Our local school district implemented a week long Fall Break this year and while that normally wouldn’t affect us…this particular time, Ashlyn’s dance team took the week off as well and gave us 2 extra weekdays! We had noticed the parks were reaching capacity for weekends in October and gladly booked ourselves a Monday through Thursday stay at Cleburne State Park. I picked this park for it’s less than 3 hour drive from the house and abundance of trails. Other than that knowledge, we hoped for the best on our Fall camping opportunity!

We arrived at the park by 11am, 3 hours before designated check in time for overnight stays, but this hasn’t been an issue in the past. If the spot is already unoccupied, headquarters will just let you get an early start. And thanks to the new online reservation system, I was able to meticulously pick a spot that would be unoccupied as of Monday am and would be without neighbors for the entirety of our stay. Unfortunately, the headquarters staff were not as caught up from the weekend’s surge and only allowed us entrance to the park to await the site’s availability. 🙄 After driving by the campsite and taking a picture to prove it’s lack of occupancy, I decided having some lunch to ward off any potential hangry attitude would be beneficial and give the kid at headquarters a chance to get over himself. The day use area was relatively small but very user friendly with a spread of shaded picnic tables, beach swim area, impressive playground and newly constructed bathhouse with an attached banquet room and pavilion.

A little after noon we had received our permit and got started on setting up camp. TWO HOURS LATER, we had the camper set and level. Turns out the pads were pretty unlevel and my initial positioning of the camper just wasn’t going to work no matter how much I played with the jacks. So after hooking back up, repositioning and fiddling with jacks; we were level enough. Lesson here is, walk the site before backing into it.

Eager to soak up the mild 80 degree weather before a cold front arrived, we visited a bank fishing area before dinner time. The kids didn’t have any luck but got some casting practice!

Dinner time brought another headache when my Coleman stove started leaking fuel. This was not the first time I’d experienced complications with the fuel burning stove and had long pondered investing in a simpler propane burning stove. Having had it with hiccups on our first day and a Walmart 20 minutes away in the nearby Cleburne, I decided no better time than now to commit! Lol We returned an hour later with a nifty grill and stove top combo and whipped up some hot dogs 😆.

Archer ended up having hard night complaining of a headache and running an elevated temp. He opted to stay in bed the following morning while I cooked up bacon and eggs. Breakfast was finished just in time for it to start raining and while we ate indoors, we decided a revisit to nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park would be a good way to maneuver around the forecast.

On the way, we picked up some Tylenol for Archer’s ailments and he soon perked up. Our prediction worked out and we enjoyed the empty park on the back side of the storms. It was especially sweet being back 1.5 years later with the kids and Sally having a lot of then and now repeats.

We returned to camp for lunch and Archer and I snuck in an hour nap while Ashlyn and Weston played Uno. They woke us up when the rain stopped and we felt ready to tackle a trail! Ashlyn requested a 2 mile round trip trail that would take us past the CCC constructed spillway and a lake overlook. Not far into the trail we crossed the below dam section of Camp Creek and spotted some dung beetles doing some up hill work.

We didn’t know what to expect from the spillway except that we had read on the trail description that it was hand dug and carved from a limestone cliff side. The trail soon opened up and gave us a glimpse of a rock ledge and while the view was partially blocked, we were impressed enough to carry on to the next PoI. HOWEVER, as we came around another clump of trees, the view opened up to the entire spillway and we were awestruck!

Ashlyn and Weston immediately clambered down the limestone brick wall and into the gully. Once it was obvious there weren’t others around, I let Sally navigate herself down off leash and archer and I followed. For a small lake, this spillway was massive and elaborate! 3 tiers were HAND DUG by a crew of men out of the hillside and made into retaining wall. The Civilian Conservation Corp. continues to amaze me. I don’t think they make humans like that anymore.

Once we had our fill of exploring the spillway, we continued on to the lake overlook sight. On our way, Archer started to feel cruddy again and didn’t want to go further knowing he still had to double back. Ashlyn still wanted to complete the mission, so I gave her the option to finish the .2 miles on her own and she accepted the challenge! 15 minutes later, she returned quite proud of herself for seeing what she came to see.

After dinner, the kids wanted some playground time which we did until dark. Then it was showers and packing in the campsite for the potential weather that would be hitting us overnight.

We lucked out with this cold front! We managed to be in a break in the line of storms and didn’t even really experience much wind! It was COLD in the morning, though! Archer was feeling much better but, unfortunately, Ashlyn woke up feeling the effects of the apparent virus we were dealing with. Some Tylenol and breakfast later, she was soon up for another trail.

We picked a windy 2 mile round trip trail hopeful for some more cliff side views. What we ended up with was a lot of switchbacks on the side of tree covered hill haha. The scenery was mostly boring for the kids, but I was happy to get moving and get the blood pumping with the new chill in the air.

After lunch we took our leftover hotdogs to the fishing pier and tried some bobber fishing. It didn’t last long as the kids’ attention is crap when they aren’t continuously casting.

We finished off our final night with a campfire and s’mores.

Our morning was easy and relaxed as we packed up camp. The kids showed me the “hollowed out tree” by the campsite they had played in during the week and we stopped by one last CCC structure on our way out.

This park really exceeded our expectations! It’s hidden gems like the spillway and lengthy trails coupled with updated facilities made it an entertaining and comfortable stay. I’m glad we gave 3 whole nights to this seemingly simple park.

-Lindsay