I found another great video on one of the parks I’ve visited a few times now. Watch the video and check out my posts on McKinney Falls State Park.
Tag: trails
TPWD Sheldon Lake Video
Great short video on Sheldon Lake State Park and Environmental Learning Center.
Sheldon Lake State Park
Park #17 on our Texas State Parks adventures was Sheldon Lake State Park. This park is just East of Houston about 20 minutes from downtown.
We almost missed the turnoff to get into the park because the entrance was blocked by a passing train.
The park office was closed because they don’t want to be open on the weekends when people may visit. Just kidding of course, but it did seem odd. There was no entrance fee so that was nice.
There were plenty of picture opportunities at this park. The front of the park has several ponds with lilies and other blooming flowers around.
Each pond had it’s own personality. Some looked calm.
And others looked like “several things in there could kill me.”
We saw some wildlife along the trail.
And were warned of some others.
Between the smaller ponds at the front and Sheldon Lake is a great observation tower. The elevator is powered by solar panels. (Elevator currently undergoing maintenance. Call ahead to check availability).
Be careful at the Bent Pine Tree. While standing and reading the sign we noticed our feet were quickly covered in ants. They weren’t fire ants, but still annoying.
Overall a nice park with much to offer for visitors of all ages.
TPWD Colorado Bend Video
I found this great video of Colorado Bend State Park from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department YouTube channel and wanted to add it to the blog for that park. Enjoy!
Stephen F Austin State Park
I made it out to my 16th Texas State Park this weekend. #16 was Stephen F Austin State Park off of I-10 just outside of Sealy, TX.
As with the other parks we’ve visited the Park Store staff were very helpful in planning our outing. We told them exactly what we had in mind for the quick trip to the park and they provided a couple of options that were just perfect.
We wanted a short hike and were directed to the overlook trail at the North end of the park. Park at the restrooms (seen below) and the trail head is on the opposite side of the park road.
There are several options from this starting point.
We went to the right at the first fork, left at the next and followed the trail along to the Brazos River Overlook. (below)
Watch for snakes (we saw one) this time of year and carry lots of water. This was a beautiful park with lots of historical as well as natural features. I’ll follow up with a post on the historical features shortly.
Path tag from SFA State Park
Path Tags!
Along the way, my friends and I have tried to get something at each parks store that marks our visit to the park. Whether it’s a lapel pin, patch, etc. At some parks there are path tags. This is a really cool product that makes it easy to mark your visit to a park. You can just clip a ring to your pack and add tags as you go.
Take a look at the parks store during your next visit and snag one of these cool path tags.
Government Canyon State Natural Area
April 27th we visited Government Canyon State Natural Area.
This relatively recent addition to the parks system is a combination of so many parks in Texas it’s almost too good to be true. There’s a prairie of wildflowers, canyon trails, lookouts to view the Texas Hill Country, Dinosaur tracks (yes, really), and much more.
This is another park that you may encounter an unfriendly creature or two.
Mind the warnings and you’ll be fine. Oh and as the park ranger said, “Don’t pet or feed fluffy.”
The visitor from up north somewhere did not find that joke funny. I hope he remembered what she said though.
About two miles down the Joe Johnston route you’ll find a trail off to the left that leads to some old ranch buildings. It is rather snakey back in there so go at your own risk.
If you make it back to the path…just kidding
When you make it back to the path continue on down the trail, but keep an eye out for a relatively unused trail off to the other side of the trail.
This path takes you down to a creek bed with some nice picture opportunities.
It was difficult to capture in the picture, but a lot of the vegetation is growing with the flow of the creek. Obviously this creek bed fills up with any rain so be careful and mindful of the weather on the day of your visit.
Keep going past Twin Oaks trail and Caroline’s loop and you’ll make it to the bottom of the bluff.
Here you’ll find many picture opportunities including dinosaur tracks.
I would go see these earlier rather than later as they are completely unprotected and will probably not stay this pristine for too long. Remember, this park was private land for many years and only so many people have had the pleasure of visiting the park. Around the tracks you’ll also see some blackberries, butterflies, trees/fern growing out of rocks…
and…a bee hive! (sorry, no pictures. It would’ve been blurry anyways as we were running at that point.)
Continue on the trail up the hill and before you get to the Zizelmann Homestead you’ll see quite an amazing site.
Right in the middle of the park is a naturally occurring Spanish Moss growth that just takes your breath away.
You go from this:
to this:
(read the sign at the trees for more info)
Continue up the trail and you’ll see the Zizelmann House.
