Cleburne State Park

Review: Cleburne State Park is a beautiful park near the start of the Hill Country. The park is one of the original Texas state parks built by the Civilian Conversation Corp (CCC), and you’ll find several of the original structures in the park. It boasts a beautiful three tier spillway worth visiting, especially after rains. The trails are hilly and rocky, offering some nice challenges and diversions compared to the trails in the DFW area. Definitely worth a visit!

Distance: Total of 11.5 miles of trails. Some trails are loops, others are one way

Area of Town: Cleburne, SW of metroplex

Facilities: Standard state park facilities, including restrooms, picnic tables, and campsites. They also offer kayak rentals if you want to get out on the lake.

Suitable for: Hiking, Biking, Kayaking

Type of Trail: Natural, much of them are rocky along the limestone ledges. Definitely different than the majority of trails you find in the North Texas area

Shade: Most of the trails are under the forest canopy, but some have more sun exposure by the lake.

Where to Park:  There are plenty of spots to park in the state park, refer to the map to find where to park for the trail you want.

Official Website:  Official Site

Nearby Trails: Dinosaur Valley State Park

Cleburne State Park is located Southwest of the DFW metro area, close to Dinosaur Valley State Park. I’ve been meaning to get out here for many years, and glad I finally did. While Cleburne State Park doesn’t have dinosaur tracks, there is SO much to explore here. From the original Civilian Conservation Core structures, to the limestone hills laced with trails, to the beauty of the lake, this is a state park you really should visit and explore!

Overview

Cleburne State Park has a cool history tied to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was part of the New Deal program during the Depression, offering jobs and money to young men in return for working various projects, including building out state and national parks. Cleburne State Park was one of the original 28 state parks built by the CCC (for more information on the others, you can find it here). They built many of the park’s original features, like Cedar Lake, which was created by damming a small creek. The park’s blend of nature and history makes it a great spot for hiking and exploring.

If you’ve ever noticed the stone buildings and or the bridge near the entrance, those are some of the lasting structures the CCC built. The dam itself, made of local limestone, is another big one—they shaped it by hand, and it’s still doing its job today! These structures, along with the rustic shelters and entrance, really add to the park’s character and make it a unique place to visit, whether you’re hiking or just enjoying a picnic by the lake.

For hikers, Cleburne State Park offers more than just trails; you get a real sense of the past as you explore. The network of trails winds through forests, over rocky outcrops, and around Cedar Lake, offering both scenic views and a chance to appreciate the hard work that went into making this natural escape over 80 years ago.

We started with the Limestone Ridge and Spillway trails. We didn’t park by the historic bridge (above), but went on to the next parking area along the road. This trailhead allowed easy access to the White Tail Hollow Trail (which we did not explore), as well as the Limestone Ridge and Spillway Trails (which we DID explore).

The trails here are rocky and hilly, a nice contrast to the mainly dirt and flatter trails you find in the Metroplex. In fact, there are some sections where hiking poles could come in handy, especially if you have any knee or balance issues. We started first on the LImestone RIdge Trail.

The Limestone Ridge trail winds around, like many mountain biking trails, and biking is allowed on these trails so keep an eye out for them if you are on foot. Often times as you are walking the trail, you’ll see the trail nearby, as it has circled back around. It’s very peaceful in these woods, and while the beginning of the trail is more exposed to the sun, once you enter the woods the sun becomes more dappled. Aside from the occasional sound of a vehicle, it was quiet with just us and the birds.

If you want to add additional length to your hike (Limestone RIdge is 1.7 miles), you can do the Limestone Ridge Inner Loop trail as well (extra 1.7 miles). We didn’t take that one, I assume it would be much the same as the Limestone Ridge Trail, with more meanderings up and around the hill along the limestone rocky ground.

You’ll eventually come out on the edge of the park’s boundaries, as the limestone ridge trail becomes a straight path back towards the lake. It remains hilly here, including a few steeper inclines along the trail (see note about hiking poles being useful). Once we reached the intersection to the spillway trail, we went on a bit further to get to the scenic overlook on the Red Coyote Trail, and that path took us down to the lake’s edge for some pretty views of the lake. We then retraced our steps back the way we came towards the Spillway Trail.

As we walked down the Spillway Trail, before long we had views of the historic spillway, a key feature of the park. We’ve not had a lot of rain lately, so I’m sure the Spillway would have been even more beautiful had we gone in the spring or post rainstorm. I’ll have to come back and try again, and update the article with new photos! In fact we ran into a couple who were looking for ‘the waterfalls’, as they had come out specifically to see them based on photos they saw online. So if you want to see the waterfalls, I’d recommend coming in the spring or at least not during a drought.

The Spillway is a beautiful three tiered structure built by the CCC when the creek was originally dammed to create the lake. This is a great spot to take photos or just enjoy the views. The Spillway trail gives you multiple views of the spillway as you move from close to the lake, and continue towards the creek. You can also access the spillway going down a rather steep set of ‘stairs’. We did not do this though. Also, you can see the opposite side of the spillway area if you go hike the White Tail Hollow Trail, which we also did not do.

At this point we went back to the trailhead to our vehicle, to then head further into the park and grab some lunch.

Picnic Facilities

Further into the park is a nice picnic area with lake access. We had a quick lunch at one of the tables and walked around the lake’s edge. Here you’ll find not only picnic tables, but also bathrooms, fishing piers, and kayak rentals! The lake was calm and pretty the day we were there, would make for a very nice day out on the lake had we brought towels and bathing suits.

Coyote Run and Fossil Ridge Trails

To finish our visit we drove on to the final trailhead, at the end of the road. From here we started up the Coyote Run trail. If you go towards the right, you’ll wind up back where the scenic overlook section is, so we went left along the Fossil Ridge Trail. This again is rocky and hilly, although it also passes through some sections of prairie. The prairie sections are of course sunny, but the majority of this trail was rocky and hilly like the Limestone Ridge trails. This trail is not a loop, so if you explore this side, keep in mind that however far you hike in, you’ll have that same distance back out again to your vehicle.

Closing Thoughts

After we ended our time at Cleburne State Park, I kept asking myself, “why has it taken so long to come out here?”. I think partially the answer is that while I wanted to come and explore this state park, its closer proximity to Dinosaur Valley State Park often meant that I just went to what I knew. And that’s unfortunate, since Cleburne State Park has a lot to offer that is unique and beautiful on its own. The rocky and hilly trails are pretty here, the CCC structures are fantastic and offer a different kind of history, and the lake is beautiful. If you have been wanting to check out Cleburne State Park, I highly recommend it, you won’t be sorry. It’s not as big as Dinosaur Valley, but it’s also not as crowded, and has charms of its own to offer the explorer. So check it out!