Operating Hours - Yearly, 8:am -
4:30. Tour by reservations only.
Reservations and Information - (806)
857-3151
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
received the name from the colorful flint
rock embedded in the surrounding hills.
Known as agatized dolomite, this
multi-colored stone was highly valued,
especially for its ability to hold a sharp
edge. The rock was used to make arrow
heads and was traded throughout North
America. Tours are normally offered
twice a day year round. Starting times
are 10:00 am and 2 pm. The walk is
about one hour and climbs nearly 150 feet.
Allow two hours for the tour.
Lake Meredith National Recreation areas is a
very popular area for vacations. Lake
Meredith has much to offer that include
fishing, boating, waterskiing, sailing,
scuba diving plus hunting, camping,
horseback riding and hiking. Detailed
information for planning your vacation
is available at
NPS.Gov.
Click herefor hotel reservations at
Lake Meredith.
Operating Hours - Yearly, 8:am -
5:pm. All day use areas including
governors and picnic areas are closed at
dark. For more information on camping
and hunting, visit
NPS.Gov.
Reservations and Information - (806)
857-3151
A
quail hunter's paradise, the area is not
necessarily a scenic area. Lake
Amistad is a reservoir along the Rio Grande
river. The reservoir has many branches
with changing terrain from grassy slopes and
other areas high limestone cliffs.
Some of the shorelines are restricted
access. Amistad is well suited for
fishing, scuba diving, hunting and boating.
Lake Amistad was created by the building of
Amistad Dam, which blocks water as far as
the junction of the Pecos River and the Rio
Grande river. Those interested in
camping, Seminole Canyon is more suited with
a camp ground, trails for hiking and a path
to the Lake Amistad. The Lake is clean
but, beaches do not exist. The
shorelines are rocky and those who wish to
fish, canoeing or boating, parts of the lake
do tip into Mexico.
Operating Hours - Big Bend is a
little different than most parks. Big
Bend is gigantic in area and is really three
parks or three different terrains all
combined into one world or park. So,
the gates per say are open 24 hours a day
and 365 days a week. The Panther
Junction Visitor Center early, 8:am - 5:pm.
Big Bend is breath taking, a world of its
own but, do not enter the park without a
full tank of Gas. The drive is
peaceful and every changing scenery.
Unless you are an experienced hiker and are
with a group, only camp in designated areas.
The park can be quite dangerous at night
time. Even during the day, running out
of gas is not good. The park also has
a population of mountain lions. If in
luck to be in Big Bend in the 10 to 20 time
reported occurrences a year is the
unexplained lights known as the "Ghost
Lights" (Marfa Lights), which are balls of
light in colors of white, yellow, orange,
red and sometimes green and blue. Big
Bend is quite popular, so planning ahead is
suggested. March and April (Spring
break) have a high visitation rate as well
as Thanksgiving and the week before
Christmas.
Camping is available at park head quarters,
Panther Junction. Also, the area named
the back country has a camp ground but,
permits can only be obtained during the
operating hours of 8am to 5pm. Big
Bend is a large park and it is suggested to
educate yourself about the park before
planning a trip. Visit
NPS.Gov for detailed park information.
Access to
the Mesa de Anguila through the original
trailhead at Lajitas has been
re-established. Contact the park
directly for more information about the
trailhead and or information about Big Bend.
(423) 477-1158
Get the best out of your vacation. The
hotel link in the title bar above is for
Alpine. A special offer for Lajitas
Golf Resort and Spa in Terlingua, just
outside the park offers the best of both
worlds. A wonderful hotel, golfing and
spa plus golfing and close entrance to the
park.
Click here for pricing and
reservations.
Big Bend
National Park Vacations Special
Explore the Chihuahuan Desert and the lofty
majesty of the Chisos Mountains, float
through the cataracts of the Big Bend;
sample superb southwestern cuisine, historic
old west inns and natural beauty of the Big
Bend. Great
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Operating Hours - Big Thicket
National Preserve is open 8:00 am to 4:30
pm, Monday through Friday. The visitor
center is open from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm.
The Big Thicket
National Preserve is a camper's, hunter's
and fisher's paradise. A wonderful
family park with lots of activities.
