shannonr

Hi-We are travelling the weekend of May 6th from Houston. We have 3 boys age 7, 9 and 11 and we are trying to decide (quickly) between Bastrop SP and McKinney Falls SP. We are going to camp in tents so we need good camp sites with electricity, water and decent restrooms. Our kids like to fish and (if possible) swim. My husband is leaning towards McKinney falls due to the idea of seeing the falls. It sounds a little close to the urban sprawl for me though..any feedback on this? Or, does anyone have any good park suggestions, other than Huntsville SP, that meet these criteria, within about 180-200 miles of Houston? Fishing, swimming, clean camp sites and restrooms are the biggest things.

THANKS!
Shannon

01ACRViper

swimming in Bastrop SP is very limited, even with the small "lake" nearby, which i forgot the name of. McKinney falls sounds more like a sure bet.

Linda Jean

A lovely natural swimming hole forms just below the falls (at McKinney Falls SP), so if swimming is important then I'd suggest it. (Bastrop only offers a swimming pool.)

Turn Key

Took a look at both of these parks in late 2003 and wrote short reviews on each. I'd vote for McKinney Falls but here are links to both reviews:

McKinney Falls SP

Bastrop SP

No matter which you choose, I wish you happy camping!

__________________

Shannon

At all but Bastrop State Park's rental cabins and backcountry campsites, you will hear road noise from a major highway the runs just outside the park. I always forget about it until we set up camp and settle in, then I'm wondering how I forgot because it's so loud. Luckily, the pileated woodpecker (imagine a real live "Woody Woodpecker" and that's pretty much what a pileated looks like -- they're HUGE, too!) is in the park and is so big and loud you won't miss it over the road noise, if one perches anywhere nearby. I tend to go to Bastrop these days when Justin and I want to enjoy a non-"roughing it" experience -- so we stay in the cabins. If I camp in a tent there in the future, it'll be in the primitive camping areas off the trails, not the developed campground, due to road noise. The one good thing is the tent camping area is distinctly separate from the RV camping area, so there are no generators to contend with overnight.

Paradoxically, we have not camped overnight at McKinney Falls SP yet. No particular reason, except for time (well, and a knee injury, knee surgery, and a small business to coddle and nurture! )

That said, with kids, I would definitely go to McKinney Falls State Park instead. It may be close to Austin and get busy, but it's got plenty of space, has a HUGE picnic area and plenty of trails of various lengths (including opportunities for mountain biking), plus the waterfalls and more water for fishing, dipping toes in the water, etc. If you needed to stretch your legs, or rest your legs after too much hiking, you're close enough to Austin to enjoy things like the Lady Bird Johnson National Wildflower Center and some of the Austin city parks.

If anyone wants to post photos of McKinney or Bastrop to share, do remember we host the free Your Photos Gallery.

__________________
- Shannon Moore
Your Host @ WildTexas.com
http://www.twitter.com/ageekgal

MissionCamper

I'll 2nd the remark about the road noise at Bastrop. We stayed at this park just last month for 4 nights, Copperas Creek loop - site 53. Beautiful park, clean showers/restrooms, but that noise from Hwy-71 is definitely a distraction. We also found that this is the time of year for the pine trees to pollinate. Green dust everywhere! There were signs saying that swimming was not allowed in the small lake. Ranger told us the bacteria levels were normally high anyway. The pool was closed during our stay.

We considered McKinney instead, but from what I've read, development surrounds this park - which may be a disadvantage of sorts, I do not know. We only knew that for us, Bastrop was closer.

BTW, if you go to Bastrop, be sure to stop in at the Roadhouse restaurant near the entrance...great food!

txvelo

I've camped in both parks with my 10 year old tom boy of a daughter. Her favorite is McKinney Falls hands down. There are two falls areas, the upper has good rocks for the kids to climb on and there was a rope swing when we were there last year. Even though it is in Austin you don't hear noise like you do at Bastrop.
When we were at Bastrop in January the parks departmnet had burned areas on the east end of the hiking trails. which, of course, meant my daughter got in the ash and got pretty dirty. She had fun. But this spring should see lots of new growth in the burned areas.

TxCamper

Thiers no fishing at Mckinney falls unless your plan to catch perch or minnows. The hiking trails at McKinney falls are nice and like i have stated before you wont even notice that this park is in the middle of urban development. They also have horse back riding which you can rent at the park. It would be to cold this time of year to swim even if the water levels are up and you have 90+ degree temps for 2 weeks, its spring fed.

Melanti

I'll be nice since no one else seems to have posted pictures. I took pictures of both parks, though not very many of Bastrop and Buescher since it was raining/misty the entire time I was there.

http://community.webshots.com/user/melanti

I hope the pictures help.