Incredible State And National Parks To Add To Your Texas Bucket List
By MELANIE HAMILTON
Home to the Chisos Mountains and Chihuahuan Dessert, Big Bend is known for its abundant wildlife and many hiking trails for all levels.
Big Bend National Park
Emory Peak Trail ends at the park's highest peak, or take the less strenuous Lone Mountain Trail. Have a soak after at Hot Springs Historic District.
Stop along Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive for panoramic views and fiery sunset photos of Tuff Canyon, Mule Ears Peaks, and Sotol Vista.
In East Texas, this park is made up of swampland with alligators, tall-reaching cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, and prehistoric paddlefish.
Caddo Lake State Park
While the park is best experienced by boat, it is also the world's largest cypress forest and is great for hiking. Whether on land or water, make sure to see the sun rise or set.
Near Austin, this park is excellent for geocaching, hiking, paddleboats, water skiing, scuba diving, or a dip (or a cliff dive) in the Devil's Waterhole.
Inks State Park
Pack a picnic for the Pecan Flats Trail, or join the volunteer or park ranger events that include fun, family-friendly activities geared around fishing, wildlife, and stargazing.
Coined "the Grand Canyon of Texas," this state park wows with its fiery, copper-hued color scheme of mesas, teetering rock spires, and steep canyon walls.
Palo Duro Canyon Park
Just outside Amarillo and second only in size to the Grand Canyon, it has 30,000 acres of North Texas wilderness to explore by mountain bike, hiking, or horseback.
Home to coyotes, white-tailed deer, bobcats, jackrabbits, and the Texas State Bison Herd, this state park and trailway is best for nature and wildlife lovers.
Caprock Canyons
Around the panhandle in North Texas, the park has red canyons, grassy plains, hoodoos, mind-boggling rock formations, 175 bird species, and many reptiles.
Hike to Clarity Tunnel, where hundreds of thousands of bats live from April to October, and in September, the Texas State Bison Herd Music Festival is in full swing nearby.