Some activities include organized night
hikes, cruises on the Neches River,
wildflower walk, bird walks, canoe trips,
and family arts & craft activities.
The Big Thicket
National Preserve nine land segments and six
water corridors in an area that is over
105,000 acres. The Preserve is an
ecological world of many different species
of plants, insects, reptiles and trees.
The Preserve offers backpacking, biking,
bird watching, boating, camping, fishing,
hiking, horseback riding, hunting,
interpretive programs, kayaking, nature
walks, swimming, trapping and wildlife
viewing.
Operating Hours - Park grounds are
open daily from 5:00am to 10:00pm. The
Memorial's Visitor Center and Los Paisanos
Gallery operating hours are Tuesday through
Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
Chamizal National Memorial is not a park
persay but, a memorial the commemorates the
signing of a border treaty between the U.S.
and Mexico in 1963. A dispute existed
for a solid century and the treaty was a
milestone in diplomatic relations between
the U.S. and Mexico. The memorial park
and Los Paisanos Gallery offers visitors a
cultural learning experience.
Chamizal
National Memorial is located in El Paso.
The center is a good choice for a tour if
you live in El Paso or are passing through
to another national park.
Operating Hours: Guadalupe
Mountains National Park is opened all year.
Parks and campgrounds are open at all times
although some parks are posted as day-use
only. Below is the schedule of parks
and campgrounds.
Headquarters
and Visitors Center
Located at Pine Springs, the center can be
accessed by U.S. Hwy 62/180 part way between
Carlsbad and El Paso. The hours are
8:00am to 4:30pm MST and the hours are
extended to 6:00pm during the summer months.
The center is closed Christmas day.
Frijole Ranch Frijole
Ranch is one mile east of the visitor
center. The center is a tour site
offering a walk of the ranch grounds, the
ranch house, one-room school house and
picnics are permitted. A small museum
inside the house offers exhibits on local
history. The ranch hours are
from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
No vehicles longer than 21 feet are
permitted.
McKittrick Canyon (Day-use)
Seven miles east of the park center is the
entrance to McKittrick Canyon. The
entrance is gated and the hours are from
8:00am to 4:30pm MST with extended hours to
6:00pm during the summer months.
At times, the small contact station at the
start of the trail is staffed and offers
restrooms, shaded seating, outdoor exhibits
and and slide projector show covering the
history, geology and the general area.
Dog Canyon Open all
year, located on the north side of the park,
the entrance is off of NM State Road 137,
which is about 70 miles from Carlsbad.
A ranger station at the entrance offers
backcountry permits and information.
The station is not always manned but, the
ranger resides on premises. The phone
# is (505) 981-2418
Williams Ranch (Day-Use) A key map
of Williams Ranch is available at the park
center. The road to the ranch can only
be accessed by a high-clearance 4x4 truck.
No over-night parking is permitted.
Gate keys must be retured the same day they
were checked out.
Salt Basin Dunes (Day-use)
Gate keys are available at the Visitors
center. The entrance is 50 miles from
the park Headquarters. More than seven
miles of the journey is unpaved road.
The area is isolated, peaceful and scenic.
No over-night parking is permitted.
The gate key must be returned the same day
and can be returned to the NPS station in
Dell City, Texas.
Guadalope Mountains National Park is ideal
for backpacking, camping, birding, horseback
riding (must have own horses), stargazing
(beautiful in this part of the country),
wild life viewing and bike riding.
Camping is permitted at Pine Springs and Dog
Canyon. Wildlife is best viewed around
water sources such as in Smith
Springs, Manzanita Spring and McKittrick
Canyon. Depending on the season,
viewings of mule deer near camp grounds and
along park trails, at times elk can be found
near the springs; also, gray foxes, desert
cottontails, black-tailed jackrabbits,
ringtails and rock squirrels can be
observed. The park offers 80 miles of
hiking trails. To learn more about the
campgrounds, hiking and wildlife viewing
visit
NPS.Com.
The closest town we can offer hotels is
Carlsbad NM. Please click on the
hotel button on the Guadalope header above.
Operating Hours - Many camp grounds,
recreation areas, lakes and parks exist
within the Sam Houston National Forest.
Please visit
USDA Forest Service for details on
each location.
