I have to say that Daingerfield State Park, is my favorite of the Texas state parks. It is by far the quietest of the parks we have visited. It is a 540 acre park with fishing, boating, hiking, and biking available to visitors.
Historically, the park has existed since the great depression. President Franklin Roosevelt, looking for ways to stimulate the economy and provide jobs created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC program provided jobs and training by hiring young men and veterans to work on conservation and park development projects. Over all, the CCC was made up of over 300,000 workers. The workers lived on location as they built the parks and were provided food, clothing and medical care as well as earning $30.00 per month. Daingerfield Park was created by the CCC between 1935 and 1939.
So, what are some of the things the CCC created at Daingerfield Park? The Entrance Sign, Boat House, Fisherman’s Barracks, Combination Building, Lake Dam, Lake Daingerfield (originally called Little Pine Lake), Retaining Walls, Culverts, Steps, Trails, Horse Trails, Parking Curbs, Scenic Road, “Aztec” Chairs and Tables, and Cedar Benches. They also constructed two cabins. Cabin 1, which is still there and can be rented, acted as the administration building.
Development of eighty-acre Lake was the focus of the earliest work at the park. Other architectural features were based on the terrain of the park. The CCC was also responsible for the design of traffic flow and access to the recreational areas here.
So back to our visit: Our last visit was 2019, and you can read about that trip by clicking here. That particular trip took place during some very severe weather. Those that have been following Texas weather know that we have been in a dry spell since late June. Making matters even worse is that we are now in 4th place for the most triple digit days. My yard looks like the Palo Duro Canyon in some places. Having clay as a primary soil results in huge, deep cracks. I have been doing my best to fill them with top soil so that Eva won’t break a leg, but it is becoming a losing battle.
My neighbor Mark walked by with his pooch early in the morning and I told him that our going camping was the reason for upcoming rain. I told him that I should have gone in August. He thanked me on behalf of the neighbors for the predicted rainfall. So if you want a drought to stop – just go camping. Now it looks like we will have a lot of rain the last three days at Daingerfield. Fortunately, at this point, it doesn’t look severe. If it turns on us though, I’ll be hitching up and coming home.
This will be the first trip since we have taken since performing the bearing and suspension work on the trailer. I will have my tools with me, so if something doesn’t look right, we can deal with it. I’m not expecting issues, but better to be prepared.
The projected weather for the first three days is temperatures in the 80’s. After the last three months, I can’t remember what that was even like!
The ride to Daingerfield had a surprise, and not a good one! About ten miles into the trip I got a warning on my dash about checking the trailer brake wiring. Manually pressing the trailer brake controller did activate the brakes but they seemed weak. I pulled into a wayside and did a quick inspection but found nothing so I I knew I would need to look closely at the 7 pin connector at Daingerfield along with the wiring at each wheel. Oddly, I made a very conscious decision to leave my multi meter at home. I won’t make that mistake again.
We have arrived!
Our site was pretty much as I remembered it (site 4) except I forgot that it is very sandy on this side of the loop. So we needed to lay our very large mat down along with the smaller door mat. That did a pretty decent job of keeping the sand out of the trailer. The site is quite secluded from the other sites nearby. However, that doesn’t keep Eva from acting like a nut when other dogs walk by.
We quickly leveled the trailer and got everything hooked up including the satellite dish, because the Packers/Bears game was on at 3:30. I got the dish working with fifteen minutes to spare. So to get absolutely everything done after pulling into the site takes about an hour:
Pull in and level side to side.
Get Eva out if truck and tethered.
Chock wheels.
Disconnect truck.
Level front to back.
Hook up power (with EMS) and water (with pressure regulator).
Extend stabilizers.
Extend bump outs.
Set up the bumper grill and Blackstone griddle.
Pull out the lawn chairs and door mat.
Meanwhile Tammy organizes the inside of trailer. She puts down rugs, sets up Eva’s food and water bowls, turns the AC on, plugs in the MarCELL unit, puts the chairs at the table, and gets things organized. Now it was time for a beer and the game. Although I really needed the beer earlier as the temperatures were pretty high when we arrived.
The Packers beat the Bears…it was a good day!
Day 1
Monday morning Eva and I went for our very very early morning walk all the way up to the ranger station did not see any wild life, but it was very dark and tried to get a picture of the moon coming up over the trees but the iPhone is not great for pictures like that. Then we took a walk on the trail along the lake. A very bittersweet walk as I have very strong memories of Kendra and I walking that trail and her being fixated on a squirrel that ran up a tree. Each time we walked that trail she would look up in that same tree expecting to see her nemesis. However, now we are building new memories with our little monster Eva.
After the walk to the Ranger Station we headed up to loop by the Combination Building and the lake. It is extremely quiet here at Daingerfield, and surprisingly empty of campers.
We came back to the trailer and Eva supervised my cooking on the Blackstone. After that Tammy, Eva, and I hiked back along the Rustling Leaves Trail up to the Combination Building created by the CCC. It still looks beautiful and that says something about the quality of the work back then.
Once we got back to camp I crawled under the trailer and found the issue with the brakes. One set of wires coming out of the axle were rubbed bare because the grommet designed to protect the wires was missing. I used electrical tape around the bare wires as a temporary fix. However this will require a correct repair when we get home.
