More on Brazos Bend State Park, Texas

2011 - Brazos Bend State Park - Elm LakeAs I’ve said before, Brazos Bend State Park, just south of Houston might be called our “home park” and we’ve just spent a few nice days there.  Here in the mid-June we’re well into summertime temps with highs in the mid 90’s.  I’m amazed at the number of people who tent in these temps.

2011 - Brazos Bend State Park - AlligatorFor Jackie and me, tenting days are long gone – especially on hot summer days.  Our Jayflight is just fine, thank you!

We do our exploring early and then stay inside under the a/c.  Jackie likes to read and I’ll watch a baseball game or a movie.  Then, as evening falls we do more outside stuff.

Armadillo In the campground - digging under a stump for grubsOne nice nighttime feature of Brazos Bend is the George Observatory.  If you get $5 tickets you can look through the big telescopes.  Otherwise, just head for the observatory and enjoy looking through smaller scopes set up by the local astronomy club.  On Saturday night we got some terrific views of Saturn, rings and all.

River View - through the woods to the Horse camp - about 2 milesOf course, there’s lots of wildlife to see.  I know I have many alligator photos but every time we visit, I’m compelled to take a few more.  We enjoyed watching an armadillo digging around our campsite one night.  It wasn’t too concerned about me following it around taking it’s photo although it finally got spooked and headed off into the nearby underbrush.

If you like bicycling, Brazos Bend is the best!  It’s flat with beautifully maintained trails.  You’ll see lots of families out on bikes.  We get a kick out of watching dads peddling along, pulling “rickshaw-like” trailers for the little ones.

2011 - Brazos Bend State Park Shelter
Finally, I’ll mention the nifty shelters.  There are several screened shelters in one area.  Each one has electricity and a water faucet (on the outside).  Some people park their popup campers next to them (there are large, paved parking areas at the shelters) and plug into the outlet.  Doing so, they’ve turned their popup into a “big rig” with a large screened in room.

Brazos Bend State Park – near Houston, TX

You might say that Brazos Bend is our “home park” since it’s only 35 miles from our house.  We love this park!  The only problem is that lots of other people love it too.  In the spring, fall, and winter reservations are hard to come by.  Think at least three months ahead if you want a camp site.

Camp sites at Brazos Bend are very nice.  Wide, paved sites with plenty of space between you and your neighbor.  Sites are water and electric, no sewer.  There are on site showers and restrooms.  I’ve never been in a campground better with back in only sites than this park.  There are no pull through sites, but if you can’t back into these sites, well, maybe you shouldn’t be driving an RV!

There are lots of trails at Brazos Bend.  They are all well maintained, patrolled by four wheelers.  The terrain is level, making it a great park for bicycling.  Some of the trails circle lakes and others take you into the deep woods.

The park is home to George Observatory which offers programs weekend nights.

The big draw for most people is the large population of alligators.  We’ve never visited the park without seeing at least a few and more often than not we’ve seen lots of them ranging up to 12-14-16 feet in length.  The gators aren’t in cages and sometimes they are sunning themselves right along the trail.  I’ve never heard of anyone being bitten, but if a person wanted to fool with a gator it would be easy enough to come to regret it!

Birders love the park too.   It’s really not our thing, but the water birds plus the birds of the forest are there in abundance.

If you get the idea that we love Brazos Bend State Park you are right!  It’s one of our favorite quick get-aways and we’re fortunate to live so close to it.