Lush green, vaguely surreal
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nobody - 10/1/2016
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Distance: 5.00 Miles
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The only trails open are those inside the former Park Road 1A loop. Park Road 1A is now a C shape instead of a full loop, with the side near the former lake closed. These "interior" trails are in good shape, with a nice variety of open views and enclosing vegetation. Pine saplings are up to 12-15 feet tall in places, and there's a lot of plants I don't remember ever seeing in the park before. After a couple months of good rain everything is very lush.
The golf course closed down a year or so ago, and the cart paths are open for walking. This is rather flat, roughly paved, and the place where I saw the most wildlife. Lots of woodpeckers. You have the feel of walking through wild meadows scattered with mature trees. These golf cart paths also made up the bulk of the 5 miles I hiked.
All in all, it was lush green, but if you looked through the plants you saw fallen branches and logs all over. There were just a couple places where isolated stands of pine trees remained from before the fires, and lots of places where burned trunks rose above the greenery like strange totem poles.
Paradise Lost
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Blaze - 5/3/2013
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Distance: 7.00 Miles
Duration: 2 hours, 33 minutes
Bastrop State Park was affected by a fire in September 2011. I thought the park was merely temporarily damaged, much like what happens with a prescribed burn. What I found, however, was the trees in the park were nearly destroyed. In fact, 98% of the trees burned and even though I hiked this park over 1 1/2 years after the fire, it still looked like a war zone. It was very depressing because I could tell that this park must have once been very beautiful. Paradise lost... It is bouncing back slowly, but it will take many years to get back to its previous state.
The trails are color-coded, generally well-marked and the map provided by the Park HQs is pretty good. There are a lot of small hills and valleys that give you a little cardio work. The trails themselves are in need of maintenance as there were a LOT of fallen trees blocking the trails (Note: I went at a time when the winds were pretty strong (15-25 mph), so it's possible many of the fallen trees were recent victims). Park rangers were out with their chain saws doing what they could.
The Purple Trail (aka Lost Pines Hiking Trail) is partially closed at the present time. You can only go as far as Harmon Road. The section east of Harmon Road is closed.
This park has nice campgrounds. I had planned to camp at Creekside, but given the combination of dead trees and high winds I decided not to. If it had not been so windy, I would have liked to camp here.
Fellow hikers, this park needs our help, so I encourage everyone to visit this park as the funds are sorely needed.
Worth the trip!
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texaskdog - 1/8/2011
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Distance: 7.00 Miles
Duration: 3 hours
Took the red trail. Lots of huge trees. Not a lot of variety, creek was dry, but being out in nature was worth it. Lots of people for the remoteness and the season. If we had to do it again we'd park on the road that cut through it and done 4 miles the first time...one of our few 7 mile hikes! Park pass sounded like a good deal but we have 2 different cars and you cant transfer it.
Texas State Parks
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J3NN1F3R - 12/16/2010
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Keep in mind that you can also become a member of Texas Parks and Wildlife. My husband and I have been members for over five years and absolutely LOVE IT. When you become a member, you are not charged enterance fees (except to some of the cave tours like Longhorn Caverns), the membership fee goes towards park conservations, you receive 50% off camping coupons, and members discounts at the state park stores. Bastrop/Beuscher SPs are among some of our favorites, including Pedernales, Enchanted Rock, Lost Maples, and Garner State Parks. Also, as of right now, you do not need a state fishing license to fish inside a state park. So instead of buying a fishing license we buy a state park pass and go fishing in all the different state parks. This policy is not garunteed to continue, but has been active for the past several years.
Excellent Hike
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Veganne - 1/23/2010
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Distance: 12.00 Miles
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This is probably one of my favorite places to hike in the area. Lots of nature and wildlife with varying terrain. If you go in the spring, look for baby frogs around the pond area.
pleasant and lots of shades
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sandew - 5/24/2009
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Distance: 5.00 Miles
Duration: 3 hours
Rates are now $4 entry to park and the map isn't quiet acurate. A lot of the trees are marked and there are lots of maps when the trails change names. The paper map has different color code for the different types (elevations). Nice and wide most of the time, we did the blue trail which ran into the red trail when heading back to the car. It didn't, instead it runs into the gray trail that will run into red, then the white where we parked. Saw very few campers in the wilderness section or hikers. Good trail when hot, but can see how the drought has kept the man made waterfalls dry and the lake looked very low.
