Martin Dies, Jr. State Park is located near Jasper, Texas. Jasper Texas is only about 9 miles east of the park, and I recommend you go there for fuel, as the gas stations near the campground are a bit pricey. From our house it was about a four and a half hour drive. The drive itself was a bit of a pain, primarily because once we got about twenty miles from the park we had to take about seven different roads with a lot of stopping and starting. The trip may be easier if you come from a different direction. Also, if you think that Texas is a flat state, you won’t feel that way during this drive; it is quite hilly. Regardless of the drive, it was well worth it. I’ll post quite a few pictures so you get a feel for the park.
This park was named after Martin Dies Jr. The third Martin Dies in a family of three generations that bore that name. The first, a US Congressman. Then his son followed in his footsteps. Lastly, the Martin Dies for which the park is named, was a Texas state senator, and later a Chief Justice in the Texas court of appeals. So there is a legacy of public service by the Dies family.
Martin Dies Jr helped break ground for the park in 1964, so it’s a bit newer than many of the state parks we have visited. The check in process took all of two minutes, and then it was off to our site, 309.
My only criticism of the park is that the roadways to the site in our loop are a bit narrow. They also weave in and out among the trees. The sites are paved, and in our loop the pavement looked new. They are also lacking a sign to direct you to the opposite side of our loop, which would have been nice. If you miss that turn, (which really just looks like another camping spot), you will need to go to a camping loop further down the road to turn around. We overshot the turn by a trailer length, so we just backed up and then made the turn.
Our site was not level, and I noticed that quite a few are not. Therefore, you will need to make some adjustments to level your trailer. Beyond that, the sites are beautiful. Towering pine trees that are about 80 years old will probably drop more than a few pinecones on your site, along with a pretty deep bed of pine needles. Be a little careful on the pine needles, they do get slippery.
The cellular coverage in the park is quite good but don’t expect satellite TV or even air TV for that matter. We were able to get three air channels, and that was all; CBS, Fox, and a channel called Dabl. So if TV is your way to relax at night, I don’t think you will be happy with that limited lineup. However, I’m sure you would rather sit outside, grill some food and enjoy the relaxing sounds of nature anyway. Eva absolutely loved it here and spent a lot of time on her coolaroo enjoying the weather. She, however, did not like all the squirrels.
The quiet of the park is a refreshing change. The quiet was interrupted occasionally, at our site, by alligator sounds, followed by the loud splash of them jumping into the water. Unfortunately I was never able to get a picture of any. The staff asks that you make sure you stay at least 30 feet away from any alligators, and that you stay out of the water. Thirty feet distance seems even a little too close for my comfort. Since we were close to the water, I always looked out the window before Eva and I would exit on our early morning walks.
From the Table to the trailer. A large well maintained site.
That’s right, they have alligators. So this isn’t a place where you can leave you kids wandering by the water; or leave you dog unattended outside (you should never do that anyway).
This is the river that runs behind our site, very desirable for alligators for sure.
This State Park may be one of Texas best kept secrets as we camped almost alone in our loop. There were 26 available sites in our loop. Including the two host campers, there were only six trailers in the loop. Not only is it very quiet here, but it’s very dark at night. So, if you go out at night with your pet, you better take a flashlight.
Our almost empty loop.
On our third day there I asked one of the Park Rangers, if it was always this empty for camping. The answer I got should be encouraging to most campers. “During the week there are not many campers. On weekends the park can be full until the heat of the summer comes, then it is pretty empty even on the weekends”.
The Park has put a lot of work into their publications such as the park map, and trail map. They also have a handout that you can take on your trail hike. It lists points of interest that are marked along the trail.
The posted Trail Map – but you will get a paper copy when you check-in.
The park has 6 walking trails, three that are easy, two that are moderate, and one that is considered challenging. Eva and I constantly walked the Forest Trail. It is only a 1 mile trail, and we would walk it in 26 minutes although they say it takes 45. I wanted to do the challenging trail, but due to changing weather forecasts (that I will talk about in a minute) we never got the chance.
Eva on the Forest Trail
You can also rent Kayaks here in the park, although personally I wasn’t up for paddling in with the gators. I saw many folks doing it though, so I’m sure it’s safe…unless you capsize.
As far as my previous travel trailer repairs, everything held up well. The pantry and end table modifications proved to be very strong. The sink replacement was fine with the exception of having to tighten the hot water line just a bit more.
Now as you might remember from my last post, we have been watching the weather pretty closely. Before we left it looked like our entire week there would be dry. A few days into our stay things began to change. The projection was that we were going to get severe weather events on Thursday night into Friday. Our planned departure day was Friday.
On Wednesday morning I looked at the weather forecast and realized, we could probably leave on Thursday morning but would drive through severe weather on the way home. So there were really two choices:
- Leave Wednesday and avoid the severe weather threat, or
- Stay until Saturday and hope for the best.
It seemed the reasonable thing to do was to leave on Wednesday. I was pretty conflicted about it, but the weather right now is unpredictable. If it had only been a few days of rain, that would have been fine. However, a possibility of hail and tornados could put a damper on camping.
I highly recommend this state park. I can’t think of a single reason not to go here. The park Rangers and Staff are very nice. The facilities are clean and well maintained. The camping sites are large, and our loop was very quiet.
I’m going to make a reservation here for late October or early November, and then follow through on my promise to Eva that we would take the difficult “Slough” trail. A tired German shepherd is a happy German shepherd.
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