Birch Creek Unit

Lake Sommerville State Park is not far east from Austin. It has two separate units both on Lake Sommerville. I like Lake Sommerville better than my closest lake, Lake Livingston, because it is not developed. There is a lot of ranch land, the state park units, and several Core of Engineer parks. When you go out that way, you really feel like you are getting away. I have stayed at both units, and liked both. When I go back, I want to go back to the Birch Creek unit to hike more of the trails. I stayed at Birch Creek one night in my truck in April of 2023. I arrived after dark, but had no trouble getting into my campsite. The bathrooms were nice, as they are at most of the Texas state parks I have been to. I enjoyed walking the campground loop in the dark. The sites were reasonably private with a lot of plants between neighbors and great areas behind the campsites to explore. This is a great place to bring kids. The trails were close to the camping loops and I really liked exploring them. They were easy to walk on and had a lot of surprises. I am glad this park is within 3 hours of home, I look forward to more getaways here. I believe the best time to go here would be spring. They have lots of wildflowers. I was here very early in the season.

Nails Creek Unit

We stayed here October 2019 and were the only campers for the night we were there. This is a beautiful and somewhat wild state park with lots of room in the campsites. The bathrooms are a hike from the campsites and there are no sewer hookups. The lake is not far from the campground and there are many beautiful trails to hike on. There are even equestrian sites. I enjoyed this park and will be looking for a reason to go back.