texas hill country state parks, suggestions Options

[KellyT]

would like hiking and mountain bike trails. need privacy camp spots

[campsnoopy]

Garner is real nice for hiking, not so much for privacy unless you go during the week and NOT during the summer. We went mid-week last october and almost had the place to ourselves. If its peace and quiet your after, Lost Maples would do the trick.

[Steve Nussenblat...]

South Llano River State Park is great with good biking. Pedernales has biking as well but I have not been there in a long time.

Steve

[grc]

would like hiking and mountain bike trails. need privacy camp spots

We love the Hill Country. Keep Kerrville Schreiner City (used to be state) park in mind. Also Perdenales Falls State Park is nice. No camping, but if you are near Fredericksburg, be sure to hike up Enchanted Rock.

I have photos of these parks in this photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/pastorscott.co...xasHillCountry#

As someone has said, Garner is always a winner and nearby Lost Maples is one of our favorites.

[TexGX]

Guadalupe River State park has great sites, good hiking and close enough to town if you decide to not eat at the camp site. Inks Lake SP is also a good one.

[PRTexas]

We stayed at Guadalupe River State Park for a couple of days before Bandera this spring. Really nice park, good campsites but it will be crowded on weekends especially in the summer with folks coming to the river. Amount of privacy depends on the campsite but lots of trees and shade.

We stayed at Inks Lake last fall after the Pine Knot rally. Very little privacy - some of the sites are out in the open without any shade. It was OK during the week in October but they said it's really crowded in the summer.

[K&C]

would like hiking and mountain bike trails. need privacy camp spots

So many Parks are great. Right now the rivers are down due to a drought. You might want to call and find out how low the river is before making a trip, that is if you are interested in the river. San Angelo has a nice Park, depends on whre you choose to stay as far as privacy.
Most of the Hill Country State Parks are untouchable as far as privacy in the summer, my advice would be wait for school to start and cooler temperatures.

[campsnoopy]

we went to Pedernales falls last weekend, at first i wasnt that impressed, but it really grew on me and i would have no problem camping there again. the campsites, while not having alot of shade, and the rv pads not being very wide, do offer privacy due to alot of trees and brush in between them, and are nice sized with room to roam around. the park also has a nice swimming hole. the "falls" were pretty much dried up, which i think was a good thing because i had a blast climbing on the rocks.

we always see deer in the state parks, but this time, we saw bucks, trophy bucks, that would walk right thru our campsite. one of them snuck up on me and scared the hell outta me. perhaps the best thing of all was we didnt see a single raccoon, they are cute but annoying little scavengers.

This post has been edited by campsnoopy: Sep 12 2009, 07:35 AM

[DesertHawk]

I believe you would like San Antonio, for a huge city in population, you don't really get the closed in feeling of a big city.

The Alamo -very interesting (espc. for a Texas kid), very nice displays, beautifully landscaped grounds in the back area & interesting museum.

The River Walk -very nice to walk, also boat rides, lots of side walk eating places. We have always enjoyed it. http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/

The Institute of Texan Cultures is a 182,000-square-foot cultural experience museum featuring 65,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and displays that tell the stories of Texans. The mission of the Institute of Texan Cultures is to engage lifelong learners in the understanding and celebration of Texas cultural heritage. Note{ not just cowboys, but the varied nationalites, such as German, Polish, Czech, Swedish, etc. also African American, Hispanic and many others. The Institute of Texan Cultures is located in downtown San Antonio in HemisFair Park beneath the Tower of the Americas and adjacent to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. Complimentary parking is available. Additional paid parking is available in adjacent lots and on Durango Boulevard. Groups traveling in buses are asked to enter the bus lot on South Bowie Street. ---A neat place. http://www.texancultures.com/

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park ---we took a good part of a day to drive to them and visit some on one trip to San Antonio, but may have visite the Alamo first(?). They are not in just one spot, takes some driving & following directions. Pretty neat. If into photo taking, may get some nice shot. http://www.nps.gov/saan/index.htm

Sea World San Antonio, I have not been to, but I have to the one in San Diago which we liked very much. Seems like the one in Texas has alot of options for what one might like to do & see. A newer & I believe larger one than in San Diago. http://www.seaworld.com/sanantonio/

San Antonio Zoo and Aquarium is near Brackenridge Park - we enjoyed the zoo many years ago. http://www.sazoo-aq.org/general/visitortips.html
http://www.wildtexas.com/parks/bracken.php

Buckhorn Saloon and Museum was interesting, espc. Buckhorn Hall of Horns, we have visited it in down town, but we first saw them when at the old Lone Star Brewing Company. Lone Star had purchases the world-famous Buckhorn Collection and had the Lone Star Buckhorn Hall of Horns as part of their tour. http://www.buckhornmuseum.com/history.html

