Anxious to kick off a hopefully adventurous fall regardless of fall baseball and competition dance team, we jumped on the first four free days the calendar allowed for some pop up camping. Even if we missed 2 ball practices to do so, haha! Initially, I wanted to take the 4 hour trip to Lake Brownwood to make a 3 night stay “worthwhile”. However, after a recent google review stated the lake was at an all time low, we opted for a more nearby 2-for-1 deal with Lake Whitney coupled with a day trip to Meridian. Knocking 2 parks off the list would make 3 nights away worthwhile, for sure. 😉

On Wednesday, 8/15, we arrived at Lake Whitney by 10 am. I had checked the campsite availability online the day before and didn’t see a need for reservations. I really prefer showing up and taking the Rangers’ recommendation on best sites to fit our needs. They’re the experts after all. Obviously, going when it isn’t busy is what makes this tactic work. And it really paid off this time! I told the headquarters Ranger that shade was our priority, next- proximity to bathhouse, and 3rd- water view/access. And she hooked us up! We ended up in a small camping loop on the far side of the park near a dog friendly swim area AND the newest bathhouse! Our site was large and completely shaded. A simple path through the brush took us out to the lake’s rocky edge. And while we were in fact the closest to the bathhouse in that loop, it was still a decent walk. So we mostly operated discretely with a “pee bucket” and drove to the facilities for number 2 and showers for the duration of our stay.

 

The camper came up and was organized pretty quickly! After lunch, it was only 12:30, so we got some nearby exploring done before swim time.

 

We absolutely LOVED our little swim area! We had it all to ourselves and EVERYONE had a ball. The wind was up and there was the most soothing waves crashing sound. I could’ve fallen asleep! But alas, 3 young kids in the water wouldn’t allow that, haha. Sally ran and splashed to her heart’s content before discovering the relaxed life under the canopy.

 

I had to force the kids out after 3 and started dinner at our campsite. I finally decided to throw some fire in with my solo camping excursions and brought along the Coleman stove for the first time. It took longer to get some good heat going in the breezy outdoors, but the final product tasted just so dang good every time! The kids and I couldn’t decide if it was cooking outdoors, eating outdoors or being just plain hungry every meal; but our rather simple meals were SO TASTY!

 

After dinner, we did a drive through of the park to check everything out before showers. There are so many campsites! Over a hundred sites, 30 some odd shelters, a cabin or 2, group sites and even a reception hall. AND an airstrip! All I could think was, “I wouldn’t want to be here when this place was full!” Showers were easy and effective enough. It took some finagling with Sally because her velcro nature doesn’t make it easy to leave her unattended unless she is kenneled. She’s a nervous chewer, lol! I’ve already begun shopping travel kennels to keep in pop up for our next trip, but for this one we just had to rotate who stood outside with her. Ashlyn and I had a pretty good system since she is mature enough to handle herself without supervision in the showers. It also helped that the facilities were empty every single time we went, to make things even more comfortable. That evening, we enjoyed some more water views and photographic opportunities and were in bed before dark and sacked out!

 

The next morning I woke up with a wicked crick in my neck and had a coffee malfunction…not a good start, but we rallied after a 15 minute run to a gas station in the town of Whitney, yes- coffee is that big of a deal, and got ready for our hike. There are only 2 one mile trails in the entire park and we were going to do one each morning. The kids picked the one with two bridges and we enjoyed a nice, wooded walk. With 2 bridges along the way, of course. We got a good look at the landscape of the official park swimming area and that only made us grateful for our quiet little corner. The rocky bottom we had was much more desirable for water clarity than the muddy/sand on this side of the park.

 

We had lunch back at camp, and then it was time for swimming again and we enjoyed another 3+ hours of water activity.

After dinner, we had a bit more energy and decided on some fishing. I kept it simple giving each child a lure of their choice and we walked to a little cove by our campsite where the kids chunked plastic for a little while.

 

Archer quickly bored and took to throwing rocks. Then peeing in the water.

 

Ashlyn was out next and just took in scenery. Weston casted and reeled until I told him it was time to call it in and hit showers.

We wanted to watch the sunset after hitting early showers. Those plans altered, however, when a stray dog showed up in our site. He was friendly enough to contain and kept away from Sally and the kids until one of the oncall Rangers I notified promptly came to retrieve him. Fortunately, the ranger recognized the dog and knew where to return him. But, by then, it was dark and we had missed our sunset on the lake. We grabbed quick showers and went to bed glad we had one more evening to catch it.

Friday morning went smoothly and my neck crick was gone, but Archer and I had to wait until 9 AM for Weston and Ashlyn to wake up! By 10 we were starting the 2nd trail and quickly realized it was out in the open prairie alongside the lake. And it was already 92 degrees out. Nope! We opted to take the opportunity for a head start on our day trip to Meridian State Park.

 

On our way out of the park to Meridian, we located the plaque about the town of Towash that had been engulfed by the lake. Ashlyn immediately brought up that she was impressed that the creation of the town began with Natives and Settlers choosing to work together. We want to do some google searching for images or possibly accounts of divers finding ruins.

It was 3:15 when we returned to camp and 101 degrees with no breeze. It was officially hot! I had run out of fuel for the stove (learning curve here, BUT I did prepare for the possibility with some no cook food options). In that heat I was perfectly happy not to cook that evening. We took early showers and were hanging out in a very cool camper by 4pm. I am quite impressed with that camper’s ability to not only cool off fast but maintain the chill! We stayed indoors playing Uno and checkers until after 7 then headed out to catch our sunset.

And it was worth the wait!

 

By that night, our campsite loop was full and about midnight we had disruptive boaters running the water along the park’s coastline for a few hours. I was grateful to be packing it in Saturday morning. It was becoming obvious the weekends carry a different atmosphere at this park. While we definitely LOVED our time there and the water and park were clean and refreshing, I don’t particularly see a “must come back” reason. But that’s only because I know I still have so many other parks with beautiful water left to explore! And I can’t wait to hit the road again and do just that!

-Lindsay