If you’re fortunate enough to live in the South or Southwest, you know that October and November can still be considered a part of swimming season. In mid-October and early November we had consecutive 85+/90+ degree weather days that left me longing for some pool time and, better yet, reliving visits to some of the beautiful and relaxing swimming holes that are surprisingly plentiful in the Central Texas area. In fact, I’m writing this post the day after Christmas and guess what: we have balmy, humid 80-degree weather today!

The two parks we hit up this summer that were new to us were Blanco State Park and Guadalupe River State Park. With both of the parks it was evident that you have to show up early to get the best experience. The early birds arrived with enough time to stake out their spots by the shade, get the grill going and food cooking, and lounge around in the water. Next summer – or spring – or even January at this rate – we’ll have to return much more prepared!

One element that I really loved about both parks was that there were plenty of shallow areas, which is especially important for folks like me who are not strong swimmers. If I’m being honest with myself, I’m really just an expert at the doggy paddle. Blanco State Park has confined / sectioned-off areas that almost look like small pools. This is where you can find the tiniest of babies, young kids, and swimming-challenged adults like me. The park also has much deeper and expansive areas for strong swimmers as well as weak swimmers with pool noodles. Blanco SP offers tube and canoe rentals, which are a must during our warm weather days. And while I’m not into fishing, it’s pretty cool that the park is part of the Angler Education Tackle Loaner Program and allows people to borrow rods and reels if they do want to fish.

Guadalupe River State Park also offers swimming, fishing, tubing, and canoeing. One noticeable difference – at least the day that we visited – was the strength of the different currents. The current at Blanco SP was calm and barely noticeable. At Guadalupe River SP it was still fairly calm, but much stronger in comparison to Blanco. For Guadalupe in particular, I would highly recommend wearing water shoes or sandals if possible because there are so.many.rocks and if you want to move to the areas further out from the shore where it’s a bit deeper, you need to stand up and wade through the water (and rocks).

Other things to plan for if you visit Guadalupe River SP: lack of shade and lack of non-rocky ground to sit on. While there were plentiful trees and therefore shade by the water at Blanco SP, the same was not true of Guadalupe. If you’re planning on making a day of it, or staying there for a few hours, plan on bringing a pop-up tent or beach umbrella of some kind – anything that will give you shade. With the white rocks and the bright sun, you will start to feel the heat quickly once you’re out of the water. The shore is also quite rocky and it’s not the most comfortable situation if all you’ve got are beach towels to lay out on. Since we came unprepared we made it work, but in the future we will probably bring those foldable camping chairs.

One added bonus of Guadalupe River SP is that it has over 13 miles of trails to explore. By the time we got out of the water we were pretty tired from having spent so much time out in the sun so we ultimately didn’t do any hiking. When we return, hiking at Guadalupe will be at the top of our to-do list! For Blanco SP? Their classic car show in May! Blanco SP is ironically the brownest park we’ve been to yet – Morrissey blasting from one set of speakers and cumbia blasting from another. It was great.

Blanco State Park – 101 Park Road 23, Blanco, TX 78606

Adults: $4 entrance fee / Kids 12 & under: Free

Guadalupe River State Park – 3350 Park Road 31, Spring Branch, TX 78070

Adults: $7 daily / Kids 12 & under: Free