Why You Must Visit Mission Tejas State Park

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Besides the beautiful Pineywood nature, tracing a bit of history from the 1690s is another reason why you must visit Mission Tejas State Park.

Mission Tejas is one of the small parks in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments, located in deep east Texas. It’s only 363 acres, halfway between Dallas and Houston, and at the north end of the Davy Crockett National Forest. You can stay for a night, or visit for a day. It’s really up to you. 

My family and I, including our dog Snoopy, got to visit Mission Tejas during Easter weekend. We were surprised with what we saw and what we could do in the park. Too bad we couldn’t stay for a night because all campsites were fully booked. So, we visited the park for a day and spent a night in Nacogdoches. We left around 7.30 a.m. from our home in the south of Fort Worth.

How to get to Mission Tejas State Park

A beautiful journey to the park starts after you leave I-45 either you come from Dallas/Ft. Worth area or Houston. GPS will take you through small towns in Texas that you haven’t heard before. 

Driving through winding roads and towering pine trees on both sides of the road will give you a different experience. Depending on your time of visit, you will see dogwoods in the last week of March, wildflowers along the roadside in the spring, and some colors in the fall. 

In some areas you will see oil pump jacks, even on people’s front yards. Literally a few yards away from the front door. Not only one, but at least 5-6 pumps!

Once you get to State Highway 21 W near Weches, watch for the sign to Park Rd 44 to Mission Tejas State Park.

Mission Tejas State Park Nature

After check-in at the headquarters and grab a map and a flyer of the park, drive slowly around the park. Open your windows, and let the piney wood fresh air take over the air inside your car. You will drive under the towering loblolly pines, dogwoods, and some other tall trees. A beautiful drive that is less than 2 miles round trip.

Park your car and explore the 8.5 miles of trails by foot. Trails range from easy to challenging and all but one are less than 1 mile. Steep Ravine Trail, the longest and challenging trail in the park, will allow you to build fitness and explore the wilds of the park on its 2.43 miles length.

Hiking trails in the Mission will take you through pine savannas, upland forest, and hardwood bottomlands. Take the easy 0.22 mi Lightning Trail to see one of the oldest and tallest pine trees in the park.

If you like doing geocache during a hike, ask to borrow a GPS unit at headquarters.

When visiting with children, make sure to get the Junior Ranger program book from the office. Check out a daypack to help the young ones navigate their walk in the park. Do the nature photo scavenger hunt or bird watching from the park’s new blind.

Furthermore, the park has two fishing areas for people who enjoy fishing. They’re not big, but enough to give you some me-time or bond buildings with your little ones. One is located near the picnic area, and the other one is along San Pedro Creek, just a short hike from the mission. Bring your own gear, or borrow from the headquarters. You do not need a license to fish in the park.  

A few of the trails will take you to many of the park’s historic features that you can find out next.

Mission Tejas State Park Historic Features

In the beginning, the Caddo Indians established agricultural societies in East Texas. Their settlements date from the 800s to the 1830s and included farmsteads spread over an area of 78 miles.

In the late 1600s, French and Spanish competed to gain control of Texas. The Spanish built their first mission among a village of the Caddo Indians, Mission San Francisco de los Tejas. Later, a smallpox epidemic in the winter of 1690 killed almost 300 people near the mission and 3,000 others in the area. The Caddos associated the disease with the Spaniards and their baptismal water. They wanted to get rid of the Spaniards, but one of the priests heard about the plot. The Spaniards then buried heavy items, burned the mission, and retreated to Mexico.

At the same time, from 1686 to 1692 the Spanish started to build a 2,500 mile road from Guererro in Mexico to Louisiana. It passed through Laredo, San Antonio, and what is now this park. It received the name El Camino Real: the Royal Road. 

Generations of people used the road for commerce and to find a new life in Texas. It eradicated when people came to Texas through other routes during the 1800s.

