A change of pace.
My college career had ended and I was now a member of the adult world where the big boy jobs were to follow. Kaylee still had one more virtual final to take before the end of her junior year, but the weekend rolled around and we wanted to get to more state parks before we would go our separate ways back to our family homes. We had been spoiled over quarantine to be able to spend as much time together as we did. May 3rd rolled around and we made a last second trip to Fort Boggy State Park near Centerville, TX, about an hour north of College Station.
The day before, we had explored Mission Tejas State Park and figured out just how difficult some hikes would be for us. So the day at Fort Boggy was going to be different. And it was different, in many ways, from our normal visits to the Texas State Parks. Normally we have it planned days in advance when we will be going to a specific park. Normally we have an idea on what the park will hold. Normally we get some good hiking/trail walking in. Normally we are constantly doing something. But “normally” isn’t a word that we like to associate with.
Fort Boggy is the smallest state park we have visited thus far in our tour of Texas State Parks. It got its name from a small homestead that stood there back in the 1840s. A group of people who migrated from Tennessee to Texas settled in the area on Boggy Creek and founded a community. They built a large two-story log cabin as the focal point for their village and called it “Fort Boggy.” The name stuck and has been refashioned into the name of the state park.
Kaylee and I had thought that since it was a small park that there would not be very many people there. Like many times before, we were wrong. Since the very first park we visited (Pedernales Falls), Fort Boggy had the most visitors of any other park we had been to. The park acts as a short little day getaway for those local to the area who just want to escape and get back to nature. It has a large pond on the grounds and only two hiking trails, one that encircles the pond and another that skims the outskirts of the grounds. Neither are longer than 1.5 miles. It is a place for families and friends to gather and have a day off to enjoy the outdoors and some comradery.
Kaylee and I started our time at Fort Boggy State Park with lunch. As always we had our ham sandwiches and assortment of snacks packed and ready to go. There is a sizable picnic area on the pond for everyone to gather and even a pavilion (that was closed). We ate our lunch under the shade of the surrounding trees while we chatted for a bit about what we were going to do next. That decision ended up being to walk the lakeside trail. On the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, there are the coveted trails maps we always use, but for some of the parks that are smaller or don’t have many hiking areas the trails maps don't exist. Fort Boggy was one of these parks. We went down to the waterfront where we had seen people disappear into the brush, and we found a sign that had the two trails marked. It was a mile trail and, since we wanted to take it easy after the day before at Mission Tejas had worn us out, we decided to walk this mile trail and then we could relax in the hammock for a while.
The lake trail was serene and peaceful other than the multiple signs that read “WATCH FOR SNAKES” that would get Kaylee’s heartrate up. It had some spots that led down to the pond for Kaylee to take a few pictures, a nice area where recent rains had turned it into a glorified mudslide, and a couple of bridges for Kaylee to curb her appetite. Towards the end of the trail, there was an open section that gave a good look at the entirety of the lake called “Fort Boggy Lake.” This is where we took a few ring pictures and then moved on to finish up the trail.
We had experienced enough walking for the past few days and were ready to retire to the hammock to just hang out (hammock puns). We had to take a couple of pictures of our setup since that was going to be a big part of what our Fort Boggy State Park visit was going to be. Then it was time to relax. It was a hot day, but underneath the cover of the tree branches and with a nice breeze going, the hammock couldn’t have been much better. Kaylee worked on her study guide for her last test which was coming up on May 5th. We spent close to two hours in the hammock just chillin’ and when it came time for us to leave, we threw around a football we brought for a short time, packed up, and left for College Station.
It was a different kind of day. Fort Boggy was a different kind of park. That didn’t stop us from getting out there and experiencing it. We know that not every park is going to be the stereotypical hike and view type. There will be some where we just relax and hang out for a while. Either way, we will be immersed in nature and that is the whole point of us exploring and doing this. Fort Boggy was just the first of many of those parks to come. Next on our list, a trip down to the Houston area for a two-day three park extravaganza. With one extra stop in between. Wanna figure out which parks we will be attending? Curious as to what the surprise stop is? I guess you’ll just have to wait for the next blog post. Till next time!
P.S. This will be our first multi-day trip and we are going to try something new for how we do the blog posts for multi-day adventures!
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