Martin Creek Lake State Park: Harmony Hill and Old Henderson Loops (Blog Hike #882)

Trails: Harmony Hill Loop Trail and Old Henderson Loop
Hike Location: Martin Creek Lake State Park
Geographic Location: southwest of Tatum, TX (32.27577, -94.57151)
Length: 2.6 miles
Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: December 2021
Overview: A nearly flat double loop partly on the Old Henderson Road.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/martin-creek-lake
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=895776
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From Tatum, take SR 43 south 3.8 miles to CR 2183 and turn left on CR 2183.  Drive CR 2183 0.8 miles to the signed park entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and drive the main park road into the Bee Tree Camping Area.  Park in the small parking lot beside the Twin Oaks Amphitheater and campground bath house.

The hike: Established in 1976, Martin Creek Lake State Park consists of 286 acres donated to the State of Texas by the Texas Utilities Generating Company.  The park sits on its namesake lake, a 5000 acre lake that was built to provide cooling water for a large coal-fired power plant on its south shore.  The creek is named for Daniel Martin, who settled here in 1833.  Martin and his neighbors built a small fort/town called Harmony Hill along the Old Henderson/Shreveport Road.  Although the town was nearly deserted by 1900, parts of the road are used on this hike.

            The park offers some excellent amenities including two developed campgrounds totaling 81 sites, swimming, fishing, and boating on Martin Creek Lake, and 3 trails totaling nearly 4 miles.  This hike explores the two trails north of the park's main road: the Harmony Hill Loop Trail and the Old Henderson Loop.  The next hike explores the park's other trail offering: the Island Trails that loop around a small island in Martin Creek Lake.

Trailhead: Harmony Hill and Old Henderson Loops

            The trailhead for the Harmony Hill and Old Henderson Loops sits across the campground road from the amphitheater; a sign and bench mark this trailhead.  After walking only a couple hundred feet into the woods, you reach a complicated trail intersection that also involves some power line corridors.  This intersection forms the Harmony Hill Loop, which goes straight and right.  Turn right to begin hiking the Harmony Hill Loop counterclockwise.

Hiking in the power line corridor

            The Harmony Hill Loop starts by following a power line corridor for a few hundred feet.  The power line corridors, utility roads, and fire breaks in this area look like trails, and they are the only real route-finding challenges on this hike.  Carsonite posts with arrows mark trail intersections.  This initial segment of the Harmony Hill Loop is the only section of this hike that actually uses a power line corridor.

            After crossing a second power line corridor, the trail leaves the power lines and heads into the woods.  All of the park's trails are also open to mountain bikes, but the next segment of trail is the only one that features the annoying winding route that is common on mountain bike trails.  The main park road comes in sight on the right as the trail curves left and heads through several loblolly pine plantings.

Hiking the Harmony Hill Loop

            At 0.7 miles, you cross a gravel utility road and reenter the piney woods on the other side.  The park office soon comes into view on the right, and you need to ignore a couple of signed fire roads that also look like trails.  This area used to be part of the old Harmony Hill community, but the area appears as a natural area today.  Interpretive signs describe common plants in the forest.

Hiking through a loblolly pine planting

            After re-crossing the utility road and passing through a final loblolly pine planting, you close the Harmony Hill Loop.  If you are getting tired or running out of daylight, you can turn left and return to the trailhead in only a few hundred feet.  To also hike the Old Henderson Loop, turn right, and then bear right at the next intersection to begin walking counterclockwise around the Old Henderson Loop.

Hiking the Old Henderson Road

            Another fire road comes in from the right, but soon the trail curves left to begin following the Old Henderson Road.  1.7 miles into the hike, you cross a wooden footbridge built on stone supports.  An interpretive sign here tells you about the Old Henderson Road and its history.

Martin Creek Lake

            Just shy of 2 miles, the trail curves sharply left to leave the Old Henderson Road and begin paralleling the lake, which lies to your right.  At 2.2 miles, you reach this hike's only good lake view.  The massive power plant across the water detracts from the view, but I still did some nice bird watching here.  Past the viewpoint, the trail loops inland to cross the creek a second time before closing its loop.  Turn right to walk out the entrance trail and complete the hike.