The Long-Awaited Addition To The State Park System Is A Picturesque Texas Preserve

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Texas is a vast landscape, its borders encompassing more than a quarter million square miles of land — that's over 171 million acres. Around 1.5 million of those acres are part of Texas' extensive state park system, divvied up among almost 90 separate park properties. However, those numbers are continuing to climb, as the state has already added over 6,800 acres of land to the parks since January 2025. While the bulk of that land is being tacked onto existing state parks, a little over 1,700 acres is being used to create a new state park in one of the most popular areas of the Lone Star State.

In August, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department announced they had spent $33.5 million on the property, with plans to develop Bear Creek State Park using the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, a voter-approved $1 billion endowment fund. Just how various state parks are located near other popular national or state parks, the site of the future Bear Creek State Park is situated within a mile of Garner State Park, which is consistently one of the most visited state parks in Texas.

Like Garner State Park, Bear Creek offers visitors access to the Frio River. This iconic Texas Hill Country river is an extremely popular destination for swimming, fishing, paddling, and especially inner tubing. To that end, these two state parks work well as complements to one another, giving visitors additional access and options for river recreation, as well as put-in and take-out points. Bear Creek will also likely become a popular alternative to Garner, which often reaches capacity and sells out of campsites during the peak season.

In addition to accessing the Frio, visitors to Bear Creek State Park will also be able to enjoy the waters of the park's eponymous creek, along with several other smaller streams. With so much water access, visitors will want to make sure they have an INTEX River Run Floating Lounge or a similar inner tube to enjoy time on these rivers and creeks. Additionally, both fly and conventional tackle fishing are definitely options for anglers visiting the park, as well as swimming and paddling.

Bear Creek State Park will also offer several options for hikers. Hikers will be treated to an epic view of Old Baldy, one of the more emblematic peaks in Texas, located within Garner State Park. There is also a variety of wild creatures roaming the prairies, woods, canyons, hills, and rivers of the new park. Additionally, Bear Creek should make an ideal birding spot, as it is frequented by a number of avian species, including some which are listed as endangered.