There’s not much to see as they’ve protected the house like it was some fossilized dinosaur…oh never mind.
If you follow the fence around the house and brave the steep trail down, past the spider webs, over the snakes, and…
Wait. Let me me stop you here. Don’t risk it. It’s really not worth it. There are some springs at the bottom of the hill. You can’t see the spring though. You just see a nasty, still pool of water with bees (yes…again) and very little else. The spring is a sensitive area and you can’t/shouldn’t explore it too much. Again, take my word for it. It’s not worth a twisted/broken ankle.
This is the best picture I could get of it.
If you really want to see a nice spring flowing in a state park check out Pedernales Fall State Park and the Wolf Mountain Trail there.
Continue on up the trail and you’ll get to the top of the bluff. At the bottom of this is the dinosaur tracks. Take my word for it. Don’t look over the edge. Because of the angle, you have to actually lean out over the cliff to see the tracks. Just trust me, again, and know that they’re there.
Continue on Overlook trail until you get back to Joe Johnston Trail. Then you can head on back to the headquarters and parking. There’s no water along the trail and you can get lost if you’re not careful. We had a signal for most of the hike, but we were told of a story by the ranger that explained how important water can be. They recently had to send out a search party for a man who got away from his group and was lost for over 4 hours. There’s over 12,000 acres at this park and it’s easy to get turned around if you venture off the trail.
Another important reminder of this park is that sections of the park are only open for parts of the year.
The Protected Habitat area is only open from September to February. I’ll definitely be back here in September as there were pictures of caves, caverns, sinkholes, creeks, and more back at the headquarters. Maybe I’ll see you there.
Buescher State Park
Last Sunday, 5/5/13, I went out to Buescher State Park to try out the 7 mile loop trail.
Close to the parking area were these two:
It was a treat to see these two Greater Roadrunners out enjoying the weather.
Before heading to the trail, I checked out the lake.
There is a parking lot directly across from the trail head. There’s also a restroom close by.
This pipeline was covered in firewheels. Quite the surprise coming out of the forest.
Oh and when you get back to the parking area take a look at the old live oaks across from the parking.
One more thing. It is snake season. I encountered one on this trail and the rangers were sure to warn everyone at the store that they are out and about in the park because of the warmer weather. If you don’t carry a snakebite kit with you on your hikes, do yourself a favor and head to the nearest sporting goods store and pick one up. It’s one of those things you don’t want your family wishing you had with you. By then it’s too late.
McKinney Falls State Park (2nd try)
My friends and I decided to give McKinney Falls another chance. Maybe February just isn’t the best time to visit the park. After some much-needed rain and a different choice in trail I gained a new appreciation for the park. The wildflowers were blooming and it was nice and green.
We parked by the Smith Visitor Center and took the trail along the river, past the visitor center, and on to the rock shelter.
This massive tree was along the trail.
As you walk under the rock shelter used by the Native Americans so long ago take notice of the nests of spiders along the roof of the cave.
If you’re brave enough and the conditions are good take the path from the cave down to the river.
It is rather steep and slick so be careful. It was worth it for us though.
I’m glad we gave this park another chance. Hopefully some of the pending increase in funding from the legislature will make it to the other sections of the park.
LBJ State Park
Nestled out in the beautiful Texas Hill Country are two parks that illustrate what life was like for our 36th President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ). I’m going to write about LBJ State Park in this post. I’ll follow up tomorrow with the National Park and the Texas White House.
The state park is west of Austin out on Highway 290 about 13 miles west of Johnson City. If you’re coming in from the East I recommend turning onto Park Road 1 and coming into the State Park from the North Entrance. It is a nice drive through the surrounding farms and sort of gets you in the mood for the park you are about to visit.
LBJ State Park is home to the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm.
This farm is a working farm operated by two volunteers. They dress, act, talk, and work the farm as if it was 1915. 1915 was a good year for the farm, but I’ll let them tell you that story.
If you have an hour or two hang out at the main house and listen to the stories. One of my favorite was when the couple explained what they do with the milk. Did I mention that the lady still milks the cow every morning? She also gets eggs from the chicken coop. Back to the milk. They have a good demonstration in the kitchen about how they don’t waste the milk. It’s used for various dairy products for the farm and they do it all by hand. Ask about the milk. You’ll thank me.
The couple uses the vegetables from the garden and the meat from the farm to feed the volunteers/park employees at lunch each day. So expect some traffic around lunch time, but it is nice to see what they are able to do with a 1915 kitchen. It really makes you think.
The pictures don’t do this park justice, but that seems to be the case with every park I visit.
Exploring Texas State Parks 