Colorado Bend State Park — Attraction in San Saba

Great state park! Ranks in my top 2 favorite state parks/natural areas in Texas! Absolutely beautiful! It's remote(!), has almost 30 miles of hiking trails through a variety of landscapes, animals everywhere, and the park rangers and park police were all very professional and friendly.

Be prepared for a more... primitive experience. No electrical hookups, or RV dump stations, and the bathrooms are the compost/vault style. Each of the 2 main camping areas has only 1 spigot for potable water, and at the time of my visit Labor Day weekend 2023, the park store and showers were locked up. I had absolutely zero phone reception, even on the more elevated peaks of the park.

I was unable to hike all of the trails in my 2 full days at the park. I hiked everywhere, no driving to trailheads. So though I hiked 15 miles a day, I did not hike 30 miles of unique trail each day. What follows are my opinions of the trails that I was able to hike during my stay.

The River Trail follows the Colorado River, and at some points of the hike, you get a fantastic view of the river. You also spend a lot of time walking beside a small cliff face opposite the river side of the trail.

Gorman Springs Trail and Gorman Falls trails were both beautiful trails. I hiked these from the north end of the RiverTrail. I saw the full Gorman Springs trail (wonderful!), but only about .3 miles of the Gorman Falls trail... the falls were beautiful as well!

Tinaja Trail I hiked from end to end, leaving Gorman Falls. It's a wonderful, challenging trail with many opportunities to take a wrong turn and no markers to keep you on trail. I tracked previous hikers several times in these instances (NOT a 100% foolproof strategy, FYI, but far more effective than a coin flip).

I picked up the Cedar Chopper Loop when I completed the Tinaja trail, and circled it the long way to get to the Old Gorman Road trail. This loop trail is one of two in the park, and was the more interesting loop trail given the natural features, but nothing breathtaking.

The Old Gorman Road trail was nothing special. I wish I had opted to take the Dogleg Canyon trail instead. This was a walk down a hill, and back to the river through more of a grassland type landscape.

The Spicewood Canyon trail was probably my favorite trail of the bunch. Like the Tinaja Trail, this one is a bit challenging, but it is well marked and has some spectacular views of the canyon.

The Lemon Ridge Pass trail West from where it meets the Spicewood Canyon trail was my least favorite trail. It runs along the very south edge of the park, constantly exiting onto this dirt road that runs between the park and the private property to the South. It was very confusing locating where to pick up the trail from the dirt road. I don't know what the trail is like from where it meets the Spicewood Canyon Trail going East back to the River Trail.

The Lively Loop from the Lemon Ridge Pass trail to the Windmill Trail was nothing but grassland, and not very interesting. I don't know what the majority of the trail is like, but it appeared very open and exposed to the sun.

The WIndmill trail only had the windmill, the rest was just grassland and very exposed to the sun. It was worth the hike to make it to the windmill.

My only complaint about the park is that there are literally only two water spigots, both of which are located on the far East side of the park. The park is around 9 miles wide, West to East, nearly 30 miles of trails, and in an area where people are likely to suffer heat exhaustion/stroke during the summer. A couple more water spigots, in other areas of the park would be...

