Palmetto State Park – Texas State Park 1/89

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If you missed our travel update (or didn’t know we had a YouTube channel at all), you can check it out here. The short story? We canceled our stay in Arkansas at the 1886 Crescent Hotel (covid, money, travel time, etc.), but we still wanted to do something during our week off of work. Somewhere along the way, we came up with the idea to see all of Texas’ state parks within a year. This was before we knew how many state parks Texas has, and surprise, it’s a lot. 89 in total! So to kick it off, we headed to a park rather close to home that neither of us had been to, Palmetto State Park!

The Deets

Palmetto State Park is located about 15 minutes outside of Gonzales, TX, in Gonzales County. It is roughly an hour from both Austin, TX, and San Antonio, TX. The park covers just over 270 acres. It features nearly 5 miles of nature trails and has a recreational lake for fishing, swimming, and canoeing. You can also dip into the San Marcos River, which runs through the park. The park is open daily and the entrance fee is only $3 for adults and free for children under the age of 12 (or entirely free if you have a Park Pass).

The History

Palmetto State Park opened to the public in 1936. The state acquired the land from local landowners and the city of Gonzales between the years 1934 and 1936. Like many other state parks in Texas, much is owed to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps. Created in 1933, the CCC was established to combat high unemployment during the Great Depression by putting hundreds of thousands of young men to work on environmental conservation projects. At Palmetto State Park, the CCC built the pavilion, water tower, low water crossing over the river, the park entry road (Park Road 11), and much more.

Our Experience

We kicked off our Texas State Park Challenge on 4 October 2020 with our visit to Palmetto State Park. For both of us, having lived so close to the park for practically all our lives, neither of us had ever been. We were missing out! Palmetto is a great park. We happened to visit on a day when the weather was a bit cooler. I’d definitely recommend visiting on cooler days simply to avoid the mosquitos. During the summer and hot months, I’m sure it’s like walking through blankets of them. Of course, the river and lake offer a beautiful respite during the summer, so don’t let the heat or bugs hold you back!

The park is so out of place when it comes to the foliage there. It is a tropical oasis in the middle of Texas! The dwarf palms, or palmettos, are prevalent throughout the park. One can easily picture dinosaurs stalking through! If not dinosaurs, how about a swamp monster? Palmetto boasts their own swamp-thing legend, which you can learn more about here.

The Trails

We started our day with the Ottine Swamp Trail. Even after hiking the rest of the park, this remained our favorite. It meanders through the swamp into pure Texas mesquite land and then back into the swamp. Like nearly all of the paths in the park, this one is wide with easy, even ground. It also features many boardwalks through the swampy areas. Perfect for people of all abilities, these well-manicured trails are sure to satisfy. We saw many families out on the trails. Bikes and strollers strode by with ease.

Also open and wide are the Mesquite Flats Trail, the Palmetto Interpretive Trail, the Oxbow Lake Trail, and the Park HQ Trail.

The San Marcos River Trail is still fairly wide, but it is sandy in places. We still saw bikes and strollers on this trail. The Mossycup Spur and the Canebrake Spur are the only trails that had any type of steep elevation, and each only had one section (one went up, and then you went back down on the other trail). Again, still wide and easy walking, though!

Our Takeaway

Overall, we loved this park. The staff are great, the facilities are clean, there are plenty of places to have lunch at a table or out on the grass, and the trails are well maintained. There are also tons of wildlife to enjoy. Not only is it a bird haven, but we also saw a deer and an armadillo! We can’t wait to come back and see this park throughout the seasons. With it being so close to home for us, I foresee it becoming our new go-to park! We hope you get to enjoy it as well. Prefer to see it in action? Check out our vlog of Palmetto State Park!
Cheers,
Lydia and Billy