I have to say that I am frustrated that Dexter Axle makes it so hard to find a support phone number. All support correspondence is via a form on their website. The last time I used that form I had three simple questions and I received one answer. Not impressed. Who knows how long it will take to get an answer on purchasing new grommets for the axles.
Day 2
Day two arrived with sprinkles on the roof of the travel trailer. The zero percent chance of rain yesterday became 91% this morning. However, it wasn’t heavy rain, so our morning routine wasn’t affected. I was hoping to hike the entire trail today but my guess is that it will be really buggy.
As the day progressed things dried out nicely and Eva and I made the entire trek around the lake via the rustling leaves trail. The trail is almost three miles long. The first part is quite steep (near our loop) and many tree roots cross the trail.
There is a Picnic area that was created by the CCC, on a peninsula just off of the rustling leaves trail. While it initially had five fireplaces created, only one remains. I wasn’t sure how much further we would need to walk to see the picnic area so we bypassed it. My thought at that time was that we would return the way we came and then explore it. As it turned out, we did not return that way. Instead we made a loop all the way around the lake. I thought we would return later in the week but the weather did not cooperate at all.
The most impressive part of the trail is the dam that was created by the CCC. Pictures don’t do it justice as they don’t really capture how high it rises from ground level. Towards the end of the trail Eva met a park ranger and had to give her a kiss. I remarked to her that the CCC workmanship in the buildings still look beautiful 90 years later whereas a new road near us last a couple of years.
We got back to the trailer and I had a nice discussion with Lauryl from Dexter Support. Unfortunately she had no idea what grommet was used in my axle. So, I sent a picture and am waiting for some follow up. In the meantime I have ordered butt connectors and shrink tubing to repair the wires, however none of that makes sense to get started on without a new grommet.
Day 3
Day three was a rain day until 2:00PM. Around 1:00 PM it sounded like a huge branch hit the roof of the trailer. Tammy and I looked at each other in shock “What was that!!” However the trailer didn’t shake, it was just a huge noise. We wondered for a minute if it had been a lightening strike nearby, but it didn’t sound like thunder. After inspecting everything I’m thinking a branch hit nearby.
There were remnants of a huge branch just off to the rear of the trailer. Eva and I would hear the exact same noise the next day while walking early in the morning. As far as the question Dr George Berkeley, an (Anglican Bishop and philosopher in the 1600s) posed, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” I would say “Yes, and it’s really, really, loud”.
Tammy and I played the card game Skip-Bo for part of the afternoon as Eva chewed on a bully stick. As Tammy always says when it rains “We can sit in the trailer or sit at home, either way we will be inside”. A rain day in the camper probably beats a rain day in the house. Except managing Eva on rain days is easier at the house when your camp site is made up of sand. However, fortunately for us the rain we got in Dangerfield wasn’t ever what I would call heavy rains. It was at its worst, moderate in nature.
Due to all the rain, Eva and I had to confine our walks to just the paved roads. I am always amazed at how wet she gets from walking on wet pavement. You would think she had been sprayed with a hose.
I was pretty disappointed that Eva and I couldn’t get back on any trails after this. They were just too wet.
It cleared up enough later in the day for us to grill out. Even so it was too wet to allow Eva to be tied up outside while I cooked. Since she feels that she needs to be everywhere I go, this made her an unhappy camper.
Day 4
Day four had some sprinkles in the morning, and then it became a nice day. Not nice enough to sit out and have a beer; but nice enough to begin packing up the Blackstone and the grill after dinner. I always try to get some stuff packed up early if possible. In this case, with everything being so wet, I know that packing things up tomorrow will take longer. Eva was tethered while I picked things up and she seemed quite happy to be outside supervising.
Eva and I took quite a few walks on day 4, but they were all confined to roadways. Even with the roadway somewhat drying out, she still needed to be dried off when we returned.
Day 5 – Departure
We took our time leaving camp on day 5. I slowly packed things up after breakfast while Eva lay on the cement slab next to the picnic table and made sure everything was going to plan. Two days prior to our departure I had added us to the cancellation list for site 4. I was hoping it might become available for the weekend. I would have loved to have stayed two more days, because the forecast was for lots of sun. For now it looks like Tammy, Eva, and I will need to return for more trail walking. I am really interested in the Mountain View Trail. It is supposed to be a difficult trail but I will give it a go next time. Eva has a lot of horsepower, so I suppose she can pull me up the mountain.
Now, I only have one negative about Daingerfield State Park, and pretty much all of the Texas State Parks we have visited. They need to do a much better job of Forest Management. The woods are totally overgrown and trees are allowed to stand even if completely rotted. Many have fallen and are supported by other trees – an accident waiting to happen. Not having an active forest management program is detrimental to the health of the forest too. If nothing else, they should concentrate on removing the dead or dying trees (or limbs) that border each campsite. Evan that would be an improvement. Here are just a few pictures to give you an idea of what I am talking about.
These trees will eventually come over into the road, it is just a matter of time. It would be nice to see them address some of this. Trust me when I say, I could have taken a hundred pictures like this.
The drive home was uneventful and the brakes worked fine. I have everything on order to complete the repairs.
Our next trip is to Dodge City Kansas, with a stop near Oklahoma City. I’m looking forward to that trip and the cooler weather. Meanwhile lets hope North Texas gets some rain – my backyard still looks horrible.
Stay Safe!
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