Stephen F. Austin State Park
This week I journeyed down south near Houston, where I caught the last day of the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF), and then hit up a new-to-me state park, Stephen F. Austin.
Lets start by saying how freaking cool TRF was! A few of my good friends from Houston have invited me a few times but this was the first year I was able to make it, and I’m so glad I finally did. Talk about a unique way to get outside in Texas. This festival has been going on since the 1970’s and last for 9 weekends every fall. It’s the largest in the country! Proving that everything is, in fact, bigger in Texas.
With 55 acres of fairgrounds and another 200 acres of campgrounds, you can easily enjoy an escape from the city - and reality - in the best way. We had such a great time meeting people from all over and just enjoying the simpler side of life with them for a couple of days.
This is a place where anyone can come and be exactly who you are with no judgment. It was such a refreshing experience and I look forward to making it a part of my annual traditions.
Now on to the state park. I honestly wasn’t expecting too much from this park, all of the information I found said it was pretty for a quick getaway from Houston, with really easy trails and not much else going on. What a lesson in expecting the unexpected, because this park absolutely took my breath away.
I had originally planned on camping here for a night, but after a rainy night at TRF I really didn’t feel up to re-pitching a wet tent and sleeping in damp clothes again. Since the park didn’t seem too exciting anyway, I decided to stay the night with my friends in Houston where I got a warm shower and dry clothes. I left from there the next morning to spend a couple of hours at the park before heading home.
The drive west on I-10 was underwhelming due to still being in the city for most of the hour long drive. Once you take the exit though, you’ll find yourself in the rural Texas countryside that you imagine.
The park is pretty small, and I drove the main loop to get my bearings in a matter of minutes. Since I didn’t want to get home too late, I planned on just a short hike. I parked the car and set off for the Barred Owl Trail, which connects to a few other trails and has a lookout over the Brazos River. The river view was nice, but let me tell you… the foliage is the real star of this park.
With 473 acres of Cottonwood, Sycamore, Green Ash, and more towering overhead- and a dense undergrowth of plants like Dwarf Palmetto, Yaupon, and Grapevine woven together to blanket the ground, you’re truly surrounded by greenery everywhere you look.
Several species of birds and the scurrying of wildlife like rabbits, armadillos, and deer provide a tranquil soundtrack that will have you lingering on the trails much longer than you’d think. As I came upon each crossroad for connecting trails, I found myself choosing the longer route back to the car every time. Worth it.
Wandering deeper into the forest, I couldn't help but ponder on the diversity of the plant and wildlife here- and just how well it represents the diversity of Texas itself. Not just its landscape, but its people (TRF for example). The more I travel around Texas the more I realize that so many people call this state home, and they each have such a unique story and culture. As much as I do this for the nature and solitide, the people I meet along the way are often my favorite part. They can be even more unexpected than this park was for me, always keeping me guessing and teaching me to let go of expectations and ego. In my humble opinion, life’s best lessons really are found through travel and experience.
Is Stephen F. Austin State Park on your bucket list now, or have you already been?
Let me know in the comments!
How to get there:
Just under an hour west of Houston off of I-10, this park is easy to get to. Plug it in your GPS and you’ll have no issues!
Trails:
Trails were well marked, and unpaved but mostly smooth and even. Don’t let the ease of the trails fool you into thinking it will be a boring hike though, you’ll want to explore every inch!
I started with Barred Owl, then split off for the Sycamore Trail, took that to the Ironwood, until that ended at the Pileated Trail, and followed that to the informative Nature Trail. That’s where I finally decided it was time to take the road back to the car and, unfortunately, head home.
