Purtis Creek State Park: Beaver Slide Nature Path (Blog Hike #1118)

Trail: Beaver Slide Nature Path
Hike Location: Purtis Creek State Park
Geographic Location: northwest of Athens, TX (32.36358, -96.00283)
Length: 1.7 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: February 2026
Overview: A short and mostly flat lollipop loop with nice views of Purtis Creek State Park Lake.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/purtis-creek
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming March 16, 2027)

Directions to the trailhead: From Athens, take US 175 northwest 10 miles to the town of Eustace and FM 316.  Turn right on FM 316.  Drive FM 316 north 3.6 miles to the state park entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and drive the main park road into the park's campground.  The signed parking area for the Beaver Slide Nature Path is on the north side of the campground, on the left as you drive in.

The hike: Located an hour southeast of Dallas, Purtis Creek State Park consists of 1582 acres of reverting farmland.  The United States Soil Conservation Service built the park's 355 acre lake in 1980 to control floods and to provide for local fishing.  The park opened in 1988, and fishing remains a popular activity here today.

            Like many Texas state parks near the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Purtis Creek State Park has a rural and rustic flavor with only the usual amenities.  The park offers a 56-site developed campground, the usual aquatic recreation on its lake, and 5 trails totaling 5.8 miles.  All but 2 of the park's trails are designed by mountain bikers for mountain bikers, and I had already done several hikes on that kind of trail on my February 2026 Texas hiking trip.  Thus, I decided to hike the park's longest hiker-only trail, the Beaver Slide Nature Path described here.  The Beaver Slide Nature Path is primarily an access trail for the park's lakeside primitive campsites, and it was a nice but very popular trail when I came here on a warm Saturday morning in late February.

Campground trailhead

            From the signed trailhead campground parking lot, the wide dirt Beaver Slide Nature Path heads gradually downhill on a wide double switchback.  The forest is a mixture of oak/hickory deciduous forest and pines.  This trail's best view of Purtis Creek State Park Lake emerges just after you hike around the first inlet.  I saw several cormorants perched on stumps in the lake, and this is one of the best places in the park for wildlife viewing,

Cormorant on a stump

            At 0.4 miles, the trail splits to form its loop; a bench and vault toilet stand at this intersection.  The shortest route to the primitive campsites is to the right, so I angled left to avoid the primitive campground traffic.  The trail climbs almost imperceptibly before beginning a mild descent.  The difference between maximum and minimum elevations on this hike is less than 40 feet, so all grades are gradual.

Hiking the Beaver Slide Nature Path

            0.7 miles into the hike, you reach the first (or last, if you were going the way most campers hike in to their campsites) of 13 spur trails that exit left, one for each primitive campsite.  The campsites are lettered A through M, and going this direction you will pass all 13 spur trails in reverse alphabetical order.  A board at the trailhead tells you which campsites are available and which campsites are reserved.  While you never want to walk into an occupied campsite, it is worth hiking one of the short spurs down to an unoccupied campsite: all of the sites have nice lakeside locations, with site E being my favorite view across the lake.

Primitive campsite M

            After passing all 13 spur trails, you return to the bench and vault toilet to close the loop.  Turn left to retrace your steps out the "stick" of the lollipop to complete the hike.  If you want to do more hiking, the park's mountain bike trails are also open to hikers.  The Red and Blue Trails offer nice loops through upland forest similar to what you see on this hike, while the Green Trail partially follows the lakeshore and leads to the lake's dam.

Lake Tawakoni State Park: Farkleberry Trail et. al. (Blog Hike #1117)

Trails: Farkleberry, Blackjack, Osage Orange, and Red Oak Trails
Hike Location: Lake Tawakoni State Park
Geographic Location: north of Wills Point, TX (32.84583, -95.99397)
Length: 3.7 miles
Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)
Date Hiked: February 2026
Overview: A lollipop double loop through oak/cedar woods.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lake-tawakoni
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming March 26, 2027)

Directions to the trailhead: From Wills Point, take FM 47 north 5.2 miles to FM 2475 and turn left on FM 2475, which deadends at the park in 4.4 miles.  Pay the entrance fee, then park in the first parking lot on the left near the trailhead for the Farkleberry Trail.

