We decided to take a short trip to a nearby Texas state park which we had not visited prior to this past Saturday. So, we decided to try out Lake Colorado City State Park. Let me begin by saying that the website did have disclaimers saying that the water level was so low that no public boat ramps were available and that the fishing population was low due to a continued problem with golden alga bloom. The bloom has been killing the fish population for almost a decade and attempts to replace the fish have not been entirely successful. But, seeing as we want to camp at all of the state parks (that have campsites) and since we wanted to have a camping trip this month, we decided to give the park a go.
Since this park is less than 2 hours away, we got on the road right after lunch time. The drive was easy but boring since it was primarily along I-20 from Midland to just west of the small west Texas town of Colorado City. As we approached the park from the north, we crossed a small bridge and noticed dozens of homes with piers and boat ramps - but not one single drop of water. We also noticed many For Sale signs where, I assume, folks are trying to get something for their property which used to be lake front but is now 'dried up lake front property with useless boat ramps and no fishing fishing piers.'
The park's visitor center is small but the rangers inside were very pleasant. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Anyway, she said we could have our pick of the open section, Rolling Hills, (one entire camping section, Mesquite Circle, was closed off). She suggested we take the pull through #49 as it was the most popular one. But if we wanted another, just take it and give her a call.
We drove through Rolling Hills campground and decided that #49 was as good as it gets since it had a shade tree that would provide some shade in the 105 degree heat. We set up our PUP with some sweat equity as we tried to avoid stepping into the melted asphalt. Once finished with that chore, we took time to look around the site.
Honestly, the campground does not appear to be well kept. Mowing seemed to be infrequent in most areas. Shaded areas were scarce and there were seemingly impenetrable paths leading to where the lake once was. The water was way down and we never really made it to the shore. The public bathrooms didn't appear to have been cleaned very often and there were literally thousands of insects on the floors, the walls, in the toilets, and in the sinks. |
| Our spider visitor |
And speaking of insects - gee, whiz, Louise. We were sitting outside with our normal Gatorade, water, and/or apple cider but spent most of our time swatting at biting flies, sweat bees, gnats, and what appeared to be ants. Truly a horrendous experience. [The next morning we actually had a spider with her web on the top of our PUP. And the web was already full of juicy tidbits for her to wrap up and consume at her leisure. Too bad we had to take the camper down and leave.]
One other camping family stopped by to ask us to keep our radio turned down (jokingly) as we were the only other campers in the entire park. As it turned out, we could have had a live band play and not have bothered anyone!
The park was very quiet that evening until the strong winds started. Fortunately, we had our emergency weather radio to find out that the winds were part of a dangerous thunderstorm but we were on the very edge of it. Another very dangerous storm with winds of 70 mph was further east! As it turned out, we had a great sunset and the winds finally stopped sometime after we turned the lights out.
The park was full of blooms, cacti, mesquite, stickers, velvet ants, and probably other thorny plants and painful insects.
After a really nice Father's Day breakfast, we packed up and headed out. Overall, I was disappointed by the park because there are no walking paths, trails, or other items of interest. The park is there for the lake and the lake is UA*. We did see at least one boat on the lake but I know it didn't get there from the park. And no one fishes here any more.
The area around the park is very depressed and all of the businesses in the area seemed to be closed. Even in the nearby town of Colorado City, most of the stores are closed and boarded up. In fact, the only thing that seemed to attract people to the area were the antique shops.
As much as I dislike writing negative things about Texas State Parks, I have no choice in this one. The park appeared in disrepair and does not appear to be used by many folks. I do have to admit that there is little light pollution and the park was very quiet (after the winds died down :).
This would be a good place to camp if all you needed was a place to plop your camper for the night. It doesn't appear to be a park that will be over-crowded so you can probably get in with no problems. Just nothing much to do either in the park or the surrounding area (the museum in Colorado City was closed and did not list any hours of operation).
This would be a good place to camp if all you needed was a place to plop your camper for the night. It doesn't appear to be a park that will be over-crowded so you can probably get in with no problems. Just nothing much to do either in the park or the surrounding area (the museum in Colorado City was closed and did not list any hours of operation).
Overall, I give this park a one camper rating :(
In all fairness to the Lake Colorado City State Park, they do have a vibrant bird population. We just didn't see many of them. On their Facebook page (LCCSP photo album on Facebook), they have many beautiful pictures of the life that lives around the lake. Just wish we could have seen them during our trip.
* UA is a term I picked up during my Navy time. It is an abbreviation for Unauthorized Absence which, in this case, means the lake isn't what it is supposed to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment