Day Trips

Fairfield Lake State Park caters to a lot of different recreational pursuits. Popular with fishermen, the 1,460-acre park also attracts mountain bikers, birders, hikers, and campers looking for a shady place to hang their hammocks.

Built in 1971, the 2,400-acre lake is actually a cooling pond for TXU’s Big Brown Steam Electric Station, the first lignite-fueled power plant in Texas. Swimmers and skiers on spring break love the lake because the water gets warmer earlier than most lakes. “By July and August [the water] might be a little too warm for most swimmers,” says Bonnie McCeig between helping visitors at the park headquarters.

The short-lived winter temperatures of the water have the added advantage of giving resident fish a longer growing season. Normally a saltwater species from the Gulf of Mexico, red drum, or red fish, does quite well in the freshwater lake. Catches of 15 lbs. are nearly routine, and the lake holds the state record for inland red drum at 36.83 lbs. “The red drum grown fast and big here,” McCeig says.

Now is a good time to go fishing in any state park because the department has extended the moratorium on requiring a license when fishing from the bank or a pier. Besides the usual assortment of bass, crappie, and catfish, the lake also has been stocked with blue tilapia, or African perch. A good fish to invite to dinner, the tilapia was brought to the lake to help control the underwater vegetation. There is no bag limit on the size or quantity of the fish that can be caught, but the nongame fish are to be caught only with a bow or throw net and can’t be carried out of the park alive.

Humans are not the ones who discovered the fishing at Fairfield Lake. From November to March, bald eagles make their winter homes in the tall trees. In a transition zone between the post-oak savannah of northern Texas and the piney woods of East Texas, the park preserves a thick riparian forest that mixes many species of plants and animals.

At night the insects sing a constant chorus accented with the occasional hooting of an unseen owl. In the morning, a woodpecker’s knocks echo through the heavily wooded campgrounds. There is a three-mile nature and bird-watching trail that winds through the wetlands of a small inlet on the lake.

More than 20 miles of trails attract bicyclists and horseback riders to the park. The six-mile-long trail to the primitive campground is a nice, easy ride for most riders and is the only trail open to horses. The trail is mostly old jeep roads and has enough hills to be a good workout. The older trail on the peninsula near the campgrounds is also an easy ride, but the trail is a single path through the thick woods. The underbrush hides at least two geocache sites in the park.

While the trails generally get an easy rating, the Perimeter Trail along the fence line can be a real bone-shaker. Originally cut by local prison crews as a fire break, the path sends riders screaming down deep cuts made by small streams and puffing up steep inclines. Because the trail isn’t used much, it tends to be rough and not always clearly defined. Not shown on the park map but marked with a sign, there is a trail that connects the peninsula trails to the Perimeter Trail.

The park packs 135 campsites into a relatively small space without crowding. The thick vegetation and rolling hills of the lake shore provide natural barriers between parties. Although the park does not have screen shelters, most of the camping slots have water and electricity. The restrooms and showers are usual state park fare, but the volunteer park hosts do try to keep them up better than at some parks.

Fairfield Lake State Park is 6 miles northeast of Fairfield, which is off of I-45 about an hour east of Waco. Locals recommend Sam’s Restaurant for barbecue and pies, and Gilberto’s for Mexican food. For local information about the park, call 903/389-4514. Reservations and general park information can be obtained at 389-8900 or www.tpwd.state.tx.us.

This article appears in April 29 • 2005.