Hill Country State Natural Area Offers Serene and Secluded Surroundings

As I lay in my tent at a wilderness campsite in Hill Country State Natural Area, the only sound I could hear was rain pattering onto the tent fabric and the blanket of oak leaves that covered the ground outside. When I woke the next morning, the rain had stopped but the sky remained overcast. The surrounding woods were completely silent — not even a bird or bug broke the stillness.

“It’s so quiet out here that you tend to hear even conversation from a mile away,” says park interpreter and natural resource specialist Augustin Medellin. “The limestone, the creek valleys, they just carry sound.”

Today, there was no sound to carry. After breakfast, I scrambled up a nearby hill still wearing my camp shoes, and looked out over the landscape, feeling peaceful.

Quiet respite was the theme of my visit to Hill Country SNA. In fact, the serene and secluded nature of the site is part of its purpose. Louise Lindsey Merrick, former owner of the Merrick Bar-O Ranch, donated most of the land that makes up the state natural area. As part of the gift, she stipulated that the land “be kept far removed and untouched by modern civilization, where everything is preserved intact, yet put to a useful purpose.”

Similar to other state natural areas, Hill Country SNA is less developed than a state park. “Visitors, when they come, can expect to not see a lot of development on our site,” says Superintendent Paul Hendrix. “In particular, all of our roads are dirt roads or gravel roads, and we have very limited access as far as camping facilities and other types of facilities like you might find in a state park.”

More than 40 years after the park opened to visitors, Hill Country State Natural Area retains its quiet character and the feeling of being far away from civilization. “Our site is kind of a hidden gem in the region,” says Hendrix. “We don’t see a whole lot of visitation. We get about 25,000 visitors a year, but we have about 40 miles of multi-use trails. It’s one of those sites that, when you come out, the chances of seeing other visitors on the trail are pretty small. It’s a place where you can come and find solitude and quiet and be alone in nature.”

Hill Country SNA offers 26 campsites. All are primitive (meaning no flushing toilets or showers). Some do have available water, though. The campsites are either walk-in, meaning you camp 25-75 yards from where you parked, or hike-in, meaning the journey is closer to a couple miles. The walk-in West Verde Creek sites are situated along the creek, offering beautiful surroundings. The hike-in Wilderness campground lies in a sheltered bowl among the hills and features a small, covered picnic table. A two-acre complex known as the Chapas Camp is designed for horseback riders. A 1930s ranch house serves as the park’s Group Camp and sleeps nine people.

This steep, rocky trail is one of the park’s most popular — the trail may leave you breathless, but you’ll be rewarded with a breathtaking view!

Imagine yourself as an old-time rancher among this collection of various farm implements arranged artfully in a garden near the visitors center.

Spring brings a riot of color to Hill Country State Natural Area. Take your family photos or snap a quick selfie with bluebonnets, winecups and paintbrushes.

One weekend, a scout troop came to stay at one of the park’s wilderness camps. As they were leaving, park interpreter Augustin Medellin asked how their stay went. The stay, it turned out, was quite eventful. “They were describing a particular scout master that snored so loud and so heavily that they thought there was a wild animal in camp,” says Medellin. “It caused them to get up, get a flashlight and seek out where this noise was coming from. They eventually discovered, ‘Hey, it’s coming from this tent — that’s where our scout master is! Let’s warn him.’ And they open the zipper and come to find him just snoring away. So for the next two days of their visit, they had all three camps in that camping loop, and he was the only one in the furthest camp — everyone else pulled away and camped separate from him because he was making such a loud noise.”

If you have your own horses, Hill Country SNA is a prime place to take them for a trail ride. For those without horses, the park works with equestrian guide services that provide guided horseback rides.

Despite Hill Country SNA’s proximity to San Antonio, it offers excellent stargazing. Medellin recommends camping at the Wilderness Camp for the best view of the night sky. “The hills that surround that campsite kind of create a bowl, protecting it from the extraneous light of San Antonio and Bandera,” he says. “So directly above you, you get a really dark sky, and it’s very, very beautiful.”

With 40 miles of trail and three hike-in backcountry camping areas, Hill Country SNA is one of the few places in Texas you can head out on a multi-day trek. “It’s good for learning and shakedowns,” says Hendrix. “Because of our trail system, you can add as much length carrying your pack as you want to for training purposes.”

Note: Only one backpacking camping area is bookable through the website — the other two must be reserved at park headquarters. If you’re interested in staying at one or both of the other two, just book multiple nights at the Wilderness Camp and adjust your itinerary in person when you get there.

The trails are all multi-use, so biking is another exciting way to experience the landscape. Just make sure to follow trail etiquette (equestrians and hikers have the right-of-way).

Check out a video featuring the park from influencer John Sorsby.

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Aside from the necessities, these items can make your trip to Cleburne State Park even more enjoyable.