Visiting Texas State Parks is always an unique adventure as there are so many located all throughout Texas. With such a wide variety of terrain you will be able to experience diverse parks and opportunities. This is one of the many reasons why my family and I love to travel and explore new ones. On a recent trip, we decided to head to the Hillsboro area and explore two local state parks in this area. Neither park is very large and can easily be visited in a single weekend trip, depending on how many activities you decide to do at each place. This is a great area of Texas to be able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy some beautiful time in nature. I highly recommend going in the spring like we did as it is not too hot yet and the spring flowers were blooming all over the area!
Hillsboro
Hillsboro is not a huge town, but they do have a thriving Town square. The county courthouse sits regally at the center of the square and is one of the prettiest ones I have seen. While there are several store fronts that are currently empty, there was still a decent amount of shops open throughout the square as well as several restaurants to try.
Just a little bit off the square is a fun sign that says “hello from Hillsboro” where you get to be the “I” in the word of Hillsboro. There were two thrift stores located just off the square but sadly they were both closed the day we visited. We instead went to several boutique shops, multiple antique shops, and a pawn shop. We also visited their green space called “The Yard”. There are picnic tables and also a stage in this area. There was a food truck set up there called “El Sol”. We ordered an aqua Fresca and a Mangonada and enjoyed them at one of the picnic tables. It was a nice break from walking around the square. We had plans to try out one of the restaurants on or near the square, but it didn’t work out for this trip. They looked delicious though!
Lake Whitney State Park
Lake Whitney State Park is only about 20 minutes away from Hillsboro. If you are into hiking like we are, you will want to know that this park only has two trails. There are numerous water activities you can do here and you can also camp or rent one of their shelters. We had a short visit and ended up just hiking their two trails.
The Towash trail is 1.2 miles long and is not what I would call a super exciting trail. You start and end in the same place. There is a loop about a third of your way into the hike that will take you near the water. It is a completely flat and easy trail to hike. You will want to be aware though that it is predominantly unshaded.
In addition to the Towash trail, their is the Two Bridges trail. If I had to choose only one hike, I would definitely choose this one. It has a good amount of shade throughout the trail and is only .9 mile long. This trail is a loop trail and like the name suggests, you will find two bridges along the hike. This trail made you feel more enveloped by nature and more like a typical nature hike than the Towash trail.
If hiking is your only plan for Lake Whitney State Park, you will not need to plan to stay here for long. You will also want to consider the weather because you will not want to do the Towash trail in the heat of summer. In summer, you may want to go in the morning or evening. We enjoyed getting to explore Lake Whitney State Park and of course getting another stamp in our Texas State Parks Passport book! You can buy one for yourself here: https://texasstateparks.reserveamerica.com/posProductDetails.do?id=321262&contractCode=TX
Meridian
Meridian Is only 30 minutes from Lake Whitney State Park making it very doable to visit both Lake Whitney State Park and Meridian State Park on the same day. When we visited, we stopped by Meridian before venturing to Meridian State Park which is less than 10 minutes away. Meridian is a small town but like Hillsboro, has a beautiful courthouse as well as a few restaurants and shops near it. We chose to stop at Small Town Perk for some food and drinks. We shared some muffins and ordered coffee and tea. We loved the small town vibe of this coffee shop and the sitting area was homey. We also stopped by an antique shop. It was filled to the brim with all kinds of items! So fun to explore!
After enjoying our time in Meridian, we set out for Meridian State Park!
Meridian State Park
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Meridian State Park! There were several trails for us to explore as well as some fun structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). We also chose a great time to visit as there were beautiful spring flowers starting to sprout all over the park! If we had visited a week later, I am sure they would have been magnificent in number. Meridian State Park has Lake Meridian that the park surrounds. The hardest trail in the park is the Bosque Hiking trail and it is listed as challenging. We did not venture out on this one but we did see parts of it that certainly did look hard. We look forward to going back one day and tackling this hike!
We hiked two different trails here as well as explored the wildflower trail. The Wildflower trail is a short paved path across from the CCC refectory. Although it is not listed on the maps they give you at the headquarters, it is easy to find and this area allows you to walk among the wildflowers and enjoy them.
The first hike we went on was the Shinnery Ridge trail. This trail is a loop that starts on one side of the parking area and ends on the other. Shinnery Ridge is 1.5 miles long and rated as moderate. One nice feature is they had handmade benches throughout the trail where you could stop and appreciate nature and/or take a break. We enjoyed hiking this trail and seeing the terrain.
We then ventured over to the refectory and explored the wildflower trail. When finished with the wildflowers, we explored the refectory and the lake area. The lake area contained picnic tables and grills, binoculars to look through, as well as bathrooms at the refectory. The bathrooms were clean and well maintained. The refectory had a nice area that could host a decent sized group and they also had a park library which was cool!
Several points of interest in the park include the Fern Ledge and the Bee Ledge. On the way to our next hike, Little Forest Junior Trail, we saw the Fern Ledge. It was cool to look at but we did not get out to further explore it. The Bee ledge is not far from the Little Forest Junior Trail’s parking lot. The views from here are beautiful!
Little Forest Junior trail is rated as easy and is only .8 miles. You can enjoy seeing the bird blind and also the wildflower field if you visit at the right time of year! This short distance was perfect for our second hike and allowed us to see the other side of the park. We enjoyed this one and if I had to choose between the two hikes, I would choose this one. There was a bit more to see and you can also easily access the Bee ledge for beautiful views! The challenging Bosque Hiking trail also joins the Little Forest Junior Trail for a small portion, so you can access that hike from this area as well if desired.
We truly enjoyed our experience in Hillsboro and Meridian and getting to explore these two unique state parks. Tell us in the comments if you have ever been to this area and what you enjoyed about it!
Love Texas State Parks? Check out Inks Lake State Park Here:
https://suitcasesandsalt.com/visiting-inks-lake-state-park/ or Longhorn Caverns State Park: https://suitcasesandsalt.com/longhorn-cavern-state-park/
You can also check out our visit to Cedar Hill State Park: https://suitcasesandsalt.com/tips-for-hiking-at-cedar-hill-state-park-in-texas/
If you are in the San Antonio area, here are some tips for visiting sea world! https://pepperandpassports.com/tips-tricks-and-ideas-for-visiting-seaworld-san-antonio/
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