If you see a Taco Cabana Mexican Patio Cafe, the best Mexican style fast food you can find IMHO, stop and eat. Best Fajitas, we like the chicken ones, but all are good. (We eat at one in El Paso whenever we have to go there, see Mexican Nationals eating at it, must be good) Great Salsa, try some of each, very good eating. Sopias were bad when we tried them in Amerillo, other menu items very good. http://www.tacocabana.com/menu/

Find some good Texas Barbeque something like this place maybe Texas Pride Barbecue, which was featured on the Food Network. http://www.texaspridebbq.net/ I can not recommend a place. We had some just off I-10 in Kerrville, but it was years ago. Not sure if it still good. The barbeque sauce is the key. Anyone know of a good place to eat in or near San Antonio?

As to a place to stay, can't help much. We stayed at a Wal-Mart off the loop I-410 on the west side of town, up on a hill, green grass along parking lot, very nice. If you have a milatary ID & can get onto one of the Air Force Bases or an Army post, they may have a FamCamp you could stay. Such as http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/componen...and-afb-famcamp

NOW for what you had asked about. Plus, some other Info.

We have stayed at Kerrville-Schreiner Park, when it was a state park, very nice, very busy. San Antonio- 65 miles. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findade...ille_schreiner/
http://www.kerrville.org/index.aspx?NID=318
The Museum of Western Art near Kerrville is really good, a must see for sure if possible. http://museumofwesternart.com/

Guadalupe River State Park- I have not been here, 30 miles north of downtown San Antonio at the north end of Park Road 31. It may be reached by traveling west on State Highway 46, 8 miles west of the intersection of State Highway 46 and US Highway 281 or by traveling eastward on State Highway 46, 13 miles east of Boerne.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findade...uadalupe_river/

Bastrop State Prk- ditto as last one, have heard it was nice. -70 miles to San Antonio. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/bastrop/
Buescher SP is adjacent to Bastrop SP. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/buescher/

Texas State Parks are really nice: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/

South Llano River State Park adjoins Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area, south of Junction is great as is Pedernales Falls State Park in Blanco County east of Johnson City. We have been to both. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findade...th_llano_river/
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findade...dernales_falls/

These are neat to see, no campgrounds. LBJ's Ranch is near Johnson City as well as a Texas State Wildflower Museum-like place, the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site is between JC and Fredericksburg (neat place to see as well), across the road from the LBJ Ranch a National Park now. http://www.nps.gov/lyjo
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findade...ndon_b_johnson/
http://www.virtualcities.com/ons/tx/j/as/txj13a61.htm
http://www.thc.state.tx.us/museums/musnimitz.shtml

I found Cascade Caverns at Boerne to be extremely neat (my first cave) when I was about 12 or 13. Not sure how it would hold up now for me. Ha! http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10051
I see they do have camping there now. About 30 miles from Boerne to downtown SA. They do have a discount coupon to copy. http://www.cascadecaverns.com/wp/?page_id=159

Air Force History and Traditions Museum Lackland Air Force Base if you are on base. We went to it when my son was to graduate from Basic, but could not leave base yet. http://www.museumsusa.org/museums/info/1167934

Alamo River RV Resort close, but $35 a night- 16 miles from the downtown River Walk, on the southern city limits of the Alamo City. I have only seen it on web site? http://www.alamoriver.com/

Stone Creek RV Park http://www.stonecreekrvpark.com/rates.html

RV Park List San Antonio Area http://www.go-texas.net/San-Antonio/Camping/

Oh, yes, there is another attraction, do not know anything about it however, Six Flags Fiesta Texas. http://www.sixflags.com/fiestaTexas/index.aspx

Also, in Castroville there is a RV park. http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Texas/Castroville.html
http://www.castroville.com/regional_park.htm#rvpark
Castroville is approximately 15 minutes west of San Antonio, settled by Henri Castro and a small group of French Alsatian colonists. A neat town & river. My sister & bro-n-law had a vacation place there once on the Medina River, shortest river in Texas. Alsatians are the German-speaking people of the French region of Alsace, located between the Vosges Mountains and the German border. There is no single Alsatian dialectal variant, although High German is used as the written standard. Today, most Alsatians are bilingual, German & French. According to Louis L'Amour in his novel Shalako, they were always.
http://www.castrovilletx.com/
I believe the locals & maybe most Texans called it Caster-ville, at least back in the '70s.

Being from the Southwest, I did not think of the El Mercado. http://www.sanantonio.gov/dtops/marketsqua...24&ver=true
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North...quare-BR-1.html

This post has been edited by DesertHawk: Sep 26 2009, 08:37 PM