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Originally Posted by sheisaeval
I'm looking for some suggestions for parks in/near san antonio. (within an hour)
1 - a nice park that has a lake/river/pond running through it, nice hiking/scenery, with picnic areas, secluded
2 - like above but with camping areas.
3 - this can be within a few hours drive, but where is the best beach in texas? and can you camp on the beach?
4- what are some "must-see" parks near san antonio? why?
Thanks!
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I can't help you with the picking fruit one, but here are my recommendations on the others:
1 & 2. Anything near a major metro area isn't going to qualify as secluded, for
the most part, unless it's got the kind of trail mileage that lets you put some distance between yourself and the masses. For river running through it, picnic and campsites --
Guadalupe River State Park. This park gets very busy on spring and summer weekends and holidays.
For more actual seclusion, but more primitive facilities (picknicking would have to be done at a trailhead or, if camping, at one's campsite -- no day use picnic facilities), then I recommend
Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera, TX. There is a picturesque pond near the non-backcountry campground, and there's another pond in the interior of the park, accessible from the hiking trails and the backcountry campsites. You'll be sharing the park with mostly equestrians and mountain bikers, but there are plenty of miles of trails to make that a happy mix for all concerned.
There's also
Pedernales Falls State Park which has not just a river but (in non-drought conditions) also waterfalls accessible by hiking upstream a bit in the river-cut gorge. There are numerous camping areas, and I'm fairly sure there's a day use area. You can view a map on the linked page and confirm that. And there's
Lost Maples State Natural Area which is known for its fall foliage (and quite busy at those times), but offers up some great hiking above and in a small limestone canyon, developed and primitive/hike-in campsites, and some day use picnicking areas. There are several small ponds easily accessible in the park; in fact, you drive by a pond/stream after passing the ranger station. Another pond is accessible off the Maple Trail, and there are others.
3. I haven't been to South Padre Island so I don't know how it compares to the beaches there. However, our favorite beach is
Padre Island National Seashore. There are several named beaches in the seashore. If you have a 4x4 vehicle, you can go many miles down-island and pitch your tent and camp. The less far you drive down island, the more traffic you'll probably have driving by your location to head down-island, but at night the quiet is deafening. The quality of the sand changes depending on which named beach your on. Malaquite and the 'frontage' beach at Padre are soft, fine sand. Down island on Padre are Little Shell and Big Shell beaches, named aptly for the types of shells found in abundance, mixed in with the same fine sand.
4. Any park with a red arrow next to it on our
San Antonio Area Parks list is one of our favorites. As San Antonians, these are parks we've visited many times in varying seasons over various years.