We stayed in several Texas state parks in June and July. We bought a yearly pass that gave us a discount on entrance fees and camping sites for all Texas state parks. The sites normally have only water and electric hookups, but a dump station is provided. Since we were only staying a few days at a time in each park, it worked out well for us and saved us money on campgrounds.
San Angelo State Park
Near San Angelo, Texas, is San Angelo State Park. It has wide open views, a lake and a herd of bison. While we were there, we enjoyed the evening sunsets.
Colorado City State Park
Colorado City State Park is less than two hours north of San Angelo. It is situated on a lake also. We had a nice pull-through site which made it easy to get in and out. It is a dark sky park, so I tried a few night-time photos. The Milky Way was really bright.
Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway
Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway was one of my favorite parks. It is located in the lower middle part of the Texas panhandle. It has a nice visitor’s center at the entrance. It is home to the official Texas bison herd. It is the only herd in the U.S. that hasn’t been interbred with cattle. They have some impressive bison that have run of the entire park.
The babies were abundant and fun to watch.
The bison liked to hang out in a grassy area near the campsites, but didn’t seem to bother anyone. They also had a lake of their own where they gathered in the evenings.
Caprock Canyon State Park is located in a beautiful red rock canyon that reminded me of Sedona, Arizona.
There’s a scenic drive through the canyon to various scenic areas.
Besides the bison, we saw other wildlife: prairie dogs, a rabbit and a roadrunner carrying something in his mouth.
The prairie dogs didn’t seem to mind the bison resting near their homes.
Growing near the roads were many wild sunflowers.
Another feature of this park is the system of rails-to-trails throughout the park. Rails-to-trails is a program that turns old railways into hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. This trailway spans three counties, has 46 bridges and a tunnel that is home to thousands of bats. We didn’t hike the trails since the weather was too hot and we were only there a couple of days.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park
Called the “Grand Canyon of Texas”, Palo Duro Canyon state park is located at the bottom of a deep canyon. As we approached the park, we saw only flat land until we were practically right at the road going down into the canyon. At the top of the canyon is a nice Visitors’ Center.
The road down into the canyon was narrow, steep and windy. Using lower gears was a must. Once down in the canyon, it was very lush green with lots of trees. The creek runs through the canyon. When it rains, it frequently floods the road in areas. We were glad that there were no storms while we were there, since we did not want to get stuck. There’s only one road in and out of the canyon.
The red rock canyon walls contrasted beautifully with the green trees and bushes.
There are places where the rocks looked like they are only held up by dirt. It looked like they could come tumbling down at any moment.
The last of the late spring flowers were blooming. This is Texas Thistle, I believe. It was everywhere.
One nice thing about camping in state parks is that you can get closer to nature. This was the view across from our campsite. Some of the campers hiked up this rock formation. It was very hot, so we just enjoyed the view instead.
This was the view of our campsite.
We’re very glad to have discovered the Texas state park system. It’s a way to have affordable and scenic campsites when we have to travel across the big state of Texas.