Blanco State Park

Beautiful little the place to stop on the way to San Antonio and take a driving break. Yesterday the area was flooded, but ok today except for a bit of mud.

Booked two nights here when Enchanted Rock and Pedernales were FULL over a month in advance. We had our hearts set on hitting up Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg and exploring the Hill Country.
This is one of the smaller state parks I’ve been to. We didn’t spend much time exploring the park, mainly just explored the camping area and walked along the main road past the river and up to the headquarters. The camping is what you would expect. Picnic table, fire pit, ample parking, bathroom facilities (including shower) in close proximity. There is a code to get into the shower portion of the bathroom which was confusing for us because we arrived late and didn’t get the memo and had to ask someone! There’s a dumpster for trash at the park and a little recycling area.
It’s located in the middle of a small town so you’ll hear some traffic at night and there are gas stations within walking distance and a grocery store just down the road. Not allowed to collect firewood so had to go to the grocery store to get some. Overall this was a great place to camp for the weekend and especially during the fall!

Heading there this Father’s Day weekend! We have been going to this park for over 7 years now as a traditional getaway for Father’s Day. Unfortunately, we didn’t book our campsite in time, so we’ll be camping down the road a bit at Blanco Settlement. But, I’ll still be fishing, hiking the trails, and relaxing in the river during the day! With all the rain we’ve had, hopefully the dam is overflowing this year! When it’s not overflowing, the water can be a bit stagnant/​warm. But, highly recommend this park: clean, fun for the family, fishing is good, and just an overall nice state park! If you like to fish, there’s not fish license required at Texas State Parks, if fishing from piers or the shore! :)

First time here… paid $ 4 for adult (13yo+) admission. Kids under 13 are free! The water was not transparent, but we still had a good time fishing, swimming, & feeding the (over friendly & over aggressive) ducks. Stayed out for about 2 hours & no one bothered us. Had a great time, & not too far out from San Antonio. Would go back for more exploring!

My daughters and I ventured out to Blanco State Park for some nature viewing and photography. The park itself is excellent, definitely a gem of the Texas State Parks system. One significant disappointment, however, was the amount of litter scattered throughout the park. We arrived early on a Sunday morning (around 7:00 AM), and to the credit of the park itself there were at least two individuals picking up trash. However, this level of carelessness among the patrons of the park is completely inexcusable. I’m not sure whether it is feasible, but I sure would like to see these people held accountable for their carelessness and disregard for this beautiful place. Some stiff fines would curtail this behavior and provide funding for the park.

More like a city park… very small.

Blanco State park has been a tradition for years, they have a great car show in May that is a must for any antique car enthusiast. The camping is good, with some cabins and plenty of tent spots. During the summer it is a welcome swimming spot for locals and tourists. Jan 18, 2013, and Feb 15, 2013 the Texas Department of Wildlife stocks the stream with trout, so if you are an avid angler, this is prime, plus no license is required for Texas residents in State Parks. Easy access as the park is split by Hwy 281.

The park itself is beautiful. Shady and plenty to do from kayaking to a nice nature trail. Some of our family members decided to rent a «house» as an end of summer hoorah of sorts. The house was really hard to find. Map was misleading and we ending up in a dead end. Once we found our way we were on the top of slight hill near an animal pin. My five year old was thrilled. Llamas and sheep right next to the grill. Our family BBQ expert was not. The house was really convient with electricity and clean water. Bathrooms though were a good walk away. As for the parks water attraction (the Blanco River and part of the Blanco River converted into a pool of sorts to enjoy) was a little off putting. There is a small steep dam with an algae covered walkway to the pool that was just really unsafe and the water had such a strong stench. My point is it wasn’t a refreshing water attraction to take a nice dip in.

This is a nice park. I have never been to a State park with restrooms and showers as clean as these. The water is not to deep and the staff are friendly and available.
This is one of the smaller parks I have been to. Roads and grounds not hilly so bike reading was easy. We tried fishing but just didn’t see any fish even though they dumped 1000 trout 3 days prior. We fished by the main area and rode our bike from one boundary to the other and still didn’t see any fish.
The only two things I have to complain about is the small campsites. Our neighbors seemed really close and we were able to pretty much hear their conversations even tho they weren’t yelling.
The other thing I had a hard time with was enjoying the camping «feel». It’s hard to get into the camping «feel» when you can see the Shell gas station and cars going up and down the highway from the campsite, or hearing them and sirens pass by at night while you’re trying to sleep. I felt like I was in a NY apartment to be honest.
Was this supposed to be in the Hill country? because there are no hills whatsoever so hiking was out of the picture. There is a paved nature trail but that’s not hiking IMHO.
Overall I would definitely recommend this park for a Day Use.

We love our state park. Come visit this wonderful natural resource with the whole family. It has great swimming and camping. It also has a great hiking trail. It is conveniently located near downtown Blanco’s shops and restaurants.

This place is beautiful! Picturesque cypress trees, waterfalls, lillies, it’s incredible!
It was $ 4 to get in, and they offer canoe rentals, camping, parking, you name it.
The water was a bit murky– we’ve been in a drought all summer, and there wasn’t much water flowing over the waterfalls, but I can picture how it could be when the rain is plentiful.
Their website is pretty messed up, you go round and round in circles trying to reserve a camping spot. I ended up calling, and they acknowledged that the site is all fouled up, and offered to try and reserve something over the phone. I couldn’t. It was booked. I guess the place was popular that weekend.
It’s a great getaway from San Antonio, and a good place with no strong current, so weak swimmers will have no problems.
There are bathrooms available, and good places to keep your stuff.
There are no lifeguards, which would have been reassuring based on the number of kids that were splashing around in there.
Also, a rope swing would’ve been cool too.

This park was very nice and clean. The river was amazing, you can even rent tubes to float on. It was very busy but not too crowded and at $ 4.00 it was well worth our drive!

I was looking forward to our 5 day stay at Blanco. We rented a screened shelter right on the river. Our camp site was really nice with lots of shade and great water access.
And we tubed a time or two and played in the «pool» which was more icky than we had envisioned. The water seemed rather stagnant on the deep side of the dam. There’s not really anything else to DO here. This park is super small! One or two nights would have been better. We ended up locking our stuff up in the shelter and going on extended road trips to Guadalupe River State Park (better tubing) and a hill country trip which included a trip to Cibolo Creek Nature Center, Luckenbach and Fredericksburg.

Blanco State Park is absolutely breathtaking. Swimming, tubing, kayaking… or just picnicking and grilling like the family and I did this past Saturday. Just make sure to check the inside roof of the picnic tables — there were a few ‘perfect’ spots that weren’t as perfect as I thought cause of hornets’ nests. A good thing that I found out later was that park volunteers went to each empty area and sprayed them in order to clear the hornets out. =)
Security makes frequent rounds so safety has never been an issue.
Oh and by chance, we found out our spot was near a geocash! Found a camera and all kinds of neat crap in it. We added our happy crap to it as well. Good luck if you plan on looking!