We had arrived and set up camp the night before at Martin Dies Jr. State Park and were excited to explore the paddling trails there, but the forecast for day one was cold and overcast. So, we decided to hop back in the car and daytrip Village Creek State Park an hour away. The park is quite small with only 25 campsites and a handful of trails that loop into one another. This and the location being at the back of a neighborhood makes the place feel more like an elaborate city park.

When we arrived at 12:30, the headquarters were closed and no one was registering visitors, but the gate was open, so we continued on. Thankfully, our park pass waives day use fees for us, but this was a first time seeing one of these headquarters unmanned! We didn’t get very far in the park before discovering the bridge to the day use area was closed due to construction. At least its a small park! We parked the car near the campsites bathhouse and were able to walk a narrow path beside the bridge.

Then we were able to access trails that led back to the creekside picnic area. Along the way, we passed through a large area where the park is undergoing a restoration of longleaf pines. Every flagged spot marked a native variety that had been planted for the project and there were ALOT.

Once we were at the creek, we ate our lunch and checked out the amenities. The park offers a large fleet of canoes and kayaks for rent and the launch area looked pretty decent. The water was murky, but it would make for an easy going paddle. There is a large sandbar area around the bend that is popular for splashing around, but access to it by foot is a 2 mile one way hike. We weren’t in the mood for that haha.

We chose a different trail for our short trek back to the car and were highly entertained by the workout stations that were placed along the way.

On the way back to Martin Dies Jr., we spotted a Casa Ole in Silsbee and decided chips and dips would pair well with our campfire that night and it was perfect! 🙂

-Lindsay