Parks 2, 3, 4, and 5/89!

After getting my Texas State Parks pass and visiting Huntsville State Park in November 2022, I caught the camping bug and immediately started planning my Texas State Parks Bucket List.

I was worried December would be a bit too cold for camping and then I spent my entire winter break sick so I was unable to travel on my time off anyway.

January has been warmer than December and looking at the weather I decided a low of 40 degrees would be acceptable. Martin Luther King day also falls in January so I had an extended weekend to potentially get out of town that I did not want to waste.

Planning my MLK weekend trip

I decided which parks to visit based on:

• Amount of time I had – Saturday morning to Monday afternoon
• Hiking miles available – Each park has a Trails map on their page so I could estimate how much time I would spend at each park.
  • Fort Boggy and Caddo lake only had a few miles of trail so I decided to just visit for the day and not camp. Mission Tejas and Martin Lake had enough trails to make it worth my time to camp.
• Campsite Availability – This was a busy weekend for camping and I actually had to book two campsites with electricity (which I don’t usually do) in order to even get a space.
• Drive time – I don’t like driving too much and 3 hours is really my max without stops so I wanted to pick parks that were within that driving range of one another.

As you can see, all four parks are listed on the google map below and the total drive is only about 5 hours, which is perfect for me. I wont ever have to drive more than 3 hours at a time.

Packing for my weekend trip

Here are some of the essentials I took along:

• Soups (I like Campbells Chunky soups)
• Oatmeal (HEB Protein Oatmeal)
• Tuna Packets & Ritz Crackers
• Wicked Foods (this is the 2nd time I’ve bought these for camping, not a fan, probably wont buy again.)
• Beef Jerky
• Granola and protein bars/cookies (I bring Clif bars, Kind Bars, RXBars, and Lenny and Larry Cookies)
• Carrots, Cucumbers, and Apples (typically I eat these on day 1 and 2 before they get dried out)
• and of course coffee and creamer for my breakfasts ☕

After gathering all my groceries, I whipped out my REI packing list that I use to plan every camping trip I go on. I always add a few items to the list including my camera tripod, camping fan, reflective vest, Pepper Spray, and a few others that I’ve found useful throughout my previous trips.

In case you missed it in my last post, here’s the free REI printable Packing List.

I typically gather everything from all the storage crevices of my home and place it all on the table/in the dining room.

Once it’s all in one place, I organize it all into smart, compact, storage bags/containers to best fit my car and allow me easy access when needed.

I like to pack the car the night before or the day of my trip so I can see/remember clearly everything that is in the car and where it’s placed for easy access when I get to the campsite.

Getting everything into the car took me about 7 minutes, here’s a 22 second time-lapse of the process.

I realized after I took the video and watched it that you really can’t see into the car too well so I’ll make another one next time and update it!

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Read my reviews of each park on the corresponding pages:

Since this trip was going to be more than a day, I shopped for breakfast foods, hiking snacks, and dinners. I did not take a cooler with me so I planned all my meals around items that did not require refrigeration.