In 1828, Joseph and Willie Masters Rice built a log home near a section of El Camino Real in this area. The cabin was a noted-way station on the road.                   

Then in 1934, the citizens of Houston County purchased land and erected a marker to commemorate the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas. The federal government chose the site for a CCC project. They built the park and reclaim the land. A year later they completed the work and disbanded the park. 

Before Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments managed the Mission, it was under the management of the Texas Forest Service until 1957. In 1973, the Rice family donated the log house to the State of Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments moved the historic cabin to its present location at Mission Tejas State Park.

The Mission Replica

As part of the CCC project, they built the reproduction of the original mission. It is located at the end of the road under the pine trees.

Now it’s time to look at a flyer you grabbed from the headquarters. It provides visitors unique information on things to look for in the mission. Things like door features, star and tree in the floor, to where the CCC boys have signed their names on this piece of art. Neat features that you can easily miss when visiting without a guide.

The Rice Family Log Home

Just like the Mission, you will find a guide in the flyer on how to visit the log home. You will find out why it is called the saddlebag style log house, what is the dogtrot, v-notches and quarter notches, and more interesting info about the log cabin and the Rice’s family.

The CCC Bathtubs and others

A CCC Bathtub Trail will lead you to a mysterious rock in the park. They named it CCC Bathtubs, but they don’t know who built it or why as CCC camp was a fully equipped barracks. Only a mile away from the bathtubs. So, perhaps the CCC or someone else built it as decorations.

Other things reconstructed by the CCC are the picnic areas, a pavilion, and a small dam pond.

When you do Karl Lovett Trail, you will hike through the Fire Tower Hill, where a fire watch tower occupied the spot in the 1930s. What’s left now is the base of the tower.

Last but not least is…

The El Camino Real

Mission Tejas has traces of the original El Camino Real in the park. Yes! You are able to walk on the footsteps of those who traveled along this Royal Road many many years ago. Take the easy 0.18 mi San Pedro Spur that connects you to the Nabedache Loop and the remnants of El Camino Real de los Tejas. Then decide whether you want to hike to Natchitoches in Louisiana, 151 miles to the east, or Mexico City in Mexico, which is 1103 miles to the west! He-he..

A few more things about Mission Tejas State Park:

– There are only 18 campsites available in the park. Choose from 15 sites with electricity and water, 2 sites with water only, and 1 group site. Restrooms and showers are nearby.

– Mission San Francisco de los Tejas may be rented for weddings and other activities with a maximum capacity of 100 people. 

– Pavilion can be rented for up to 80 people.

– Ranger programs on most Saturdays. You must book programs and tours before your visit.

– The park offers a variety of programs and activities for school, scout, and other groups.

– Campsites and daily passes booked and sold out fast during weekends.

– WiFi was good around the headquarters building. You can even charge your battery on the outside outlets.

– Pets are allowed on trails.

– Entrance fees: Adult $3 daily and free for children 12 years and under.

– Hours: open daily.

– Busy season: spring, summer, and fall.

– Average low temperature in January is 35ºF and July average high is 95ºF.

– Nearby State Park: Fairfield Lake State Park.

Address: 120 Park Rd 44, Grapeland, TX 75844. Ph.: (936) 687-2394.

Area attractions:

– Caddo Mounds State Historic Site

– Varner-Hogg Historic Site

– Texas State Railroad

– Davy Crockett National Forest

– Texas Forestry Museum

– Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area (swimming beach)

Closest towns:

– Crockett – 22 miles

– Rusk – 25 miles

– Palestine – 35 miles

– Lufkin – 39 miles

– Nacogdoches – 39 miles  

Modern highways Texas 21 and Louisiana 6 follow much of the old path of El Camino Real. In 2004, it became El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.

At the end of our visit, we talked about going back again in the fall. We want to finish the rest of the trails that we haven’t got to do. Of course, we hope to get a campsite in the park. I’m sure our dog Snoopy will be thrilled. 

Have you been to Mission Tejas State Park yet?