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Stacy
Trip Date 07/02/2018 Posted On 07/20/2018 18:09:05 |
Camping | Hiking | Texas | Review of Taylor Park | Taylor Campground Review | Texas Corps of Engineers Camping
After our three days at Lake Somerville State Park, we traveled a couple of hours closer to our Austin home for three more nights in "RV There Yet?". We chose our location as we already had plans to meet Robin, my friend who I've known since we were both toddlers, in the nearby town of Walburg.
If you are looking for a campground that is a short drive from Austin, yet gives you the feeling that you are much further away and out in the country, read this post for our review of Taylor Park & Campground.
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Taylor Park and Campground
With a total of only 48 campsites including four double sites, Taylor Park is a relatively small US Army Corps of Engineers campground located on Granger Lake. The roads through the campground were nicely paved and the park grounds were clean and well maintained. Although functional, all bathhouses in the park were dated and in need of some maintenance.On the recreational front, there are a variety of both land and water activities available at Taylor Park. Guests can enjoy biking, birding, hiking and wildlife viewing (although we only saw a couple of deer) in addition to camping - plus there was a children's playground. With a boat ramp located within the park grounds, lake activities include fishing, boating, swimming (water shoes highly recommended) and water skiing.
Taylor Park is located in Williamson County, Texas, one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. There are a number of nearby attractions including sporting events, shopping, restaurants and more. The Things To Do and Event Schedule are good resources for making plans. (For planning purposes, after the 10:00 PM park gate closing time each night, cars can no longer enter the park. Any vehicle returning after the gates are closed must be parked outside of the park and guests wanting to return to a campsite would need to do so on foot.)
The German town of Walburg, Texas which is known for the live music offered at restaurants including The Walburg German Restaurant and Biergarten is also within a 30 minute drive of the park. As we all wanted to try a restaurant at which we had not previously dined, we met my friend Robin and some of her family for lunch at Dale's Essenhaus. In addition to their live music offerings, Dale's was hosting an early Independence Day Celebration late in the afternoon of June 30th.
Campsite Amenities at Taylor Campground
Online reservations can be made for specific campsites with payment required in order to complete the reservation. Although the park was nearing capacity on Saturday and Sunday, we made our reservation just two weeks ahead of our stay and were extremely pleased with the available sites. We paid a total of $66.00 for our three night stay - nightly campsite rental was $22.00 (single site water & electric) and $26.00 (double site - water and electric).All campsites at Taylor Park had back-in parking onto a paved surface. There were also several overflow parking areas throughout the park ensuring that no cars were parked along the roads. All sites were clean and utilities included both water and on-site electric (30-amp) with a central dump station and dumpsters located on the road toward the gate house. Although there were a large number of trees within the park, they were not situated in such a way as to shade the campsites.
Each campsite had a very nice covered wooden picnic table situated on large concrete bases each with a food prep/serving area and a nearby grill and fire pit. Luckily we had not planned to use the fire pit during our visit as signs posted at the gate house advised us of a burn ban in effect.
Scott had good cell and data coverage on Verizon, however T-Mobile coverage was non-existent. With a generous assortment of channels, broadcast television, on the other hand, was significantly better than at most campgrounds at which we've stayed.
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Campsite 12 at Taylor Campground
This was probably the easiest back-in campsite that Scott has maneuvered "RV There Yet?" into in just under our one year of RV ownership. Although I left our car with my walkie-talkie in hand (and we tested them to ensure that we could communicate), absolutely no instructions were needed. Before I knew it, Scott had perfectly backed-in to our site and jumped out of the car to begin the unhitching process.Campsite 12 was clean, nicely paved and relatively flat. Due to the warm (or should I say hot) Texas summer temperatures, we never once used our covered wooden picnic table / food preparation / serving area nor grill. With a path leading down to the lake just beyond our next door neighbor campsite 13, we did take advantage of floating, relaxing and attempting to cool off in the water.
The two primary downsides to our site were the lack of shade trees / hammock trees and only having 30-amp electrical connections. (Yes, we have gotten spoiled with 50-amp sites which allow us to use both air conditioning units to more quickly cool down our trailer!)
Favorite Campsites at Taylor Campground
With the amenities being virtually identical when we compared all campsites at Taylor Park, we chose our sites based on proximity to Granger Lake. With that criteria, those winning our favorites category were campsites 12 (our site) and 13. There was a path through the brush and trees just to the left of campsite 13 which led directly to the shoreline. A short hike took us to the lake for swimming, floating, fishing, etc.Hiking at Taylor Park
Taylor Park has over 5 miles of trails (one way) which start from the East Trailhead, loop around the campground, pass by two bridges and the West Trailhead and end at a Primitive Campground. We enjoyed hiking on two of our evenings along parts of the Comanche Bluff Trail that were parallel to the southern side of the lake as well as those looping the campground. We started our first hike between campsites 4 and 6 where the trail was surrounded by trees and brush. Shortly after beginning we came upon a bridge which, after walking across, we learned was the Hoxie Bridge.According to a sign on the far side, the bridge which originally spanned across the San Gabriel River was washed downstream in a 1921 flood. Shortly thereafter, the bridge was reconstructed by a team of convict laborers. Legend has it that a troublemaker prisoner was shot to death by a guard and his body was hung from a tree nearby as a warning to others. Following the death, the area was said to be haunted by the headless ghost of the prisoner.
After reading about the bridge which was both dismantled in 1979 and moved to its current location in 1982 by the US Army Corps of Engineers, we continued on the trail for about another 1/4 mile until we reached the east trailhead.
On our return, we continued past our starting point until we neared the path adjacent to the lake. We passed our campsite and took one of the paths leading back to the campgrounds around mile marker .60 (designated by a bright orange stake read from bottom to top).
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On our final night at the park, our hiking goal was to find both the Trail Museum and the Friendship Bridge. We started from the pathway near campsite 20 hiking in both heavily wooded sections as well as open prairie.
Upon approaching the Friendship Bridge, we learned that it spanned Willis Creek until being destroyed by the flood in 1921. Similar to the Hoxie Bridge, this bridge was also relocated to Granger Lake by the Corps of Engineers in 1982.
We returned to our site along much the same route as our hike out to the bridge. Although we never found the museum, we later realized that the museum was actually not housed in a building, but was a billboard filled with historical information about the area. We had actually glanced briefly at it on our first evening at Taylor Park as it was located very near the playground.
Texas Campgrounds
If you are in search of a campground located within a few hours of Austin, take a look at our post titled Review: Lake Somerville State Park - Birch Creek Unit for a park worthy of your consideration.Campground Amenities
What are the top 2 or 3 amenities that you search for when selecting a park at which to camp in your tent or RV?Weather:84F Partly Cloudy
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