Brazos Bend State Park
Brazos Bend State Park is a large (~5000 acre) state park located only 45 minutes from central Houston. It’s definitely worth the drive!
This one is another one of our favorites! We didn’t get a chance to explore as much of the park as we had hoped to the last time we were here due to the scorching Houston summer heat. We spent about three hours walking around the trails here before we headed home. We will definitely be back!
The ecology here is swamp-like complete with alligators, lots of wildlife, shallow waters, and miles of flat trails. It reminded me a lot of the Everglades National Park.
Tickets are $7 per person . Make sure to reserve online due to COVID pandemic so you don’t risk being turned away.
FOLLOW ALONG WITH THIS TRAIL MAP FOR A GUIDE TO THIS STATE PARK
ELM LAKE LOOP
Our day started out by walking the Elm Lake Loop, a short 1.7 mile trail, that offers the best opportunities to view wildlife within the state park. This one took us to Point of interest #1 on the trail map, the Elm Lake Wildlife Viewing Platform. The Platform offers a beautiful birds-eye view of the ecosystem.
We saw plenty of birds on this trail! But unfortunately there were no gators, which if we’re being honest, is the wildlife that we really came out to see.
CREEKFIELD LAKE ADA INTERPRETIVE TRAIL/OBSERVATORY TRAIL
Next, we took our car to the Nature Center parking lot. The Nature Center was closed due to COVID. However, this is the location of the trailheads to the Creekfield Lake ADA Interpretive trail and the Observatory Trail (which leads to the George Observatory). Here is where our trip brought us face to face with nature at its finest.
Look up at sky while walking this side of the park and you will see large spiders hanging from webs above you! In total, we saw about ten large spiders just a few feet above us towards on the Creekfield Lake Trail.
I’ll close by mentioning that this State Park is special enough to host the George Observatory, which is actually a part of the Houston Museum Natural Science. The Observatory holds telescope viewing sessions at night. It is a short walk to the Observatory from the Nature Center parking lot, but beware those spiders at night.
Learn more about the George Observatory: https://www.hmns.org/george-observatory/
Learn more about Brazos Bend State Park at: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/brazos-bend
Find this park in: All-Time Best Parks, Top Outer Loop Parks, Top Parks for Hiking,
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