Fort Boggy State Park (Blog Hike #1057)

Trails: Campbell, Leon Prairie, and Lake Trails
Hike Location: Fort Boggy State Park
Geographic Location: south of Centerville, TX (31.18322, -95.97777)
Length: 3.1 miles
Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)
Date Hiked: February 2025
Overview: A fairly flat double loop through forest, prairie, and lakeside areas.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/fort-boggy
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=980554
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming February 13, 2026)

Directions to the trailhead: About halfway between Dallas and Houston, take I-45 to SR 7 (exit 164).  Exit and go east on SR 7.  Drive SR 7 east 0.6 miles to SR 75; turn right on SR 75.  Drive SR 75 south 4.9 miles to the signed park entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, pay the park entrance fee, and drive the main park road to the main parking area just west of the lake.  Park here.

The hike: Located in eastern Texas about halfway between Dallas and Houston, Fort Boggy State Park occupies 1847 acres of reverting farmland.  The park exists due to a generous land donation from Eileen Crain Sullivan in 1985.  Fort Boggy State Park opened only in 2001, making it one of Texas' newer state parks.  The park is named for a pioneer fort that was built here in 1840, which in turn was named for nearby Boggy Creek.  Nothing of the original Fort Boggy remains.

            Today the park is centered around 15-acre Sullivan Lake, and fishing in the lake is the most popular activity here.  In terms of lodging, the park offers only a small primitive campground, but it does offer 5 cabins for rent.  For hikers, 4 trails totaling 3.5 miles beg to be explored.  This hike forms a double loop by combining 3 of those trails with a road walk through the developed area, and it offers a good sample of the park's lakeside and upland areas.

Cabin area trailhead

            Both loops of this double loop start at the main parking area, so you could hike the loops in either order or hike just one of them.  I hiked the western loop first by walking the park road that accesses the cabin area uphill to the west.  The trailhead is located near the parking lot for the cabin restroom building; only a yellow pole marks the trailhead.

Primitive Campground #1

            The entrance trail heads west, and after only a couple hundred feet the trail splits upon intersecting a pipeline corridor; this split forms the western loop.  I turned left to begin the unsigned Campbell Trail and hike the loop clockwise.  The Campbell Trail's main purpose is to access the park's 5 primitive campgrounds, and shortly after curving right to leave the pipeline corridor you pass Primitive Campground #1.  Each primitive campground features a firepit, a picnic table, and a pole with hooks beside a flat grassy area that looks perfect for pitching a tent.  I came here as a day-use visitor, but I kind of wished I had brought a tent.

Hiking the Campbell Trail

            The meandering trail heads gradually downhill through young forest that is dominated by pine trees.  Interpretive signs identify common plants in the forest, and the wide dirt trail makes for easy if unremarkable going.  At 1.4 miles, you reach the lowest elevation on this hike, almost 100 vertical feet below the cabin area, as you re-emerge at the pipeline corridor and reach another trail intersection.  The Campbell Trail ends here, and the Tunnel Trail goes straight to lead to the park's entrance station.  This hike turns right to begin the Leon Prairie Trail.

Hiking the Leon Prairie Trail

            The Leon Prairie Trail follows the pipeline corridor for its entire distance, and thus it is almost dead straight.  The pipeline corridor forms a narrow strip of prairie surrounded by the young forest you have been hiking through.  After climbing moderately on a wide dirt track, you close the loop at 1.8 miles.  Turn left, walk the park road downhill back to the main parking lot, and then continue downhill through the mowed grass area to reach the lake.  Notice the nice stone restroom building that serves the lake area.  The signed trailhead for the Lake Trail is located beside the lake at the right/south end of the mowed grass area.

Stone restroom building

Start of Lake Trail

            True to its name, the Lake Trail forms a loop around Sullivan Lake, but the steep ravines that feed the lake provide more up-and-down than you might expect for a lakeside loop.  After topping a ridge, the trail curves left to pass through an area that was very muddy from recent rains on my visit.  2.6 miles into the hike, you climb to another ridge where traffic noise from nearby SR 75 comes in from the right.

Sullivan Lake

            The wide dirt trail descends back to lake level, and at 2.9 miles you reach the east side of the earthen dam that forms the lake.  Walk across the dam and climb slightly to reach the Lake Trail's north trailhead.  A short walk across the mowed-grass area returns you to the parking lot to complete the hike.