Paradise Lost

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.