The northern half of Lake Conroe is
located in the middle of the largest
continuous section of Sam Houston National
Forest; located just west of I-45 to
Richards and from Scotts Ridge to
Stubblefield. The next largest
continuous section of Sam Houston National
Forest borders the west side of Hwy 59.
A forest map is available at the USDA Forest
website.
Being Lake Conroe is a major part of Sam
Houston National Forest, Vacations National
Park will create an individual page of just
Lake Conroe. To get a good view of the
terrain and atmosphere of Sam Houston
National Forest visit our photo album of
Double Lakes Recreation area, which is near
Big Creek Scenic Area, just west of Hwy 59.
The National Forest offers much recreation
with over 100 miles of hiking trails,
fishing, boating, hunting and camping.
The Lone Star Hiking Trail is for hiking
only, making the trail a little more
peaceful. The trail is about 40 miles
in length starting on the west side of Lake
Conroe and running through the Winters
Bayou/Tarkington Creek location and runs
through Double Lake Recreation Area and Big
Creek Scenic Area. Double Lake being a
man made lake of 23 acres and is fully
stocked. Many of the campgrounds
require reservations, which the contact info
is provided above. Many campgrounds in
the Sam Houston National Forest are equipped
for RVs with electric and sewer hookups.
Additional areas to visit and or camp
include Little Lake Creek Wilderness, Cagle
Recreation Area, Stubblefield Recreation
Area, Kelly Pond Recreation Area and of
course, Lake Conroe. Additional
information for Lake Conroe will be
available soon. For those who like all
the to-dos in National Parks but, do not
like sleeping under the stars, several hotel
links are provided above.
Operating Hours Battleship Texas State Historic Site -
10am - 5pm
San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site
and the San Jacinto Monument (Museum
Included) 9am - 6pm
The San Jacinto Battleground State Historic
Site is a memorial to the Battle of San
Jacinto where Texas won their independence
from Mexico. Unlike many of the other
parks we have listed here in our Texas
National Park section, this historic site is
a memorial to visit and tour. Consider
a minimum of four hours to tour the entire
site. Starting with the San Jacinto
Monument, the museum is easily a 45 minute
visit if you wish to do the film offered in
the museum, that is another 45 minutes.
The observation tour at the top of the
monument offers a spectacular view and
depending on the number of visitors (no
waiting period for the elevators) then
budget 15 minutes for that part of the tour.
The Battleship Texas is another, minimum
tour plus the cemetery and if the weather is
good a little hike
along the boardwalks in nature preserve,
which is on the shores of the bayou, may be
enjoyable. The walk may bring views of
Egrets, and birds, turtles and other
wildlife. All kids enjoy this type of
visits so, this one day excursion is a good
choice for a family outing plus, with
reservations, groups can spend the night on
the Battleship Texas. If history is
something you and your family enjoy, plan a
trip to the memorial. If you have been
before but, have not visited in a long time,
much has changed and the visit will be worth
the time.
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Hill Country: Mason, Texas
Canoeing & Kayaking
Kayak and Canoe rentals,
shuttles, and guide service
on the Llano River and San
Saba River near the town of
Mason, Texas
Great Rates & Specials!
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Lakeway Resort and Spa,
located on the shores of
Lake Travis, captures the
elegance of a world-class
destination with
contemporary resort
amenities. Enjoy
Rates From US $129 Per Night
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Vintage Villas Hotel And
Conference Center
Vintage Villas presents a
secluded environment with
spectacular lake and sunset
views only 30 minutes from
downtown Austin, Texas.
Rates From US $116 Per Night
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A romantic safari-style
retreat for two, situated
high atop a ridge
overlooking Lone Man Creek
in Wimberley, just 35
minutes southwest of Austin
in the beautiful Texas Hill
Country.
Rates From US $225 Per Night
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A1Vacation New Braunfels,
Luxury Homes in Texas
A1Vacation New Braunfels
manages luxury vacation
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by Schlitterbahn, Lakes:
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Historic Gruene, Texas on
the Guadulupe River by
Gruene Hall.
Rates From US $175 Per Night
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Horseback Riding at the
Running-R Guest Ranch
Enjoy real Texan hospitality
and the best horseback
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miles of exciting trails in
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Hill Country! Arrive as a
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Rates From US $135 Per Night
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