Camping at Lake Somerville State Park
We recently moved to Houston, TX from India. Our friends already living here keep telling us the stories about camping and how fun it is. So, as soon as they planned their next camping adventure on a long weekend, we decided to tag along. Since Pakhi just turned one this July, we were little worried about how she will take her first night out in the woods. We were told it’s hard to avoid mosquito, ants, and bugs when you are out in woods all night. But our enthusiasm was way too high for these petty issues. We decided to go to Lake Somerville State Park.
The Campground
Somerville Lake is a large multi-purpose lake on Yegua Creek in the Brazos River drainage basin thirty miles southwest of Bryan in southern Burleson, northwestern Washington, and eastern Lee counties. It has two main units - Birch Creek and Nails Creek. Both offer a multitude of recreational opportunities such as camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, hiking and biking, volleyball, horseshoes, basketball, backpacking and horse riding. More than 20 miles of trail are open to hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians, affording visitors the opportunity to exercise and enjoy the beauty of the park. Water lovers can enjoy boating, fishing, swimming and skiing on Lake Somerville.
The Camping experience
Our campsite was very near to the lake and we could easily walk to the lake. We arrived our campsite at around 3 PM. We were a total of five families and we booked three campsites.
The Evening
While every family had their own tent we borrowed ours from a friend. After having some snacks and drinks, everybody started setting up their tents. After that, we decided to go to the lake as we had a plenty of time left before starting barbecue and dinner.
Once at the lake, we were there until sunset. The view was absolutely beautiful. We decided to take the kids into the water where they had a lot of fun. After that, we headed back to our sites as we were getting very hungry by that time.
The Night
Each campsite had a barbecue grill. We lit up the coal for barbecue and roasted vegetables and corn-on-the-cob. We had packed dinner so after having the barbecue it was time for dinner. By that time most of the kids were already feeling sleepy. We made all the kids sleep in one tent near the campfire. Within 15 minutes, one kid started screaming all of a sudden - “There are ants in our tent!” We ran to the tent and saw hundreds of ants were covering the whole tent. Fortunately, the kids were safe. We noticed that a tree branch was touching the tent and all the ants were coming from the tree. We broomed away the ants and moved the tent a little farther away from the tree. After that, we were good to go for the next part of the night. Next, we decided to play a game called Antakshari- an Indian game where there are generally two teams and each team has to sing a song in turn. The rule is that the song must start with the letter which was the last letter of the song sung by the other team. It’s a fun game and favorite past time for Indians. There was one spooky tree next to our site and it started looking more spooky in the night. I got a bit scared as I looked at the tree and after seeing the expression on my face, everyone started telling ghost stories turn by turn. I must say it was really a fun filled night.
Next Morning
In the morning we prepared tea, sandwiches and Maggi noodles for breakfast. After that, we went to the lake again for swimming. We clicked lots of pictures near the lake. Since the checkout time for the campsite was 10 o’clock, we quickly came back and packed out stuff, cleaned the site and left by 10 o’clock.
Conclusion
Although it was our first experience we really enjoyed it and I realized our friends were right - camping can be lots of fun. Sleeping outdoors and getting away from the hassle of the daily grind can be refreshing, and there is plenty of time for leisure and games. Part of the joy of camping is being close to nature. I am really looking forward to next camping. Someone has well said:
There is no Wi-fi in the forest but I promise you will find a better connection.
More Information
If you are planning for camping here, I would recommend you to visit the Lake Somerville State Park & Trailway - Texas Parks and Wildlife
See Also
- Weekend Camping at Stephen F. Austin State Park
- Camping: One Of The Best Ways To Reconnect with Nature
- Best Tips for Family Travel: Have Less Stress and More Fun!
