Village Creek State Park Is Awesome
The boys are just about the age where camping and other outdoor adventures are in the cards.
We did a test run Saturday at Village Creek State Park, just east of Lumberton, just north of Beaumont.
Mom needed a break at home, and the boys needed to be hiked ragged, which I estimated would be about a quarter mile before the whining and demands for shoulder rides began.
We packed lunches and walking sticks and headed out early to take advantage of the cool temperatures. Enhancing the adventurous nature of it all, I took a rural, tree-lined back road to get there, thinking that would be better than the freeway.
We were there within 30 minutes, and it only cost $2 to get in. (Kids are free!)
Selecting the Village Creek Trail, which the wife and I only got to see part of in 2001 thanks to Tropical Storm Allison's flooding, we headed out along a pathway primarily composed of sand that would not look out of place in Cancun.
Along the way, I noted poison oak, muscadine grape vines, birds, snakes and various other flora and fauna.
The trail, which mostly runs along the creek, is gorgeous, and there are spooky bogs, swamps and water holes along the way.
The trail ended after a mile in a swimming hole, which is a wide bend in the creek with sand that's better than what can be found on Bolivar Peninsula. The water was relatively clear and inviting, but way too cold for getting into. (We didn't have swim trunks anyway.)
There was some minimal, requisite whining on the way back but no shoulder-ride requests. That underscored the entertainment value of this two-mile hike.
Afterward, we did a round of high fives, had lunch and goofed around on a little playground before heading up in mid-afternoon.
Village Creek State Park, fresh off Hurricane Rita repairs, might just be one of the best I've seen, and I've been to dozens of state parks between Sabine River to El Paso. It's certainly a Southeast Texas gem that probably gets overlooked.
It has day use-picnic facilities, miles of trails for hiking and biking, fancy campsites with all the hookups and more remote campsites without all the bells and whistles.
Here's more about it: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/village_creek/
Here's a crummy cell phone picture taken at the swimming hole: 
We did a test run Saturday at Village Creek State Park, just east of Lumberton, just north of Beaumont.
Mom needed a break at home, and the boys needed to be hiked ragged, which I estimated would be about a quarter mile before the whining and demands for shoulder rides began.
We packed lunches and walking sticks and headed out early to take advantage of the cool temperatures. Enhancing the adventurous nature of it all, I took a rural, tree-lined back road to get there, thinking that would be better than the freeway.
We were there within 30 minutes, and it only cost $2 to get in. (Kids are free!)
Selecting the Village Creek Trail, which the wife and I only got to see part of in 2001 thanks to Tropical Storm Allison's flooding, we headed out along a pathway primarily composed of sand that would not look out of place in Cancun.
Along the way, I noted poison oak, muscadine grape vines, birds, snakes and various other flora and fauna.
The trail, which mostly runs along the creek, is gorgeous, and there are spooky bogs, swamps and water holes along the way.
The trail ended after a mile in a swimming hole, which is a wide bend in the creek with sand that's better than what can be found on Bolivar Peninsula. The water was relatively clear and inviting, but way too cold for getting into. (We didn't have swim trunks anyway.)
There was some minimal, requisite whining on the way back but no shoulder-ride requests. That underscored the entertainment value of this two-mile hike.
Afterward, we did a round of high fives, had lunch and goofed around on a little playground before heading up in mid-afternoon.
Village Creek State Park, fresh off Hurricane Rita repairs, might just be one of the best I've seen, and I've been to dozens of state parks between Sabine River to El Paso. It's certainly a Southeast Texas gem that probably gets overlooked.
It has day use-picnic facilities, miles of trails for hiking and biking, fancy campsites with all the hookups and more remote campsites without all the bells and whistles.
Here's more about it: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/village_creek/
Here's a crummy cell phone picture taken at the swimming hole:
posted by Brian Pearson at 10:59 AM
1 Comments:
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