Garner State Park?

[Texas97]

Thinking about going there later this spring or summer. How far in advance (not talking Memorial Day weekend) do I need to get reservations? Tent sites mostly....

What to do? Tube the Frio? Good hikes? Man, I haven't been since I was probably 8.

 

[VYFan]

I haven't been since I was a kid, either. I am interested to see what people say who have been lately.

 

[midtown]

We just spent the wknd on the Frio with the kid. Even though the weather was marginal. Hikes, kayak, tubing, chillin by the river.

 

[idigTexas]

Midtown, where did you stay?

 

[Ballaholic]

If you're not going on Memorial Day or July 4th you should be fine. Otherwise there are several options in the area, such as Concan. I'm from the area, just pm me if you want I can give you some more information. No matter where you stay you should have a good time with the family.

 

[midtown]

We stayed at Neal's lodges in Concan which is at the end of the river. A little bit pricey imo for a "cabin" but certainly convenient.

 

[Bookman]

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[dahorns]

It's a great place to take the family. We went for 5 days this past spring break. rented a campsite for 5 days (we borrowed a friend's pop-up); they have tent campsites, cabins, and RV campsites/hook-ups. Rode bicycles, walked/hiked trails, river was cold but kids didn't care. Limited guided events during spring break, but there are a lot more during the summer.
Also, every night we went down to the main amphitheatre around 8:30/9 PM and people watched as very young, young, old and very old danced to the juke box music.

We plan to go this summer again. Go to this link and look around, the reservation number is there, as well. www.tpwd.state.tx.us

 

[midtown]

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[Stuck_At_Work]

Went last year. Some of those watering holes are the most beautiful things.... and the live music/dancing on the weekends is fun.... and I don't even like country music.

 

[TheFied]

i actually went to garner this past weekend. it was actually my first time at garner ever. it was gorgeous, the hills, the frio river.

BUT i'm not going again at least not to the state park. there were 5 of us, all guys like 28-31. certainly not trouble-makers but the park rangers were ********.

we were told 3 times to not drink beer. the 1st time we didn't even know you couldn't drink beer in the state park and we had open beer cans. they told us that we basically had to conceal it.

so then we switched to koozies that basically hid the beer. you couldn't tell from the truck driving by that we had beer. we were warned a 2nd time; not sure how he saw that it was beer. in fact, there is no way he could tell. he was just being an ***, it was middle of the day so we weren't even riling up trouble. we then decided to start putting beer in cups. well on saturday night, we had another park ranger come up to us and tell us that we had to stop drinking beer in public. thing is there is NO WAY they could tell from driving their truck 20 yards away that we had beer in the cups. we had 0 beer cans even empties as we were quickly putting the empties in the trash next to us. we were even pouring the beer from the cup to the can inside the cooler. and on top of that we had no radio on and were just quietly shooting the ****. we weren't even making noise because we realized it was late and we had the lantern 20 feet away on dim. and yet the park rangers came up and said "we warned you 2 times not to drink beer in public". jackasses. fortunately we didn't get tickets but the bad news is it put a stink on the whole weekend. we had a blast but had some jackass rangers being ********.

for the OP, we went down to the river in the state park one afternoon and swam and then tubed the 2nd day at a place called "Happy Hollow". it was like $17 per person to tube with tube rental and shuttle ride. we didn't hike. and apparently there is a big dance every night.

whatever you do, i recommend not going to garner unless it is you and your wife and your 2 kids and you plan on drinking no beer. otherwise stay in a private park.

we plan on going next year but we are looking to stay at a private park or stay in a cabin. the frio was amazing, 10x prettier than the guadulupe (crystal-clear) but garner was full of park rangers with power trips.

 

[Upgrayedd]

We stay at the cabins in Concan just about every year. We'll be there next month. Highly recommended for people like me -- borderline drunks who love nature and have a family.

If you have kids or even if you don't I also recommend a side trip to the bat cave nearby. Seeing 7 or 8 million bats erupt from a big hole in the ground is one of the most awesome sights I have come across.

 

[TheFied]

i felt like i was trying to hide beer from my old man. difference is i'm over 30. oh well. it would suck to have to hide beer from my own kids (when i have them).