Garner State Park | A Texas Favorite

When you homeschool, and finish out the school year a couple weeks before public school, our favorite way to celebrate is with a camping trip with friends. Normally, we don't drive such a distance as Garner State Park just for 2 nights, but with the unseasonably cool temperatures Texas has had this spring + Garner State Park having available campsites, jumped at the chance to go camping. 5 Moms + 10 kids, we left the Dads at home and had a post mothers day campout to celebrate the beginning of summer.
I have visited Garner State Park before during peak summer months, and God Bless the wonderful people who run the park, but they could maybe take some pointers from Chick-fil-A on how to move a line. My last visit there in early August, on a Wednesday, check in took over 90 minutes waiting in line to check into my reserved campsite. This year, going in May before Memorial Weekend, midweek was the quickest check in time yet. The Rangers were very helpful with telling us places we needed to check out with the kids. Every time I visit this wonderful park, I love it even more than my last visit. It is 100% worth the drive from Dallas-Fort Worth and easy to see why it is one of the most popular parks.
We booked our campsites the week before, and of course the very next day the weather forecast showed rain the entire week of our visit, estimating 12-15" of rain. I didn't even pack until the day before thinking we might cancel, but the odds were in our favor and it rained on us about an hour after we arrived, and it cleared shortly before dinner, leaving us with an amazing sunset.
Wednesday morning we woke up to a foggy view, which quickly dissipated and clear skies moved in. We took all 10 kids to hike up Old Mount Baldy, which is a short 1ish mile hike roundtrip, but don't be fooled, there is serious elevation gain. My best suggestion is to wear good hiking shoes and take a hiking pole if you feel you need one. Even though I have been to Garner State Park many times before, I have never hiked up Old Mount Baldy and so glad I did, the view was worth the climb.
After our sweaty hike, we ate a quick lunch and headed straight for the swimming hole. The river was flowing at about 33 CFS (and has gone up since!) so there was water in the river to paddle, and play in but not to leisurely float in, so we hung out in the swimming hole/day use area where all the big rope swings are located.
Our kids had a blast perfecting their rope swing drops into the river, exploring and just being in nature together. We loved that no electronics were in site.
We ended the day with a walk to the park store for an Ice cream, which surprisingly nobody complained about walking there.

Thanks for coming along with us for our quick trip to Garner State Park, I was excited to introduce Garner to some of our friends who have never been before and now, also have found a great appreciation for the great state park. We had such a great time, we think we will make it an annual tradition!

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