Lake Bryan

This is a complicated place to rate and I really need to average two very different aspects of it.
Venue/​Park: ⁴⁄₅ It is an amazing lake with a lot of land to hang out and relax. The restaurant looked cool and had some great entertainment listed on the website, though it was closed while we were in town. This seems like a great place for a festival, event, or to go boating on the weekend.
Campground: ¹⁄₅ This was one of the worst camping experiences I’ve ever had (and we’ve camped in 50+ places in most states in the US). First, the attendant at the front needed some training on camping policies. She told us that there were not any electric tent camping spots at the lake, despite the website and the parking pass she gave us specifically saying that electric tent camping spots were available on a first come, first serve basis. There were actually plenty of electric tent sites available and we grabbed one. When we asked if we could have an RV spot she said we needed to reserve one, I asked if we could do that and she said she wasn’t sure if one was available. I’m not sure how you can run a campground that works off reservations if you don’t know what is reserved or not. Second, the bathrooms were atrocious. The women’s bathroom had no toilet paper, none of the water fountains worked in the area, there were no showers, one of the urinals in the men’s bathroom was overflowing with urine, and most of the porta-​potties were missing toilet seats. It was really gross and unsanitary.
So, depending on what you want to do this venue is either fantastic or horrid. I’d return to hang out for the day but I wouldn’t sleep overnight again.

This is really the only place in College Station/​Bryan to mountain bike or get in a long trail run, but that’s alright. If you’re an intermediate biker, you’ll have a good time; these are the kind of trails that get easier or harder depending on how much you want to kick it in, as opposed to heavily technical or aerobic trails like Cameron Park in Waco. For trail running, it’s probably best to look at a map and avoid the trails with sharp turns, as they tend to be a bit swoopy and hard on the knees. There are two trails — an East (10.7 mi) and a West (9.3 mi) — and the East is the most developed.
The local MTB club maintains the trails, and they do about as good a job as they can with the terrain they have to work with (you can find a trail map at their website or a larger version at the MTB TX website). The trail scenery is mostly mixed post oak forest and there aren’t many rocks or elevation changes. If you’re an ecoregion nerd, this is probably the best sampling of post-​oak forest and savannah in the area, save for maybe Lake Somerville or Lick Creek Park.
The trails take a bit longer to dry than sandy or rocky trails, so it’s best to wait at least a day after a rainfall, if not two. I believe you can buy an annual pass for $ 75. Also, the trails are one-​way for bikes, and it’s easier for everyone if hikers and runners go against the one-​way, though I’ve never seen any signage supporting this (it might even be against the rules — who knows — but it makes sense to me).
For someone who loves the outdoors, this is about as good as College Station gets. I’ll leave it up to you whether that’s a good or a bad thing.

College Station is nice and everything, but it’s truly in the middle of nowhere. Even state parks are hard to come by. Huntsville was too far, and we didn’t want to take the risk on a Lake Somerville detour. From the road you can’t tell much about Lake Bryan, except that it’s relatively small and artificial. It makes it hard for a pair of trail runners to decide whether it’s worth the five bucks just to check it out. The woman at the gate didn’t understand. Presuming we might park outside the gate and use the trails anyway, she said she would be happy to have us towed. We drove an entire loop of the lake in annoyance and indecision but decided to try it anyway. It turns out the trails are decent, and for two people worth the five bucks. They don’t loop the lake but rather go out from the boathouse/​ice-​house in what are essentially two out-​and-​backs, though there’s something of a loop to it in places. I’d say it’s ten miles all told and twice that because of the out-​and-​backs. It’s mostly flat and surprisingly stays off the lake and in the shade of foliage for most of the course. Except for a mountain biker or two we had the trails and wildflowers to ourselves.

I really wanted to like this place more, but the little ones enjoy it, and that’s all that really matters, right?
We like to walk around the shoreline looking for rocks to skip. Go in the springtime when the weather is nice and the flowers are in bloom. Plenty of picnic benches all throughout.

I think they need to have someone other than the bar handling reservations for the RV park. No one will return your call or e-​mails and they claim to be open at 11:00 on Fridays but there is no one answering the phone… Frustrated!

The best thing this place has going for it is that it is the only lake around. I have never camped out, but I have grilled out here a few dozen times. We have never had trouble finding a nice table by the water to eat at. I recommend bringing your own grill, they do have them… but are all in some state of disrepair.
Overall, don’t expect anything extravagant. There are restrooms, but they are kinda dirty and gross. However, it is nice to have grill out with a lake view only 10 minutes from home.

I’m upping my review, based on The Icehouse (separate review), and the fact that while it still scares me enough so I’ll never EVER swim in it, the lake is prettier in the spring/​summer, and families really seem to dig the low-​maintenance setup to the point where it’s just loaded with little kids having fun.