Fort Richardson State Park & Historic Site — Attraction in Jacksboro

I visit a lot of State Parks. This is #18 (unless you count the parks with 2 in1, then it is #20. The office was open until 8pm on the Friday when we checked in which is much later than most parks. Very friendly staff. A fair selection of souvenirs at Park store, not great, just fair. It is run by Friends of the State Park, so your park pass won't get you a discount on items. One big plus is they have a book in the headquarters with campsite pictures to help you choose a site before you go out. Most parks don't.

A small fishing hole by the headquarters. Used to be a quarry. Don't fish but didn't see anyone catch anything either.

If you come, definitely check out the old Fort buildings. We didn't do the official tour, but just walking the grounds and looking in the windows was better than expected.

Decent trails here, some go through old creek beds. Watch your step though, this area has a lot of cactus.

There is a whole separate area of the park a few miles away and not attached in any way. You can find more trails and a really nice swimming area as well as tent campsites. The road inside this separate section has seen better days. It is a one lane, one way road that loops around the entire park. The swimming area is nice, has a large covered concrete area with picnic tables and charcoal grills. Lots of trails. Tent campsites are pretty secluded so if you are after that, come to this side. Really quiet area. Only saw one really small restroom in this area though.

Stayed in campsite 12, which like most sites have plenty of trees for shade. Good fire rings with adjustable cooking grates. Picnic tables in great shape. The RV pads don't have holes, but aren't level by a long shot. At least in this one it wasn't. Barely had enough jack to level the camper. Electrical and water hookups are in excellent shape though. Plenty of room for vehicle parking in the campsite, more than many other parks.

Cabins for rent are not that big but look newish and look like they have AC. Tons of parking for them.

There are a couple restrooms, but they are small. Only one has a shower. One shower! One toilet stall. No place at all to sit and put your clothes back on after shower. The shower stall had a double shelf in it to put your stuff. It did have the wheelchair accessible shower head in addition to the regular which was a bit low and while you can't adjust direction, the pressure and spray were excellent. Not the cleanest for sure, mildew on the tiles, but they did stock hand soap which you don't always see in a State Park. They really need to redo the restrooms to accommodate the campsite capacities.

While there is water to swim in and water to fish in, there is no boating here.

Good RV dump stations.

Nestled in the little town of Jackboro there are some neat old buildings in town. Good little hole in the wall places to eat, but know most places shut down by 9pm.

Critters we saw were deer, raccoon, lightning bugs, rabbits and squirrels. You can hear a pack of coyotes in the evenings.

Overall a good park with several things to do. It is far away from busy towns so it gets pretty quiet and stargazing is...

The drive on 380 West towards Jacksboro was scenic. From the road, Bridgeport Lake seemed beautiful. As I got near Jacksboro, I started to notice wind turbines in the distance. There appeared to be at least 2 major wind farms near Jacksboro.

When I stopped at headquarters, my vehicle wasn't noticed, so I parked and entered the building. I was treated kindly and professionally. I got a packet of information. Then I drove to parking near the Lost Creek Trailway trailhead. I walked the 8 to 9 mile trailway. Then I exited onto SH59 South towards Twin Lakes City Park where I cut across the spillway then the dam separating the 2 local reservoirs. The spillway can be closed to pedestrian traffic, so I would recommend confirming that the shortcut I traveled is open on the day one plans to walk if one doesn't have a ride back to where one started.

There were plenty of informational displays along the trailway. I also encountered numerous good vantage points for photos. Wildflowers were in bloom. Walking the trailway seemed much safer than hiking natural surface trails at some of the places I've been in Texas. I did not observe or hear any large threatening animals such as wild hogs or wolves. There were plenty of people at the various campsites that I observed during my trip to the park and I look forward to returning to learn more about the history of the area, including a guided tour.

On a side note, I saw a medium sized 2 story house that looks like a castle near...

Great rustic outdoor camping! We camped at the North Loop camping area which is down the road a few miles from the actual Fort Richardson State Park as those sites are currently closed for reservations. The North Loop camping area has large private campsites with a picnic table and firepit with an adjustable grate for cooking. Our campsite was water only. (I'm not sure if there is electric available I didn't look for it as I'm a tent camper) There were nice, short, and easy to navigate trails. There's a nice picnic area with swimming access. I did not bring my fishing equipment but there is a lake for fishing. This campground provided a more woodsy rustic environment. There are no freshly mowed green areas or playgrounds for the kids, out there nature is your kids playground. The park Ranger was friendly and informative. One more thing, I did not see showers and the toilets although in a solid building are dump toilets meaning they don't flush. The restrooms were well maintained. There are lots of ways to camp and this is just another variety. Again it's not manicured with group activities planned it's a little more rustic than the other four state parks I've been to in the area. I loved it and can't...