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How would you rate this park as a backpacking destination? Of course, I would like to be there mid-week during leaf peeping season. My main question centers around the backcountry trail system, campsites, and water availability (to be filtered).
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I'll respond, though all my experienced at the park thus far have been as a day hiker, not a backpacker or overnight camper at the primitive sites.
There are 10 miles of trails in the park, all well marked and with occasional access to naturally-occurring streams and some ponds (as shown on the
park map, courtesy of TPWD). Like you stated, I would treat the water in ANY state park as a matter of course.
If you like solitude or anything approaching it, I'd go for one of the primitive campsites that is off the main trails, otherwise you will have a fair amount of foot traffic passing by your camp during day use hours as folks explore the park to observe the fall color. I've never hiked all the way to it to vouche for its view and ambiance
but Primitive Site "B" looks promising; I can speak highly of the scenic overlook near site "B" ("near" on the map, anyway; view from overlook is shown in
Justin's photo of me hiking there in the mid-late 90's).
Hope this helps... Lost Maples is a terrific park year-round and I'm hoping we are in for a prime fall foliage season (we're a bit overdue!) Fingers crossed....