Get away from it all
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squidulum - 12/13/2008
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Distance: 8.00 Miles
Duration: 4 minutes
My husband and I started at the overlook the first time that we did this hike, but we found that if you take Park road C towards Buecher and turn down Hammond road to the right that you can park at the trail there and begin the hike in solitude. This is one of the most peaceful hikes I have been on. At times all you can hear it the wind in the trees. It's wonderful.
Red Trail
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Miles - 9/7/2008
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Distance: 4.00 Miles
Duration: 4 hours, 35 minutes
Did a little Geocaching,Hiking on a great day. I was all alone with The Tree People.
Gotta love those pine trees!
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BANDA - 1/12/2008
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Distance: 10.00 Miles
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What a great hike amongst the pines!
We hiked every one of the color-coded trails (they also have more descriptive names now too) and also a small part of the Lost Pines Trail. What a pretty park! There is some traffic noise from Hwy. 71 in some parts of the park, but other areas are very quiet. The park has one of the best hiking trail maps that I have ever seen from a Texas State park, so be sure to get one before you head out.
On the back side it has some great info on each trail, and a long list of Points of Interest with descriptions and coordinates.
This was a very enjoyable hike!
Lost Pines Trail
User:
kernel - 12/26/2007
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Distance: 8.50 Miles
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Not many people out that day but not many animals out either for viewing.
Lost Pines
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caspalding66 - 10/6/2007
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Distance: 6.50 Miles
Duration: 2 hours
Good Afternoon Hike, lots of shade and nobody else on the trails
Loved it
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DebbyKB - 10/22/2006
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Distance: 7.50 Miles
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My husband and I took our two dogs and enjoyed 4 hours of solitude and nature.
Camping and hiking Bastrop
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Miles - 8/13/2005
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Distance: 5.50 Miles
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We stayed in cabin twelve and hiked these trails all weekend, and loved every minute of it! I took my whole family, they all loved the trails too. Good place to hike and Geocache.
Shady walk in the pine forest
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pixistixs - 10/20/2004
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Distance: 4.40 Miles
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This is a great easy day hike, you can choose the length/difficulty according to the park map. Cool little ponds and a boy scout camp along the way. Nice solitude in places. Great for a tent camping weekend.
Nice hike; close to Austin
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bqualls - 9/5/2004
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Distance: 8.50 Miles
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The pine forest is a change of scenery for Central Texas. It is refreshing to be amongst tall, proud trees and a clean forest floor. The purple trail is 7.5 miles long. It winds through the pine forest in a relatively flat, nicely groomed manner. I hiked during Labor Day weekend and only passed about 6 other hiking parties on the purple trail. The purple trail has two heads. So to get back to where you started you have to choose a connecting trail. I chose the longer red trail. I was surprised. The 1 mile red trail was the most challenging segment of the trek. The trail was rough with rocks, roots and erosion and it rose and fell with fairly steep grades the entire mile. It was also a bit more crowded. I passed 7 or 8 parties on the short red trail.
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Shylock and Fiona - 7/31/2004
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Distance: 6.00 Miles
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We were so happy to have found this amazing park. So beautiful, peaceful and uncrowded (not to mention, "dog-friendly.") WELL worth the park entry fee. The trails are impeccably maintained and color-coded trail system makes it easy to navigate and fun to explore different routes. We intend to come back for some overnight backpacking very soon!
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matthewNtime - 3/21/2004
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Distance: 8.50 Miles
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I hiked this with a Venture troop and we lost the trail more than once. The tree blazes are abundant, but the path is not always well worn, especially as it crosses the gas pipeline right of way.
Orienteering hike
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DivasDude - 1/17/2004
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Distance: 4.00 Miles
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Participated in the Orienteering Challenge at the park and ended up hiking cross-country into the northern section of the park. No one was around and it made for an interesting and beautiful afternoon. The only crowded area was the trail section nearest the lodge.