bridge – Texans Travel Life

Martin Dies Jr. State Park has not one, not two, but THREE different units! It is ginormous!!

By the time we visited our 37th Texas State Park, we kind of figured we knew what we’d signed up for, and what to expect. We knew the drill. After visiting 36 State Parks, we had developed a kind of rhythm to it.

And then we visited Martin Dies Jr. State Park.

Let me start by gushing over how utterly gasp-worthy the drive to the HQ was when we visited in 2018. We’re talking towering trees lining the road, creating the most inviting and sporadically shaded drive that was akin to that scene in Keira Knightley’s version of Pride & Prejudice when she was visiting the Lake District with her Aunt & Uncle, riding along the English landscape, face upturned to the canopied trees, eyes closed, enjoying the bright bursts of sunshine through her closed lids that was punctuated now and again by the overhanging limbs. It was exactly that kind of beautiful drive that greeted us upon entry into the park that late summer day in mid-August.

The epic nature of that first introduction to MDJSP doesn’t really translate onto the screen. You’ll have to just trust me.

Maps in hand, we decided to do a scenic drive through of the park, get our bearings, and figure out where The Manling wanted to drop his first line in the water. We drove through what looked like a community of Little Houses on the Prairie. We passed countless camp sites, every one looking like it would be the best. We crossed over the quaintest bridge where we noticed a pontoon-type pier near the rental canoes. We saw open lake. We saw little inlets that looked freshly plucked out of Jurassic World. We saw and heard birds. We looked for ‘gators. We hiked part of the Island Trail. We saw the Observation Pier. Pretty much, we explored all the nooks and crannies MDJSP has to offer and came away with this: East Texas takes state parking to a whole different level!

The Manling doing a little fishing on the pontoon-style pier.

I couldn’t help being reminded of Parent Trap when I saw these. Love!

An example of the stellar camp sites available at MDJSP.

Campsite view of the lake under the shade of the towering trees. Bliss.

Part of the beautiful Island Trail, a great example of the lazy paths through the tall trees, never out of view of the water.

Cue the theme to Little House on the Prairie, please.

The Manling feeling right at home. I think Lake Life is in his future.

Love, love, love when the waters are covered like that. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that you can spot “alligator tracks” in them. Thumbs up!

Seriously the best reflection pictures are available late afternoon just about anywhere in the park that the sun can shine through the trees.

The Manling’s Mom totally appreciates the “sea wall” from which he got to fish. She’s not over fond of him being in the water when alligators call it home.

I can feel the tension in my muscles relaxing just looking at photos like this. This is one of my happy places, I think.

I want to point out that we get a lot of comments on our adventures when some mishap occurred, or we underprepared and suffered the consequences, or my imagination got the best of me, or we pushed the limits of awesome to achieve greatness. This is such a recurrent theme that I almost want to apologize for not having such a tale to tell from our time at Martin Dies Jr. State Park. But just almost.

I’m not going to apologize or make excuses because, truth be told, I needed this park, in this way, at this time. I needed to relax. I needed to allow the beauty and calm of the sights and sounds of nature to press the RESET button on my life. I needed a hiatus from the habitual business of life, and just Be. And that is exactly what MDJSP offered me. Respite. Peace. Breathing space. An intermission. A good ol’ fashioned time out.

Thank you, Martin Dies Jr. State Park. You were exactly what I didn’t know I needed.

Why We Love Martin Dies Jr. State Park

Log Cabin Village. Big fans of the Little House series, we adored the little log cabins available to overnight guests. They even have them with a/c. Simply irresistible.
Fishing. So many miles of shoreline. So many piers. So many places to fish.
Exploring. The trails absolutely rock. They have soft ground trails with towering trees overhead and a wealth of wildlife living in them. Try your hand a geocaching! In our opinion, it’s the BEST way to explore! Or grab your mountain bike for an afternoon on the trails.
Water. Two rivers converge where MDJSP is situated. Take to the water, especially if your visit happens during the six months of summer we seem to have here in Texas.
Alligators. Never saw one on our visit, but I gotta tell you, it’s exciting to look. Just the possibility of seeing one is an attraction in our book.
Camp Sites. Truly, The Manling and I kept spotting “the best campsite” around every corner. They are all magnificent and spacious, especially the ones that back up to the water.
Loaners. You can rent canoes, kayaks, and bikes. They even have a volleyball if the mood strikes that you can borrow for free at the HQ. I love that you don’t have to haul all of your own equipment. They’ve got you covered.

Must Do’s

Fish. There are a number of fishing piers and various places along the vast shorelines to drop a line.
Hike. So many easy trails on soft surfaces. Your dogs shouldn’t be barkin’ after exploring these.
Relax. Seriously, I felt so much lighter while we were at MDJSP. So peaceful. So beautiful. Such respite.
Stay. Whether in a cabin, a shelter, or a camp site, I honestly don’t think you could go wrong planning an overnighter at MDJSP. Picture perfect paradise.

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Martin Dies Jr. State Park! Please leave your comments on this picture perfect, peaceful, life reset below.

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.

God bless Park Staffer Kathy Smith. She has got to have the toughest job in the Texas State Park System at the time of this post. Why? Because her park was pretty much destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and by the time of our visit in August 2018, it was still largely unusable. As in, the only areas open were the RV camping loop, the nature center, and the HQ.

Trails? Closed.

Picnic area? Closed.

Campsites? Closed.

Youth Group Camping? Closed.

Bike Trail? Closed.

Bridge to most of the park? Closed.

Canoe launch? Closed.

Village Creek? Closed.

No fishing. No tent camping. No exploring. No geocaching. No swimming. No playground. Just, no. All no.

And yet, Kathy was cheerful, super friendly, and eternally optimistic that the Texas Department of Transportation would soon have the bridge repaired so that the majority of the park could once again be accessible for repairs from the dreaded effects of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. {Fingers crossed for Spring 2019.}

So while I sadly cannot share first-hand experiences at Village Creek State Park, I can share with you what I learned from Kathy on the day of our visit while she was taking us on a walking tour of her park via the Park Map and that is this:

A creek flows one way all of the time (except for droughts, obviously); sloughs connect to larger bodies of water (like creeks) and their directional flow depends on the level of water in the larger body of water.

We talked about this because I noticed that Village Creek on the map looked like a river with a bunch of creeks running off of it, but Kathy was kind enough to explain to me the difference so that I left smarter than when I came. Village Creek is, well, a creek with a bunch of sloughs running off of it. Therein lay the problem when Hurricane Harvey hit last year, swelling Village Creek and consequently affecting her many sloughs that fed off of her.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Village Creek State Park. May you soon be able to open your gates wide to receive visitors within your boundaries once again. We look forward to making memories exploring your creek, sloughs, and trails sometime in 2019.

Why We Love Village Creek State Park

Park Staffer Kathy Smith. She was awesome! Only she could keep us riveted and engaged over a map. If you’re reading this Texas Parks and Wildlife, give that woman a raise. She’s your greatest asset!

Must Do’s

Revisit. Fingers crossed that she will be repaired and reopened by Spring 2019 so that we can actually experience her creeks and sloughs and trails in person. The map tour was good, but we look forward to the real deal.

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Village Creek State Park! Please flood our comments with a slough of your firsthand experiences at Kathy’s beloved State Park. (Too soon?)

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.