Shortly before leaving Waco, I remarked to my aunt about the similarity of the areas we’ve driven through over the past year or so. With the exception of coastal areas and the Florida Keys, much of the eastern landscape we’ve seen on our journey shares many traits reminiscent of our childhood homes in rural Pennsylvania. Maybe I was eager for the rocky deserts of southern New Mexico or the Alpine-like mountain retreats of Colorado, but I couldn’t ignore the acres and acres of industrial farmland we’ve seen from state to state. Depending which way you looked, McLennan County, Texas could be mistaken for York County, Pennsylvania nearly 1,500 miles away. My aunt did not share my point of view, speaking from her experiences living in different parts of the country.

As fate would have it, the landscape quickly changed as we headed west from Waco toward the New Mexico border, and my perspective shifted along with it. The earth grew rugged and the trees shorter, green cattle grazing fields replaced by barren oil fields. Clouds of dust billowed in the distance as the wind increased and the number of vehicles on the road dwindled. After stopping for groceries in the small central Texas town of Comanche, we soon arrived at our next destination.

Lake Brownwood State Park lies on the shore of Lake Brownwood (bet you never would’ve guessed that) outside the town that shares its name with both the park and the lake. The Lake Brownwood State Park website contains a full history of the area, which I’ll attempt to quickly summarize. Early Native Americans used this area for the abundant fresh water and game long before European settlers arrived. The land was originally inhabited by the Apache, but the Comanche mastered the horse and drove out other tribes in the mid-1700s.

In 1828, Henry S. Brown became the first Texan known to enter the area. Captain Brown – a soldier in the Texas-Indian wars – along with 26 other men including a Native American guide, entered the tribal hunting grounds on the trail of a Comanche raiding party. Over the next 30 years, settlers began to arrive and started farming and ranching the fertile land. Brown County was officially organized in 1857 and named for Captain Brown.

The original Brown County residents were plagued by flooding from Pecan Bayou and the Jim Ned Creek. By the late 1920s, construction began on a dam to control the damaging flood waters. The dam was nearly completed in July 1932 when a record-breaking flood surged through Pecan Bayou, quickly filling the 7,000 acres that now form Lake Brownwood. The dam was completed in 1933, but not before some occupied homes were flooded the previous summer.

The lake has ever since been a source of drinking and irrigation water, not to mention a recreational location for residents and visitors alike. The Texas State Parks Board acquired 538 acres in 1934, paying the princely sum of one dollar to the Brown County Water Improvement District. Construction on the park began shortly thereafter.

The park was created through the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1934 to 1942, a trait we’ve often seen throughout the various state parks we’ve visited in our travels. The CCC designed the structures to fit with the environment, using locally quarried rock for the various buildings, staircases, outdoor patios, and fire pits throughout the park. Many of these structures still exist within the park and are frequently used by visitors.

Hiking along the Lakeside Trail reveals many of the original stone designs, the most impressive of which may be the Grand Stairway. As we were walking the trail on the afternoon of our arrival, we spotted a stone pavilion not far ahead. What we couldn’t see until we reached the pavilion was a massive stone staircase leading to descending patio areas and ultimately straight to the lake below. It’s certainly a unique structure and worth seeking out when visiting the park.

The Texas Oak Trail leads along a different section of the lake before returning through a series of twists and short climbs into the slightly higher elevations of the park. Hikers can observe a variety of wildlife and plants along the trail, including a few types of flowering cactus, three different kinds of oak trees, and maybe even some fish close to the banks of the lake. We heard splashing in the water as we rounded a corner and assumed we’d see waterfowl landing as we peered over the rocky trailside. Turns out the splashing was coming from a school of longnose gar packed tightly together in very shallow water. We spotted a few exceptionally large fish surrounded by smaller fish of the same variety. Female gar are larger than males and deposit eggs onto rocks in shallow water, so I’m assuming the gar were actively spawning in this location.

As for the details of the camping areas in the park, overnight visitors can choose from two loops – Willow Point and Comanche Trail. Willow Point is closer to the main park entrance, boat ramps, and fishing piers. The sites appeared larger in this loop, but also more exposed to direct sun. Texas State Park WiFi was available in this loop, as opposed to Willow Point, which has smaller sites, more shaded areas, but no WiFi. Verizon service is non-existent in Brownwood, so the option to walk or bike to Willow Point for the occasional bout of connectivity was welcome.

Lake Brownwood is popular for fishing, so I spent a few hours across two days attempting to wrangle something from the Texas depths. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that anglers aren’t required to have a license to fish from land in a Texas state park. While it’s certainly nice to essentially fish for free, a valid license is required if you’d like to do serious fishing from a boat on the water. In keeping with my recently established pattern, I didn’t catch any fish. We’ve since left Texas behind in our current travels, and I’m sorry to report that this was the last time I fished.

We enjoyed Lake Brownwood and its quiet, secluded charm. As most of us so often rely on the instant connection of data plans and high-speed internet, Brownwood provides an opportunity to step away from our devices and computers with the knowledge of a public WiFi safety net just around the corner – for better or worse. I’ve heard that AT&T service should work, so don’t let me lead you to believe this place is a barren, signal-free wasteland. But if you want to lose your phone for a few days at Lake Brownwood, just tell your friends and family you won’t have any service while you hike the trails and fish the waters. I’m sure they’ll understand.

Planning a visit to Lake Brownwood? Feel free to post a comment or send us a message if you have any questions. Next up – an overnight brewery stop, followed by sand dunes. See you soon!