Troop198

Took an extra long weekend to visit this nice park located 2 hours south of us. (Around 95 miles south of Dallas also)

Ft. Parker SP is located near the town of Mexia in Limestone County. In 1935 the town created a park, they named it after the historic settlement nearby of Ft. Parker shortly after, the daming of the Navasota River created Ft. Parker Lake.

Activities in the park include swimming,fishing was real big, boating, hiking on some real nice trails, biking, birding, picnicking and just plain sitting in the shade. The wildflowers were out in April 2009 and made quite a show.

Its a relaltively undeveloped 700 acres with only 25 sites with water and electric. It also has screened shelters that are winterized from November through March; a group camp with 4 barracks and a dining hall.

It has a boat ramp; a boat dock; a 1-mile, multi-use trail for hiking and mountain bike riding; lake fishing pier; fish-cleaning facilities; playground, baseball/softball field; and a trailer dump station. Canoes are rented daily during season.

It also has 10 water only sites.All the sites have fire rings
It is a real nice park and would recomend it for a visit

for a short tour
Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

rockhill

Nice photo show of a neat little park. I have many memories of that little park, some good, some a little different. We happened to be camping there one night in a spot in the cul-de-sac at the end of the road. That night a little twister hit the park blowing over many trees. Ranger had to chain saw his way down the road to check on us. Heck of a wake up call. I will always remember a couple in a tent, the lady a couple months along in preganancy, and the wind blew their tent loose and rolled it up the hill with them still in it. No one seriously hurt so all was good on that front.

JohnK

Nice photos and review of facilities. Thanks for posting!

Gators and swimming... Hmmm... Do those mix well?

JohnK

Troop198

Two replies here. " Gators and swimming Do those mix well?"

We wondered that also. Has anyone seen at gator there ? (we did not )

"That night a little twister hit the park blowing over many trees."

Most of central Texas and North Texas heard and saw some rain this past Sunday, well around 7AM it was noisy as can be, strange part (actually good) Ranger actually warned every camper Saturday night of impending bad weather for 7 am, we bunked up and lasted just fine, no trees blown over. Cleared out in time for church even. I told my DW I was procting her !

Orllas

Thank you for the great review and pics. We are headed there this weekend and I have been looking for as much info on this park as possible.

Troop198

One warning if you have a trailer, many sites need wood or something to level out. Try to get in the end of the cul d sac little better there, I think its the higher numbers, do not have the info handy. The short nature hike is nice, and they have a guide for it.

Orllas

We are staying in one of the screened shelters this trip, but thanks for the heads up.

Slick

thanks for the info and writeup. Looks like a nice park.
Resembles Tyler SP and some of the other WPA projects.