The hike: Located 60 miles almost due east of Dallas, Lake Tawakoni State Park occupies 376 acres of reverting farmland adjacent to its namesake lake.  The 37,879 acre lake serves as the headwaters of the Sabine River, which flows first east to the Texas/Louisiana state line and then south into the Gulf of America.  The lake was built in 1960 to provide flood control and drinking water for surrounding communities, but the park took many years to build: it did not officially open until 2002.

            For a park so close to a major city, Lake Tawakoni State Park is light on amenities.  The park offers a 78-site developed campground, the usual aquatic recreation on Lake Tawakoni, some picnic shelters, and 8 trails totaling only 4.5 miles.  The hike described here forms a lollipop loop through the secluded western part of the park.  While this hike lacks unique scenery, I enjoyed being in this park's nice forest after doing several hot and sunny hikes on the Texas prairies to the west.

Trailhead for the Farkleberry Trail

            The Farkleberry Trail serves as the entrance trail for this part of the park's trail system; a large trail sign and brown carsonite post at the southwest corner of the parking lot mark the trailhead.  Farkleberry is another name for sparkleberry, a common native shrub in the forests of the southeastern United States.  Farkleberry is identified by its oval evergreen leaves, its bell-shaped white flowers, and its small, round, black berries that look somewhat like black blueberries.  While farkleberries are edible raw, their dry bitter flavor and tough texture make them better suited for use as a jam, jelly, or pie filling.

Hiking the Farkleberry Trail

            The wide single-track dirt Farkleberry Trail curves more right than left as it climbs gradually.  The difference between maximum and minimum elevation on this hike is only about 50 feet, so all grades are gentle.  At 0.5 miles, you reach the Farkleberry Trail's west end at a major trail intersection with a bench.  You will pass through this intersection a total of 3 times on this hike.  For now, turn left twice to begin heading clockwise around the Blackjack Trail's loop.

Starting the Blackjack Trail

            Marked by brown carsonite posts with black stickers, the Blackjack Trail is named for the blackjack oak tree, which combined with pines make up the majority of the trees in this forest.  This trail forms the western-most loop in this park's trail system, and it starts with some minor undulations as it skirts the upper reaches of a ravine to the right.  My wildlife sightings on this trail included some deer and some mourning doves.  Though it does not pass any fantastic scenery, the easy Blackjack Trail makes for pleasant hiking.

            After heading out a low finger ridge, the trail curves right to trace back around the edge of the shallow ravine.  Just past 2 miles, you close the Blackjack Trail's loop and return to the major intersection for a second time.  Turn left again to begin a clockwise journey around the Osage Orange Trail, which is marked by brown carsonite posts with orange stickers.

Starting the Osage Orange Trail

            Also known as hedge apple, osage orange trees typically grow along old property boundaries, so this trail is well-named: all of this land was previously divided into farms.  The trail winds and descends gradually before making a sharp right curve at 2.4 miles.  Next you pass an old farm pond on the right before climbing gradually to reach another trail intersection just shy of 2.7 miles.  The Osage Orange Trail turns right, and we will go that way eventually.  For now, continue straight to begin the Red Oak Trail.

Hiking the Red Oak Trail

            At only 0.4 miles long, the Red Oak Trail is the shortest trail on this hike, but it is the only trail on this hike that leads all the way to the shore of Lake Tawakoni.  This hike's sharpest descent and narrowest trail brings you to the short spur trail that leads right to the lake overlook at 2.9 miles.  The park's boat ramp sits across this arm of the lake, and I saw many mallards and egrets in the lake when I came here.  A bench encourages you to sit, have a snack, and admire the lake.

Lake Tawakoni

            The Red Oak Trail's lakeside section is brief, and soon the trail curves left to head gradually uphill away from the lake.  At 3.1 miles, you close the Red Oak Trail's loop.  Continue straight to begin the final segment of the Osage Orange Trail.  A flat and easy 700 feet later, you return to the major trail intersection for the third time.  Turn left and retrace your steps out the Farkleberry Trail to return to the parking lot and complete the hike.