Why You Must Visit Mission Tejas State Park

Besides hiking under the beautiful Pineywood, tracing a bit of history from the 1690s is another reason to visit Mission Tejas State Park.

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Mission Tejas is one of the small Texas State Parks 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. It makes a beautiful stop on your road trip to East Texas.

My family and I, including our dog Snoopy, visited Mission Tejas during Easter weekend. We were surprised by 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 seven thirty from our home south of Fort Worth.

PARK ALERT: Campgrounds, the Commemorative Mission and certain trails will be closed beginning July 1, 2023 through early next year for improvements. The park will be open for day use. The Interpretive Center, Rice Family Log Cabin, and some hiking trails will remain open.

Directions to Mission Tejas State Park

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

Along the way, you will see oil pump jacks, even on people’s front yards. A few yards away from the front door. Not only one but at least 5-6 pumps!

Once you reach 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, don’t forget to grab the Mission Tejas State Park map and the park’s flyer.

Then, drive slowly around the park. Open your windows, and let the piney wood fresh air take over the air inside your car. You will move under the towering loblolly pines, dogwoods, and other tall trees. It is a beautiful drive that is less than 2 miles round trip.

Park your car and explore the 8.5 miles of trails on foot. The tracks range from easy to challenging, and one trail is less than 1 mile. 

Steep Ravine Trail, the longest and most 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 Tejas will take you through pine savannas, upland forests, and hardwood bottomlands. Take the breezy 0.22 mi Lightning Trail to see one of the oldest and tallest pine trees.

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

When visiting with children, 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 near the picnic area, and the other is along San Pedro Creek, just a short hike from the mission.

Bring your gear or borrow it from the headquarters. You do not need a license to fish in the park.  

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

Mission Tejas State Park Historic Features

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

In the late 1600s, the French and Spanish competed to gain control of Texas. 

The Spanish built their first mission in 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 abort the Spaniards, but one of the priests heard about the plot. 

Before retreated to Mexico, the Spaniards buried heavy items and burned the mission.

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 was 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.

In 1934, the citizens of Houston County purchased the land. They built a marker to commemorate the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas. 

The federal government chose the site for a Civilian Conservation Corps (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. 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. You can find it 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 with unique information on things to look for in the mission. Things like door features, stars, a tree on the floor, and 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

Like the Mission, you will find a guide on how to visit the log home from the flyer. You will find out why it is called the saddlebag-style log house, what is the dogtrot, v-notches, and quarter notches, and fascinating info about the log cabin and the Rice 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, although 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 Fire Tower Hill, where a fire watch tower occupied the spot in the 1930s. What’s left now is the base of the structure.

Last but not least is…

The El Camino Real

Mission Tejas has traces of the original El Camino Real in the park. You can walk in the footsteps of those who traveled along this Royal Road many years ago. 

Take the easy 0.18 mi San Pedro Spur that connects you to the Nabedache Loop and the remainder of El Camino Real de los Tejas. 

Then, decide whether you want to hike to Natchitoches in Louisiana, 151 miles 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, two with water only, and 1 group site. Restrooms and showers are nearby.

– You can rent the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas for weddings and other activities with a maximum capacity of 100 people. 

– The Pavilion can occupy for up to 80 people for your event.

– 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’s 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 in the fall. We want to finish the rest of the trails that we didn’t get to do. Of course, we hope to get a campsite in the park. I am sure our dog Snoopy will be thrilled. 

Have you been to Mission Tejas State Park yet?