Lake Whitney State Park: Towash Forest Trail (Blog Hike #1048)

Trail: Towash Forest Trail
Hike Location: Lake Whitney State Park
Geographic Location: west of Hillsboro, TX (31.91680, -97.35494)
Length: 1.2 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: February 2025
Overview: A flat lollipop loop partly along Lake Whitney.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lake-whitney
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=980088
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming March 10, 2026)

Directions to the trailhead: South of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, take I-35 to SR 22 (exit 368B).  Exit and go west on SR 22.  Drive SR 22 west 15 miles to FM 933 in the town of Whitney and turn right on FM 933.  Drive FM 933 north 0.7 miles to FM 1244 and turn left on FM 1244.  FM 1244 dead-ends at the park entrance in another 2.3 miles.  Pay the park entrance fee, then turn left at the next 2 intersections, heading for the Sunset Ridge Camping Loop.  Drive through the Lake View Camping Loop.  The small parking lot for the Towash Forest Trail is on the left just before you reach the Sunset Ridge Camping Loop.

The hike: Built in 1951 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Whitney Dam is a 166-foot tall concrete and earthen dam on the Brazos River in north-central Texas.  The dam was built to control river flooding, especially in the City of Waco located a few miles downstream.  The dam also produces hydroelectric power by releasing water from Lake Whitney through a system of turbines.  Lake Whitney is large but shallow: it covers 23 square miles but has a maximum depth of only 108 feet.  

            In 1954, the State of Texas leased 775 acres along the lake to create the park, and Lake Whitney State Park opened in 1965.  The park offers several campgrounds totaling 137 sites, some picnic areas, boating and swimming on Lake Whitney, and 2 short hiking trails.  The 2 trails are located at opposite ends of the park, and therefore there is no easy way to combine them to form a longer hike.  This hike describes the Towash Forest Trail, which is the longer of the 2 trails.

Vehicle gate at trailhead

            Start by walking around the vehicle gate and heading northeast on the wide arrow-straight dirt trail.  If you observe this treadway carefully, you will notice a couple of old culverts, which suggest that this trail used to be a vehicle road.  The trail is named for the former town of Towash, the foundations of which now lie submerged under Lake Whitney a few miles southeast of here.  There is little noticeable elevation change anywhere on this hike.

Old culvert

            At 0.3 miles, you reach the trail intersection that forms this hike's loop.  I turned right to hike the loop counterclockwise.  There is surprisingly little forest on this trail, and most of this trail passes through grassy prairie.  The forest that does exist is of the dense shrubby variety that obscures most birds.  I came here on a chilly and gloomy late afternoon in mid-February, and I saw only a cardinal and a few ducks.

Lake Whitney

Hiking through the prairie

            0.6 miles into the hike, you reach the edge of the Whitney Creek inlet of Lake Whitney, where this hike's best lake views emerge.  The trail goes right to the edge of the lake bank, but don't get too close to the edge: erosion from the lake has undercut this bank.  The trail curves left and begins heading north with the inlet to your right.  At 0.9 miles, you return to the old road you hiked in on, and just shy of 1 mile you close the loop.  Hike the arrow-straight old road back to the trailhead to complete the hike.