Mother Neff State Park

This quaint little spot exceeded my expectations. The facilities are top notch with a new visitors’ center and beautiful restrooms with huge, shower stalls that have a dressing area inside the stall! My most high-​maintenance pals could function here!
You can combine all the super short trails into one trail about 3.5 miles long that hits all the major points of interest, including a bird blind, a stone tower, a cave and a really gorgeous wash pool.
I wouldn’t necessarily have been satisfied had I driven hundreds of miles to visit because there aren’t many trails, but it was most definitely worth the stop en route from Austin to DFW. And I’d make the trip again to catch the windflowers in the spring.

Mother Neff is rather small. We initially were told this was one of the more popular state parks in Texas, and avoided it for several years as a result. But in our first experience there I don’t find that to be true at all, as it was very quiet and sparsely attended. It was certainly not nearly as busy as the larger state parks closer to Austin, Dallas, Houston, etc.
Minus one star because the trails are all very short (many are under a mile), and unmarked. You can, however, tie most of them together with relative ease to create a longer trail, and each trail has some sort of building or feature which is cool to check out, meaning over the course of a 3 or 4 mile hike you can see 3 to 5 neat features, whereas you may only see one or two on a single 4 mile trail somewhere else.
The Prairie Trail, in the spring, is the real highlight of the park, however. If you make it out to the Prairie Trail before the heat kills off the spring wildflowers, you will be treated to long stretches of red, yellow, blue, purple, orange, white and more in every direction for maybe a hundred yards or more. Entire fields of blue bonnets, indian paint brushes and so on cover the area. I recommend this park for that alone. Go sometime in late March to mid April. You won’t regret it.

Mother Neff State Park is located between Dallas and Austin just a few miles from I 35 @ exit 315. Built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) in 1934. The Park sits on the banks of the Leon River.
The land was donated to the State of Texas to be used as a State Park by Governor Patrick Morris Neff, son of Isabella Eleanor Neff. Governor Neff is responsible for the creation of the Texas State Park Advisory Board that is still in operation today. The park has a total acreage of 259 acres. The Park was opened to the public in 1937.
The park has been closed on 3 occasions because of massive flooding. The most recent flood causing the closure was in 2015. The State has used this time to bring the park up to the 21^st century. The RV camp sites are very spacious with level concrete pads, full hookups, clean and trendy restrooms and a new park office offering a variety of products.
Mother Neff State Park is one of the smaller State Parks but I tend to enjoy the smaller parks. The park offers some incredible hiking trails, and incredible views. The spring and summer season offers some incredible bird and butterfly watching.

Quiet park for RV camping. 20 new sites opened 2014. Bluebonnets blooming all around our pad! Firepit with bbq grille at each site but the wraparound design prevents watching the fire — minus one star.

We’ve camped here numerous times in the original, water-​only campin section and have always enjoyed it, although the playscape was unwalkable and needed a decent drive to access. The new camping loop is pristine. Each site has decomposed granite surfacing and concrete drives. It’s almost too nice for camping! The new rest room is gorgeous, and the coolest part is the dishwashing station on the exterior wall. At first I thought, meh, it’s not worth walking the dirty dishes over from the campsite. But my kids wanted to, so we did, and I have to say it was nice not having to hunch over at the spigot at the site. The station is a long kitchen counter top with double SS sinks and a gooseneck faucet. Best part = hot water, which was very nice as the temp got cold Saturday night. Steaming hot, clean dishes, silly but nice. The trails from the new camping loop are not in yet, I watched several other people trying to find them like we had. Wanted to hike to the rock tower, but you just can’t yet. You can walk to the playground though even though the trail isn’t really there yet. My only sort of complaint is the campsites are the most expensive at any part we visit now, at $ 25/​night. I realize how expensive the renovation must have been, and I really don’t have an issue supporting the state parks. But when one doesn’t need the sewer, and really doesn’t NEED the electric, it’s kind of expensive to spend $ 50 on a 2-​night trip. The park hosts and HQ staff were very welcoming and nice. We will continue to camp here annually, and I definitely recommend.

It’s true that Mother Neff is small. However, the price is right, only $ 2 for day-​entry, and it’s convenient, not far from I-​35. It’s about five miles of trails all told, which include a cave, a natural «wash-​pond,» and a man-​made lookout. There’s even slight elevation change, which is good given the flatness of the area. A mile of the trail that runs through a reconstructed «prairie» is currently closed, and I think plans are underway to expand the park altogether.

As far State Parks go this is my least desirable one I have ever been to. Nothing really here other than some trials. This park is probbably great for some people that want to get away and not have much else. It is quiet I give it that.

Spent a weekend camping here with my family in November. Its a small park with basic camping amenities. They have some nice shelters that are available for rent as well.
Likes:
–Large campsites with fire rings, trash bag hangers, and free standing BBQ pits.
–The trails are fairly nice, though altogether there are only 5 miles of trails, with half of them being around prairie.
— This isn’t a super popular camp ground so its easy to reserve a spot.
— Toilets and shower facilities are well maintained, and yes, flush-​able toilets.
— There are lots of fallen trees around and they don’t seem to mind if you pick up wood and chop it up for the campfire. They are moving the camping area in the next few years since the trees are all dying off due to the river eroding the area. In the meantime, you get plenty of free firewood. Be sure to bring an axe or a kukri.
Dislikes:
–Fort Scott is nearby and you can listen to machine gun fire and artillery all through the night. I suppose learning to sleep through that is good training for the zombie apocalypse ;)
— There isn’t a lot to do after completing the hikes. I suppose just relaxing and having conversation with the family isn’t bad though.
Pro-​tip:
— The office closes at 4:30 and the reservation instructions clearly state that you cannot occupy a reserve site until it has been assigned to you. This is not true. If you show up after 4:30 you can grab an open reserve site and a ranger will shortly to book it for you and then you can pay for it the next day.