OVERVIEW
Garner State Park is one of the most popular state parks in the state for a reason. We joined hundreds of other campers at the park during spring break, staying four nights and part of five days. A park map is available here, and a trails map is available here. This was our second visit, though the first in December 2022 ended up being quite brief, as we only stayed one night due to freezing weather moving into the area. You can read a post about that trip, which provides a general overview of the park here. Thankfully, the weather was much more cooperative this trip.
We focused on relaxing more than usual, sleeping in until 7 am (late for us) and then enjoying coffee and reading until around 9 am most mornings. We enjoyed three full days and two partial days exploring the park’s trails, playground, and amenities, as well as paddling the Frio River that runs through the park. One tip is to bring some cash with you, as several vendors (the grill, putt-putt, and boat rental) do not accept credit cards.
NOTE: You can click on any of the images in this post to view them in a larger size. However, on larger screens, they might pixelate / blur slightly as the file size has been reduced to improve page loading times.
CAMPING
We stayed at site 354 in the Live Oak Camping Area this time, since all the sites in the Oakmont Camping Area (where we stayed on our previous visit) were already booked. Our site was nice overall, with many trees, sufficient space between the neighboring sites, easy access to the bathroom facility, and a trail leading to the river at the back of the site. The only downside was the two large trash bins between our site and the one next to us, but other than aesthetics it wasn’t an issue.
This site, along with most of the sites on the river side of this loop, had a well-worn trail down to the river off the back of the site. Some are more official paths with stairs (like sites 350 and 352), while river access trails at other sites comes with varying degrees of steepness down the embankment. Your view of the river is mostly obscured by the trees, but you can get a glimpse here and there, and it is nice to have a short walk down to the river. In fact, I walked down our final morning and took a camping chair to enjoy the river view as I began working on this blog post.
This camping area has both positives and negatives, like any part of the park. Staying at Live Oak (or the other two loops in the northern section of the park) requires driving (or a roughly 1.5-mile walk / hike) to get to the park amenities and the part of the river people tend to paddle, float, and wade / swim. However, it felt much less crowded / busy than the Oakmont Camping Area, which is adjacent to the day use and park pavilion areas. On our next visit, we would likely consider staying at either the River Crossing Camping Area or the Shady Meadows Camping Area, since they are closer to several trailheads, while still providing access to the river.
PADDLING
This was our first time paddling the Frio, since we didn’t bring our kayaks on the December 2022 trip. The river is as clear and beautiful as what we’d seen in photos and videos. Even with all of the paddlers, tubers, and waders / swimmers who frequent the park, we saw very little trash compared to other rivers we’ve paddled, and you could see to the river bottom everywhere we went. We took our kayaks out on two separate days, launching from a spot adjacent to one of the day use parking areas that had fewer people at it (click here to see the put-in location we used). If you want to avoid crowds, I’d suggest parking up-river from the primary day-use area, which can feel a bit crowded during spring break and throughout the summer months.
The first paddle, we headed down river to the dam and then back up river to a small waterfall just below the trailhead for the Madrone Trail, taking out where we launched our boats. Our son alternated between fishing (we saw a few but didn’t catch any) and helping paddle the tandem kayak.
The second paddle, we put in at the same location but only went up-river. You can paddle all the way to the first waterfall below the start of the Madrone Trail with minimal walking / kayak-dragging needed. Once there, you’ll need to get out and walk a short distance before the river deepens again. Then, you can paddle most of the way to a larger waterfall before turning around and heading down river to where you put in. The Blinn River Trail runs along this part of the river, so you can see it from the bank even if you don’t bring (or rent) kayaks. That said, I’d recommend exploring in a kayak if you can, since it is a really pretty part of the river to paddle with fewer people than the section of the river nearer to the dam — and we saw more fish (including a school of catfish) than we did as we went toward the dam.
TRAIL RUNNING
My wife and I both began trail running in the past few years, and Garner offers a number of trails that are both fun and challenging. Unless you’re practiced in running steeper hills, only the Frio Canyon Trail could be run in its entirety. Also, most trails are shorter in distance (save for the 2.5-mile-long Ashe Juniper Trail and the 2.9-mile Frio Canyon Trail), so you’ll need to string several trails together for a longer run. My wife and I both did two trail runs during this trip. You can view our routes / stats below, followed by a brief explanation of where we ran in case you wanted to replicate / adapt the combination of trails we used.
My wife’s 6.23-mile run began at the Wild Horse Trailhead, which is located within the Shady Oaks Camping Area. From there, she ran on the following trails in this order: Wild Horse, Highway, Ashe Juniper (partial out-and-back), Highway, Wilks, Foshee, Bridges, and Madrone.
My wife’s 6.81-mile run began at our site in the Live Oak Camping Area, went down the park road, took a left on Frio Canyon Trail, went on a brief part of the Blinn River trail next to the River Crossing Camping Area, and then down the park road through Shady Meadows Camping Area to the Wild Horse Trailhead. From there, she ran on the following trails in this order: Wild Horse, Foshee, CCC Trail (out-and-back), Bridges, Madrone, and Frio Canyon, taking the park road to back to our campsite.
My 9-mile run began at our campsite, went down the park road, took a left on Frio Canyon Trail, and then down the park road through Shady Meadows Camping Area to the Wild Horse Trailhead. From there, I ran on the following trails in this order: Wild Horse, Highway, Ashe Juniper, Wilks, Bridges, Madrone, Blinn River, and Frio Canyon, taking the park road back to our campsite.
My 5.5-mile run began the same as my 9-mile run. From the Wild Horse Trailhead, I ran on the following trails in this order: Wild Horse, Foshee, Polly, Foshee, Bell, Donovan, Wilks, Bridges, Madrone. I then walked back on the Blind River Trail (scouting out our second paddle detailed above) to the Frio Canyon Trail to the park road leading to our campsite.
There are steep portions on most trails — even when the map doesn’t note that it is steep, such as the 0.2-mile portion of the Foshee Trail from point of interest 9 on the trails map up to the Campos Trail intersection. So, trail runs will involve a combination of running and hiking throughout.
HIKING
We only did one family hike together, since our primary goal was to rest and relax, and we didn’t want to push our son to do more than he found enjoyable. For this hike, we drove to the parking lot at the pavilion gift shop, using part of the Madrone Trail to reach the trailhead for the popular (and very steep) Crystal Cave Trail. We took the Bridges Trail and Madrone Trail back down to the parking area.
We hiked this same route on our previous visit, so we knew what to expect: a challenging ascent that is pretty much all uphill and steep the entire way to the cave. There are a few places where it briefly levels out and you think your climb is done, but then you have a bit more climbing to do. Once at the top, we found lots of people at (and inside) the cave, so I stayed outside enjoying the view of the surrounding hills while my wife and son went into the cave to look around. We then made our way to the Bridges Trail, pausing for several minutes at one of the scenic overlooks on the trail and taking a few family photos. After that, we made our way back down to the parking area on the Bridges Trail and part of the Madrone Trail, stopping by the park store for some ice cream snacks once we finished.
Whatever trails you choose to hike while at Garner, I highly encourage you to include the Bridges Trail, which I think offers the best views in the entire park (even better than those from the top of Old Baldy).
CONCLUSION
Both our trips to Garner have been very enjoyable, and it is a very popular park for many reasons. From Frio River access, to trail variety, to views of the surrounding area, to kid- and family-friendly amenities, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Even visiting at spring break, the park is large enough that we never felt like we were forced to be around too many people to enjoy the river or trails. I’d certainly recommend putting it on your “to visit” list if you’ve never been or if it’s been a few years since your last trip.
Dawes Outdoors 