Saturday marks the first official day of the fall season, meaning cooler weather (should) be ahead.
If you’ve been wanting to spend time outdoors but have been avoiding it due to the heat, now’s the time to plan for those fall camping trips.
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There are several state parks within a day’s trip from San Antonio that offer hiking, camping, birdwatching, scenic views and more to get your fall foliage fix.
Overnight and day camping spots at some of these state parks may fill up fast as the weather cools down, especially the more popular parks like Lost Maples State Natural Area and Garner State Park.
Lost Maples says the fall weekends and the week of Thanksgiving are typically busy, and visitors could expect delays and traffic. The park will close when the parking lots fill up, the park said.
To guarantee a spot for overnight camping or day trips, TPWD suggests making reservations online or by calling the customer service center. Reservations can be made up to a year in advance.
Parks in the San Antonio area should start to see patchy to partial fall foliage in mid-to-late October, according to the fall foliage prediction map from smokymountains.com. Peak fall foliage isn’t expected until mid-to-late November.
Want to start planning now? Here are 20 Texas State Parks worth a quick drive for overnight stays or day use.
- Bastrop State Park: Bastrop
- Blanco State Park: Blanco
- Choke Canyon State Park: Calliham
- Colorado Bend State Park: Bend
- Enchanted Rock State Natural Area: Fredericksburg
- Garner State Park: Concan
- Goose Island State Park: Rockport
- Government Canyon State Natural Area: San Antonio
- Guadalupe River State Park: Spring Branch
- Hill Country State Natural Area: Bandera
- Inks Lake State Park: Burnet
- Lake Corpus Christi State Park: Mathis
- Lockhart State Park: Lockhart
- Lost Maples State Natural Area: Vanderpool
- McKinney Falls State Park: Austin
- Mustang Island State Park: Corpus Christi
- Palmetto State Park: Palmetto
- Pedernales Falls State Park: Johnson City
- South Llano River State Park: Junction