Cleburne State Park

My vote for "best view".

Cleburne Park is one of the older state parks that benefited from the labor of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930’s. They built a three-tier spillway – made up of three separate water falls –along the Spillway Trail. This is one of the longer trails at this park and it takes the average walker about an hour for the trip. It was worth the trek, up and down rock-covered hills, to arrive at the highest point. The falls are a real feast for the eyes. The stairs up the side of the cliff near the last spillway must have been quite dangerous to construct.

Another one of my favorite parts of this park was Cedar Lake (the scenic reservoir which can be seen along almost every road one might take after passing the front office). It’s described as spring-fed but was quite warm compared to other bodies of water I’ve stepped into that were called spring-fed. The lake has a sand bottom at the beach area and the beach would suit families with children since the water is shallow. I walked to about the middle of the lake, while taking a break from swimming, and I’m not tall.

When I asked the Assistant Park Manager, Dawn, why the longest trail (Coyote Run) was closed she said it was due to recent storm damage. Trees were downed and one of those trees has an active beehive in it.

Cleburne has a way of identifying trails that was new to me. Instead of having a sign at the entrance of the trail, there are colored metal triangles attached to trees along the path. The color tells the hiker what path he or she is walking. I got this information after asking park office employees, "How do I know what trail I'm on?"

 

 The unexpected items picked up during my trash collection were: a set of kitchen tongs and a large glass bottle that looked like a big pickle jar. The most common bit of trash was plastic wrappers.

Cleburne has two barracks and a dining hall for large groups. Whether you visit the park with a group or by yourself: bring your bike if you enjoy biking, hiking shoes to walk, and take along a fishing pole if you want to try to catch largemouth bass, crappie or catfish. But don’t forget a swim suit when spending summer days at Cleburne Park.