cfitz

A couple of buddies and myself are going out to Mineral Wells on a one day getaway. We will primarily be focused on hiking. We are trying to avoid people for the most part - if we wanted to be around people we can hang out in Dallas.

But anyway I've been on a hiking kick lately. A few of us went on a trip in April to Cooper Lake but the hiking there was average. We didn't see any wildllife and the mud was everywhere. But I was able to rally on Memorial weekend and hiked Hill Country Natural Area and it was just what we were looking for - 8-12 miles of looped hiking, hardly any people and a little bit of wildlife along the way. Plus the grounds there were able to hold up in the heavy rains.

We were able to get a screened shelter at Mineral Wells (I know, sounds lazy) and am looking forward to this quite a bit. Anyone hiked/camped out there on a summer weekend? I read earlier about a firing range that is used nearby sometimes on weekends....... hopefully we are able to avoid the noise, and more people.

rockhill

Mineral Wells SP stays pretty busy on summer weekends so you may have trouble avoiding people. It should prove to be a good, quick outing for you though. The screened shelters are in a nice spot on the lake. You can never be sure if someone or some group will be at the range. i would expect that you would encounter plenty of wildlife on the trail. Due to the rainy spring, (11 inches above normal), wildlife in the form of mosquitos are abundant so plan for them. I have never hiked the entire trail so can not comment on that aspect.
Enjoy the visit.

MamaKym

Nice Park! My parents used to spend lots of time in the camper there for summers. My kids would rotate spending weeks out there with them back when. Lots of wildlife, then and now. I enjoy the trails - but because it is also an awesome rock climbing destination you will encounter alot of climbers along the trails. The rock climbers are very interesting to watch.
~Kym

cfitz

I figure that the park will be crowded with swimmers and campers.......hopefully the hot weather will discourage most to hike the trails..... for our benefit! We may even try to rock climb - never done it before...

Wildlife = good.
Mosquitos = bad.

I think I can deal with the mosquitos if we get to encounter some deer or fox or anything other than people. I'm looking forward to it!.

Just curious. Where roughly is the firing range located? Hopefully it doesn't take away from the sounds of nature too much....

rockhill

The trails are on the north side of the park. You will enter from the south, go left over the spillway to the shelters. Part of the trailheads will be further up the road to the north. The firing range is to the northwest of the park. The range is not used all the time so odds are good it will not be a noise distraction. If they are using it the further east along the trails you go the less noticeable it will be. I have camped out there many weekends and never heard a shot fired.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publicat...p4503_103f.pdf

cfitz

thanks for the info! I feel a little better about my upcoming weekend now. Sounds like it's one of the better campgrounds to hike in North Texas. I'll have to give a report when we get back.

DayTripper

My wife and I hiked the trails at Mineral Wells SP a little over a year ago. You can see a report I wrote and some pictures at http://www.texashiking.com/Hiking/Hi...spx?HikeID=127. My moniker at that site is "kcameron".

Hope this helps some.

__________________
DayTripper

Kelly_B

http://www.oiloflemoneucalyptus.com/products.htm

This is the best stuff to keep those mosquito's away!
You don't spell like "bug spray" all day.

cfitz

thanks everyone for your input.

So I will plan on a small amount of shade. I may go get a bottle of Repel now now too.

i'm planning on hiking all the listed trails in the park and the backwoods for sure. It should be plenty to keep us in good exercise most of the day.

Neville

A few things to think about...

Keep an eye out for ticks. I was there back in April and they were already out and about.

You'll cross Rock Creek a couple of times and with all the rain we've had I'm sure the water will be running pretty high. A few months back the creek crossing looked like this:



Enjoy!

cfitz

Trip Report: The trails are somewhat poorly labeled, but just use the :cool: as your compass and you'll make it back OK (if you are camping/using screened shelter). The trails will make you walk a great deal, and the first part part of the hiking trail (the entrance on the right) is the best part - full of rocks and and a decent size hill.....

Throughout the hike you'll walk much more than climb. The wide hike (part of the back country) eventually comes up on flowery vegetation on the north end and gets more narrow, but for the most part very little shade or elevation. Part of the trail was closed because of flooding. The narrow trails can get a bit swampy and full of mosquitos and especially spider webs. Keep applying that bug spray. Rest Areas are labeled on the map but not on the trail - they are pretty much implied.

We rarely came across people on Sunday. Our Saturday hike had more people on it but it was far from crowded. The biggest drag on the hiking trails are the gun shots from the firing range - which all came on Sunday. I've heard of being able to go a full day without hearing it - we didn't hear any on Saturday late afternoon/evening, but on Sunday we couldn't get away from them.

We did not come across as much wildlife as in the Hill Country Natural Area - We believe we saw a bobcat late at night near our screened shelter. We did see a grass snake on Sunday and a ton of little lizards. Plus a their were few cardinals flying around too, so it wasn't boring by any means.

Overall, the hike is one of the best I've done yet in Texas. A great day of exercise, and if you prefer jogging you have plenty of opportunities. The hike can last you 5-6 hours if you do the majority of the trails on the map. (NOT including the trailhead).