Copper Breaks State Park

Monday, June 16 through Wednesday, June 18, 2003

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See more pictures of Copper Breaks State Park here!

This is probably the least known of all the parks we have been to so far.   When planning this trip, we asked our native Texan friends if they knew anything about this park.  Think of it as an informal poll.  Nobody had heard of this park.  That would make this park the best kept secret in the Texas State Park System.

Apparently nobody else has heard about this park either.  Here we are at the height of the tourist season and there are plenty of campsites available.  The lack of other campers is our gain.  This is a park we plan to come back to.

A fire last year wiped out the Amphitheater.  That gets in the way of the nightly ranger talks.

This is one of the best maintained parks we have been to.

The park headquarters has a nice museum.

Every Saturday night, the park hosts a Star Gazing party.  They have a number of large telescopes that people can look through.  This part of Texas is dark like the Davis Mountains area.  I would expect Star Gazing to be spectacular.

Every day (except Sunday) there is a hosted nature trail walk starting at the Juniper trailhead.  The park host leading the nature walk was Larry Smith.  He did an excellent job of pointing out animals, plants, and geological points of interest.

Below left is a pack rat den.  It has the weirdest collection of garbage, twigs, and rocks creating the den.  Think of this like one of those beaver lodges only with a small rat inside.

There are a number of lizard pictures starting on the right below.

Above left are wild plums.  They are about the size of a 50 cent piece around.

There are two manmade lakes.  Both are scenic.   The larger lower one has a floating fishing dock.  It also has a beach for swimming (shown below right).