I feel like this park could use a lot of updating/refreshing like some of the other Texas state parks have been receiving. Once we drove through the front entrance, you are driving down this very nicely paved road with incredible views on both sides of the road of wildflowers and overlooks. Then you get to the end near the campsites and it turns to gravel road. The park store is a very tiny building with room for maybe 3 guest at a time inside. They did have budget friendly drinks and snacks, a little bit of fishing gear and a few tees/tanks. The day use area had 5 picnic tables facing the beautiful Colorado River and bluffs. We noticed several people fishing pulling in fish by the minute. Parking area was large and had plenty of room for several vehicles. However, the boat ramp was closed due to a wash out it appeared. We only seen one bathroom located near the fish cleaning area. The bathroom had 2 stalls with pit toilets. The fish cleaning area looked like it hadn't been used in years, dust covered, and spider webs all over everything. We noticed the parking areas with the campsite numbers on them, but didn't check out the campsites as they were located down below the parking area. We did 3 trails here, the Gorman Falls Trail, Spicewood Springs Trail and a good portion of the Spicewood Canyon Trail. All of the trails we did would be better to do early on hot days. It was 85 degrees in May when we started out and by the time we got to our car 5 hours later, it was 88 degrees. The Gorman Falls Trail took us 2.5 hrs to complete roundtrip and stopping to take pictures of the falls. We seen several in flip flops doing this trail, but I would strongly advise against that! The end is almost straight down slick rocks, there is cables to help, but I feel if I wouldn't have had on shoes with gripping, I wouldn't have made it down without sitting down and sliding down. This would be a hard trail to do right after a rain shower. The falls were nothing like the pictures we seen online, but were absolutely beautiful! The calcium deposits is part of what made these falls so unique and amazing! On our way back, a rattlesnake under a tree had hissed and lunged out at a hiker in front of us. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it was less than a foot from the trail, so keep your eyes open. For the Spicewood trails, we decided to go past the springs first and climb up to the canyon trail. To do the big loop of both trails together it took us a little over 3 hours. There was tons of people swimming in all of the bigger pool areas of the springs. I get over heated easily, and I found it harder to finish the last mile of the up and down hill climbs of the canyon trail. If we were to do it again, we'd walk the canyon part of the trail first and end in the springs area. Make sure you are wearing appropriate clothing and shoes in the spring area as you are crossing up to ankle deep water in several spots as well as walking along sharp cliffs/bluffs. We seen several kids and dogs on the springs trail. The canyon trail we only ran into 3 separate hikers and the trail didn't look very disturbed like it isn't hiked much. We found the Spring trail to be well marked, but you do have to look for the blazes as sometimes they aren't where you would think they are. We will visit the park again, but just note that it is in the middle of nowhere. Bring plenty of water and snacks as there's no where for 20 miles to get anything. It seemed to me that this park is popular for the springs, fishing,...

Spent 3 nights early January with gorgeous weather. We got lucky. Cool nights and warm, sunny days. Some things to note: GAS UP before arriving. You will need it. If you plan on an after hours arrival, GET THE GATE CODE. If you change your mind & drive in late, park rangers do not man the gate after closing. You will need the gate code. The gate is locked, and you're out of luck. It's a good 25 minute drive on dark, winding, cow wandering dirt road back to the nearest paved highway where there is nothing but silence, a millions stars and armadillos. Bend General Store is at the mouth of the park & corner intersection. Hours of operation are erratic. BGS has no public indoor plumbing. Porta-Potty's only. Zero Wi-Fi & beer is outrageously priced. Buy your ice here. It's cheaper than at the park. They do offer live music & food on specific nights. I'm sure during the high season it gets slammed. Be warned, there is zero cell phone coverage except one high spot on the main road. It's a mile or so from the campground. You'll know it when you get it & notifications start coming in. Keep your phone on AIRPLANE MODE so your battery doesn't die searching for signal. Bring an extra battery pack. Trust me. I have AT&T. Service was nearly non-existent. Bring more gallon water than you think you'll use. Pack thick gloves, an axe, fire starters, large garbage bags, lanterns and hammer to drive tent stakes into hard ground. Easy on, easy waterproof boots are essential. Primitive camping. No hook-ups. If you plan on bringing a generator, it must be shut off at 10pm. Don't plan on showering unless it's Summer and the river water is warm. You can find small pools on a few riverside trails to bathe or swim. Compostable toilets are clean. Bring toilet paper and wipes. Glad I did. Bring your own firewood. They sell firewood at the mini-store, it's expensive and only take cash or check. We brought firewood from home plus purchased quite a bit. It was windy and ate up a lot of wood. Evenings can get cold since the camp is located at the bottom of the river basin. We found placing a large ground tarp then tent helped with dampness and cold. Fire ring, a fire grate and lantern post are provided. Winds can become strong moving through the canyon. In the night silence, you can hear large boulders splash down into the river. It is a 100 yard or so walk from your car to campsite. Just be prepared when packing in and out. Abundant wildlife especially deer. Food, snacks or supplies are extremely limited at the store. Pack in everything you think you'll need. We rented a kayak. Very affordable. The river and surrounding tributaries are stunning. Go up stream and the first tributary to the right. Paddle in & dock. Hike far upstream. Unbelievable beauty. We hiked several wild trails. All were very well marked. You will need to drive to many of the trail heads. Don't forget water and sunglasses! Remember, this high desert country. It's rocky, prickly pear cactus and dry trekking. Make sure you are physically able to make the long hike to Gorman Falls. Reminded me of Fern Gully. It's a difficult downhill and back uphill hike. I can't wait to return. It's a beautiful weekend oasis to recharge your soul. Bring sunscreen!! God...