Things we learned: palmettos are palms and a refectory is a dining hall.
Kaylee and I had come back to the Austin area and summer was blooming before our eyes, and, to our dismay, our sweat glands. The high June sun towered above us in a cloudless Texas sky. In about 3 minutes of time outside the car we had sweat beading on our brows and down our backs. Despite the heat of the day, Palmetto State Park in between Gonzales and Luling, TX was an instant hit.
Earlier that morning on June 6, my parents had treated us to a nice breakfast in Smithville, so the classic Bryce and Kaylee lunch was put on hold for today’s venture. In its place we carried along with us some Goldfish and Oreos. Our water bottles were filled, our Costa sunglasses were on, and we were ready for our next state park.
The Palmetto State Park headquarters lies at crossroads in the small community of Ottine, and the headquarters itself blends in as just another building in this little community. Before the headquarters on the road was a small pull off spot to an overlook across some land there in Gonzales County. We stopped to see what it was about (still not quite certain if that was part of the park itself). After some Aggie Ring photos we headed down the road to the park headquarters. The layout of this park is unlike any other that we have been to up to this point. All of the parks we have been to have had obvious boundaries and an entrance road that was utilized for the park only. Palmetto disguises itself as you would see a city park. Kind of off the side of the road and you’re in. Better have a permit though!
This park as a whole blew our expectations out of the water. I don’t know what we were expecting, but Palmetto State Park went above and beyond. If you remember all the way back to the beginning of our blog, the second park we went to was Lake Mineral Wells and we learned the lesson of keeping our expectations low. This rang true the day we went to Palmetto.
Our day began with a short hike around Oxbow Lake, the remnants of the route the San Marcos River used to take on its way down to its connecting point with the Guadalupe River. The Civilian Conservation Corps had a group in this area back in the 1930s. Around the lake, they built an artesian well designed to look like a natural mud boil that used to be on this land. It was actually pretty neat to see. The trail that encircled the lake was headlined by a tree that grew to overhang the once river and was a perfect spot for me to show off to Kaylee and execute my tree climbing abilities. It took a minute for me to navigate the trunk, but once I made it to the branches I was able to travel freely from place to place while Kaylee snapped some pictures.
In a way, Palmetto State Park is split into two different sections. They are joined at a low water crossing on the San Marcos River, but in order for vehicles to get from one side to the next they have to go around using the Park Road 11. On one side of the river is the headquarters, the artesian well, and the lake. On the other side is a refectory, a water tower the CCC built, extinct mud boils, and the vast majority of the hiking trails within the park. Once Kaylee and I drove on over to the other side, we saw the refectory first.
We had recognized the word “refectory” from a different park and it being a CCC creation. In Bastrop State Park, there is a refectory. We weren’t entirely sure what a refectory was so I looked it up. It is just a glorified word for mess hall, nothing that cool. The building itself was cool, though. It had an open breezeway with picnic tables and iron chandeliers, a back deck that looked out over the San Marcos River, and an enclosed meeting room. It was a beauty. Just down the trail from the refectory was the low water crossing, so Kaylee and I decided to go check it out. The river was rolling and banks rose about 20-40 feet from the high water mark; a perfect place for more ring pictures!
The trails on this end of the park are all fastened together in some way. We took the most efficient route we could muster that gave us some good hiking and would allow us to hit all of the ‘Points of Interest’ indicated on the trails map made by the Texas Parks and Wildlife. They were quite pretty and serene trails. There were creeks and gullies and dips and rills and bridges (to Kaylee’s delight). We stopped to take a few couples pictures and continued on to see the water tower that was made by the CCC to supply the bunk cabins nearby with water. The last connection of the trails ended up to be a trail that bordered the San Marcos River aptly named the San Marcos River Trail. It had a few split offs for views of the river that were great to see.
At the end of the trail, our trip in Palmetto State Park came to a close. It was a hot June day, but a good park to go out and experience. I hope we continue to get our expectations exceeded by more parks in the future. We had another state park planned for the next day, June 7, Lockhart State Park. Home of my mom! She’s been waiting for us to go to Lockhart State Park even though she claims there isn’t much there.
Comments