Found a GREAT spot to hike on the weekends, just 5.5 hours from Lake Charles! Yes, I know that’s a long drive for just a weekend hike, but it’s really worth it…I promise.
Drive west towards Houston, head northwest towards Austin, keep going north past Round Rock & Georgetown & cattle fields…& when you reach Lampasas TX you’re at the perfect place to stay for this trip. Because Lampasas happens to be a middle point between two AWESOME state parks: Inks Lake & Colorado Bend.
There are of course other places to stay, like in the parks themselves, but we opted for Lampasas because it was large enough to have a good grocery store, dining options AND we found a comfy AirBnB for $70/night. We had a 2 bedroom/2 bath house all to ourselves with a fully provisioned kitchen, which was perfect since we brought our own food to cook. Who needs to eat out when you have braised lamb & veggies?
If you go & don’t want to cook, try Storm’s Hamburgers, a local drive-in that’s been around since 1950 & can claim to be a hangout of Elvis.
We left Thursday afternoon so we could begin hiking first thing Friday at Inks Lake State Park. [I confess to stopping for a little outlet shopping in Cypress on the way up…a girl’s gotta wear something besides hiking boots, after all.] Inks Lake was an unexpected gem! We lived in Texas for 4 years & never heard of it. Eric discovered it because he was trying to find hiking areas that DON’T allow hunting on weekends in the winter. Hunting IS allowed at this park but only on limited dates. We parked just past the entrance & walked a total of 8 miles, starting on Pecan Flats, then Woodlands, then Lake & finishing with Fisherman’s Trail. While there are really only enough trails to keep you busy for 1 day, we loved these trails because they were so diverse & never boring. [Inks Lake Trail Map]
We saved our big hiking for Saturday, since Colorado Bend State Park has over 30 miles worth of trails. You could easily spend 3 days hiking just this park! The trails range from easy to difficult & we found that we preferred the difficult ones because they were MUCH more interesting & some of the “easy” trails actually weren’t that easy. The drive to Colorado Bend doesn’t offer much scenery & the entrance to the park is very unimpressive, but WOW! Once you get on the trail & head deeper into the park, you’ll be amazed at the diverse landscape! We parked at the Cedar Chopper Loop trail entrance & hiked a total of 9 miles that day. The Cedar Chopper Loop had recently undergone a controlled burn, so it wasn’t very pretty, but we were only on it for a short time until we connected to the Tinaja Trail which was AWESOME! The first portion of Tinaja was our favorite, offering crisp white rocky terrain with moderately challenging ups & downs. It really wasn’t a difficult trail unless you have issues with footing — it was a VERY rocky trail. Once you get to the Tinaja bend (to the north rim), it’s less shady (so keep that in mind when you’re planning what time to start your hike & what direction to begin).
After Tinaja we were supposed to connect to the River Trail but ended up diverting to Gorman Springs instead [which was a lovely walk & offered a great spot to eat lunch while listening to a babbling brook].
If you connect Tinaja to River Trail, head down a gravel road to a parking area. You must walk BEHIND the house to find the River Trail entrance. Signage was terrible at this junction & 5 other hikers (besides us) also got lost trying to find it!
Once on the River Trail, we were happy to see how pretty the Colorado River was — a clear green, much lighter than what I was used to with the Guadalupe River. This trail was flat & easy, with one exception which involved a rope on the side of a rock wall. After that, the path meandered away from the river & into a grassy savanna with lots of armadillos & sun. We connected to Lemons Ridge Pass at that point & began trekking back uphill into rockier terrain. My right knee had graciously spared me any issues so far, but I guess it got lonely those last 2 miles because it flared up & I was SOOO grateful that the last mile on Lemons Ridge was relatively flat. We didn’t hike the entire Lemons Ridge trail, just to the portion that connects to Cedar Chopper where we had parked. [Colorado Bend Trail Map]
Both parks are in heavy rattlesnake territory, so I’d never hike here in the summer. But they certainly make great winter hikes, especially if you’re bored with flat pine forests. And in case you need further tempting, there are Premium Outlets, an REI & IKEA in Round Rock which is on your route to these parks. Not that any of us are shopping divas or anything. 🙂
