While camping at Lake Whitney State Park, we took a 30 minute drive for a day trip to the small park of Meridian. I had already come to the conclusion that camping here wasn’t going to be necessary and possibly undesirable due to the small amount of sites available and close proximity to Highway 22. But we were anxious to check out some trails and “Lake” Meridian.

Our drive out was pretty cool as we crossed the Whitney Dam and the kids saw the Brazos River and downstream power plant. They enjoyed tracking the supply power lines and spotting distribution stations along the way. Once we arrived at the park, I was fascinated by how such a short drive west would produce such dramatically different scenery. We were in full on cedar and cactus hill country!

We arrived around 11, so we started with our packed lunch by the lake. There weren’t many people around, but we did notice we heard highway noise and 18wheelers during our lunch. The CCC constructed building that housed the bathrooms and a general recreation area was very original and had a HUGE, old wisteria growing on it!

During lunch, we spent some time selecting our hiking trail. There were more trail options at this park than Lake Whitney with the longest being a little over 2 miles. More points of interest as well. We had heat working against us that day, so we went with a 3/4 mile loop that would touch on a few note worthy sites and the rest we would be able to drive to or past. As we drove to the parking near our trail, we crossed a CCC stone and timber bridge that hadn’t needed repair since its construction in 1934! I call that decent preservation! Once parked, we crossed the road to a look out point to enjoy another view of the lake.

Our trail started out simple and somewhat “boring” for the kids. I’ve learned by now that flat gravel trails just don’t hold their attention as well as mixed up terrain does. But I do have to take a moment to commend this parks trail system as possibly one of the best I’ve been on for maintenance and organization! At every intersection along the way, there were trail name signs and the trees and signs were marked in the same color as the lines on the map. Very impressive and a first that I’ve encountered.

We found a bird blind along the way and kids thought it was interesting. After that pit stop, elevation and terrain changed slightly and the kid’s spirits picked up. They really went nuts when they spotted a cut off trail that led to a large erosion “cave”! They remembered one similar at Mother Neff State Park (visited in June 2016). Further exploration in the area revealed a dried up runoff waterfall and pool location. The kids were quite proud of their discoveries.

Once back at the car, we drove the remainder of the park and stopped at another overlook on the opposite side of the park from the previous one. The road up to that point and back is VERY narrow for a “2 way road” and trying to pass another car while navigating the side of a hill and curves would have been harrowing. Just another reason I love off season park visits. Driving past the RV sites, tent camp and primitive camp sites just further confirmed my lack of desire to ever camp here. The RV spots were in full sun and right beside the highway. The tent sites were approximately 10×10 areas set directly along side the afore mentioned park road and totally lacked privacy.

The kids wanted to try out the lake and while this park’s beach area is leashed pet friendly, Sally and I opted for a shady picnic table. The boys dove in and went to doing the usual rock throwing, leaps and hand stands while Ashlyn had…reservations.

An accumulation of sludge on the rocky bottom was not appealing to most bare feet. Except for the boys of course, haha. Weston even came to retrieve Ashlyn again and promised to hold her hand until she liked the water.

He didn’t get very far with her, LOL!

About an hour later, we called it a day and headed back for our 3rd and final night at Lake Whitney. After hearing the highway noise in Meridian all day, I mentioned to the kids that I would take boat noise over those 18 wheelers any day. I had to laugh that night, when at about midnight, we had over an hour of loud air boat noise keep us up! Teach me to watch my words.

Overall, this park is exceptional on trails and the lake provides I’m sure decent fishing and non motorized boating. I’m definitely glad we made it a day trip. The park suited us just fine for that amount of time.

-Lindsay