads Hill Country and HillCountry.ai: the homes people stay in, and the guides that show them where to go.

Bring me your idea Read my story
  • Since 2001Backroads has been renting Hill Country homes. Jess and I took it over in 2018.
  • 104homes across 13 Hill Country towns
  • 4.9★across 389 Google reviews
  • 40,000members in the Texas Hill Country Community I run on Facebook
  • 100+Hill Country .ai domains behind one network of AI town guides
Spencer Forrest in a black straw cowboy hat, Hill Country hills behind him

At home in the Hill Country.

My story

I've been telling stories my whole life.

Inventor, artist, and a software and design architect by trade. At eighteen I moved to New York City to act. Since then I've built businesses, machines, software and websites.

In 1996 I started The Burning Leaf out of my garage in Austin. I built the first four cigar-vending humidors by hand, put them in clubs on Sixth Street, and ended up selling them around the world. After that came technology: I've owned several companies building apps and websites, designing the systems as well as the screens.

Jess and I were living in Austin when we found the Hill Country in 2016. Two years later we moved out here, and we took over Backroads, a vacation rental company that had been looking after guests since 2001.

Spencer and Jess in cowboy hats with the hills behind them
Jess and me. We run Backroads together.

Running it taught me what travelers actually want to know: where the river is running, which road is worth the drive, where to eat when they get there. So I started building that too. HillCountry.ai is a network of town guides, live river conditions, stargazing forecasts and field guides, written with care and checked before anything goes up.

I learn by going and seeing. I love exploring Texas and the Hill Country, finding places I haven't been, learning something new about them, and then writing it up.

Along the way I fell for the history, and writing it down is what I do for fun. I've spent months on the story of the Kusenberger family at Settlers Crossing, and on where Bandera's Cowboy Mardi Gras really came from. That research is written for the 40,000 people in our Facebook community, and some of those posts have reached tens of thousands more.

  1. At 18Moved to New York City to pursue acting
  2. 1996The Burning Leaf: hand-built cigar-vending humidors, from Sixth Street clubs to buyers around the world
  3. ThenSeveral technology companies building apps and websites
  4. 2018Moved to the Hill Country and took over Backroads
  5. 2026The HillCountry.ai hub goes live: town guides, field guides and live river conditions
  • HistoryThe stories under the places people drive past.
  • TechnologyTools that make a trip easier to plan, and true.
  • WritingA hobby, not a job. Plain words, checked facts.

What I build

One place to stay, plan and learn about the Hill Country.

We run all of it ourselves, from the guest calls to the code.

Vacation rentals

Backroads Hill Country

Cabins, ranch houses and river homes across the Hill Country, looked after for their owners and rated 4.9 stars by the guests who stay in them.

backroadstexas.net →
Travel guides

HillCountry.ai

AI town guides you can ask anything, plus live river levels, lake levels, stargazing and field guides to the scenic drives, birding and fall color.

hillcountry.ai →
Community

Texas Hill Country Community

A Facebook group of 40,000 people who live in, love or are planning a trip to the Hill Country, and who know it better than any guidebook.

Join the group →
History

Research & writing

Long-form local history built from family accounts, records and site visits: the Kusenbergers at Settlers Crossing, the roots of Cowboy Mardi Gras, Sisterdale and more.

Read the field guides →
A river valley in the Hill Country at dusk
I'm always looking for the next interesting thing: something someone can share with me, something unique to go and investigate and learn about.
Spencer Forrest

Work with me

Your knowledge, in good hands.

River guides, birders, ranchers, historians: the people who know a corner of the Hill Country best. If you have an idea for a field guide, this is how it works.

  1. Tell me the idea.A topic, a stretch of river, a skill, a season. A few lines is plenty.
  2. I read every one.We can't develop them all. I pick the ones that would help travelers most, and I'll tell you plainly either way.
  3. We build it together.Your knowledge, our research, design and technology. Every fact is checked before it goes live.
  4. Your name, your choice.It's credited to you, or kept anonymous if you'd rather.

New: the pilot program

I'm starting with a small group of local experts.

Working with the people who know the Hill Country best could be really valuable, so I'm starting a pilot program with a few of them. It's a small group, so I can't promise everyone a place. But if you know a corner of the Hill Country well, I'd like to hear from you.

Tell me what you know

Own a place with a story?

An old stone building, a homestead, a family that has been on the land for generations.

If your property has history on it, call me. I'll come out, have a look, dig into the records and write it up. It's my favorite part of the job, and a property with a story is one guests remember.

Tell me about your place

Get in touch

Let's talk.

Whether it's a field guide, a property with a story behind it, a home you'd like us to look after, or something I haven't thought of yet.

Share a field guide idea Contact me