Parks and trails guide
Live oak woods, marsh boardwalks, hike and bike paths and a national seashore, with what each place says about itself.
Last updated
Overview
You will find city hike and bike paths, boardwalks over marsh, and two large protected places: Goose Island State Park and Padre Island National Seashore.
Birding is a draw on several of these trails. Rockport says both trails at Memorial Park Hike & Bike Nature Trails offer great exercise and birding opportunities, and Portland lists birding platforms at Sunset Lake Park.
What to do
Rockport & Fulton
The city of Rockport says Memorial Park Hike & Bike Nature Trails sits on about 92 acres with a 1.63-mile asphalt hike and bike trail and a three-quarter mile nature trail through native live oaks. The Tule Creek Hike and Bike Trail is just over a mile of concrete path through dense oak motts along Tule Creek. Compass Rose Park is about 0.4 acres across from Little Bay, with a covered gazebo, a registered labyrinth and views of the bay and Aransas Bay. The city also runs the Rockport Dog Park, with separate areas for large and small dogs.
- Compass Rose Park
Small ornamental city park in Rockport with a covered gazebo, a registered labyrinth, and views of Little Bay and Aransas Bay.
- Linda S. Castro Nature Sanctuary
Small Rockport nature sanctuary with trails and quiet birding minutes from downtown.
- Little Bay
The shallow bay beside Rockport Beach, calm water for wading kids and reliable shorebird watching along the edges.
- Magnolia Park
Rockport city park on North Live Oak Street that the city describes as open space under the live oaks the town is known for.
- Mathis Park
Small Rockport neighborhood park on South Live Oak with a full-size basketball court, a covered cabana with a grill, two swing sets, and the Aransas County Community Garden.
- Memorial Park Hike & Bike Nature Trails
A large town park with short nature trails, a playground, ten picnic tables each with a charcoal grill, a pavilion, ball fields, basketball courts, disc golf, a fitness court, an off-leash dog park, and clean restrooms.
Lamar & Goose Island
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) says visitors to Goose Island State Park can fish, hike, go boating and watch wildlife, especially birds. The Big Tree is one of the largest live oak trees in Texas and in the nation, with a trunk 35 feet around, and TPWD says it is centuries old.
- Goose Island State Park
A bayfront state park with a bulkheaded shoreline, fishing pier, two short trails, and waterfront campsites under wind-shaped live oaks.
- The Big Tree
A coastal live oak estimated at over a thousand years old, reached by a short flat path, surrounded by its own grove near the shoreline.
- Goose Island State Park trails
Two short interpretive trails through coastal live oak and marsh, plus a bayfront walk, inside the state park.
- Lamar Burton Wildlife Sanctuary
Quiet wildlife sanctuary on the Lamar peninsula with native habitat and birding.
Aransas Pass
- Community Park
Aransas Pass park with playgrounds and open field space.
- Conn Brown HarborPoint Park
Harborside park at Conn Brown with green space and water views.
- Hike And Bike Trail Conn Brown Harbor / Redfish Bay
Paved trail along Conn Brown Harbor in Aransas Pass with harbor views and easy birding.
Ingleside & Portland
The city of Ingleside describes Live Oak Park as about 90 oak-covered acres with trails and a wildlife viewing area. The city of Portland lists walking and biking trails, birding platforms and kayak rentals at Sunset Lake Park, which it puts at 333 acres.
- Bayside Park
Ingleside-area park on the water with picnic spots and playground space, quieter than the big-city parks.
- Ingleside-on-the-Bay City Park
Small city park in Ingleside on the Bay with water views and a quiet pace.
- Live Oak Park
Ingleside city park of about 90 oak-covered acres with a playground, picnic tables, barbecue pits, nature trails, tennis courts, and an 18-hole disc golf course.
- N.O. Simmons Park
Ingleside city park just off Highway 361 with a skate park, splash pad, playground equipment, sports fields, and a nearly mile-long hike and bike trail.
- Portland Municipal Park
Portland's big community park with playgrounds, courts, and shaded picnic spots.
- Sunset Lake Park
Portland park wrapped around a shallow tidal lake, with trails, birding, and true-to-its-name sunsets over the water.
Port Aransas
The city says the Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie's Pasture is 1,217 acres of upland, tidal flat, marsh, wooded and estuarine habitat. Its north entrance has three trails: a one-mile trail that connects to Ross Avenue, a quarter-mile paved and accessible Clay's Hill Trail, and a 2.2-mile round trip Salt Island Trail on boardwalks through tidal saltmarsh. The Charlie's Pasture South Trail is about a mile of boardwalk and decomposed granite, with an observation tower over the wetlands about three-quarters of the way down.
- Charlie's Pasture South Trail
The southern section of the preserve, running through salt flats and coastal grassland to a viewing platform over an inlet.
- Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie's Pasture
Over 1,200 acres of coastal wetland with an elevated boardwalk, viewing towers, and packed gravel paths wide enough for bikes.
Corpus Christi & Padre Island
The city describes the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve as a 162-acre preserve with two miles of nature viewing trails and a learning center. The South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center calls itself a 182-acre botanical and nature domain with a butterfly house, a mesquite-lined nature trail and a wetland boardwalk. The National Park Service says Padre Island National Seashore protects sixty-six miles of wild coastline on a narrow barrier island, home to one of the last intact coastal prairie habitats in the United States.
- Bayfront Park
Downtown green space on the Corpus bayfront with a splash fountain and room for kids to burn energy between museum stops.
- Blucher Nature Park
Small nature park near downtown Corpus with trails and surprisingly good birding for its size.
- Cimarron Park
Southside Corpus park with trails and green space.
- Cole Park
A large well-kept bayfront park on Ocean Drive with a pier, playgrounds, open lawn, walking paths, restrooms, and rentable scooters.
- Dolphin Park
Small North Beach park by the sand with play space and a shaded break from the sun.
- Don and Sandy Billish Park
Corpus Christi city park on Gypsy Street, listed by the city among its parks with playgrounds.
All places in Corpus Christi & Padre IslandAll Parks & Trails
When to visit
TPWD lists the busy seasons at Goose Island State Park as Memorial Day through Labor Day, October through Thanksgiving, and January through April. The park often reaches capacity, and TPWD recommends a reservation for day use. It gives the wettest months as August, September and October.
At the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says whooping cranes typically arrive in late October and depart by mid-April. The National Park Service says attending a sea turtle hatchling release is a popular activity at Padre Island National Seashore in mid-summer.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, according to NOAA. Storms sometimes form outside those dates. Check the forecast from the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi and follow local officials.
Getting around
The Port Aransas city ordinance prohibits hunting, shell or seed collecting, pets and alcohol in the nature preserve, and it allows fishing only in the ship channel. The city asks visitors to stay on the designated trails. Its south entrance is the 361 entrance, and at the end of the South Trail you can continue about a quarter mile to the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.
In Rockport, the city says the Tule Creek trail starts at the trail head at the north entrance of the Walmart and connects through to the Memorial Park trail system. That path also gives access to the community pool.
The city of Ingleside lists restrooms, picnic tables, grills and a wildlife viewing area among the features of Live Oak Park.
Where to stay
Build your own guide
Answer a few questions and get a trip plan built from the places in our directory.
Plan your tripSources
- Area parks (City of Rockport)
- Goose Island State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
- Goose Island State Park nature (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
- Live Oak Park (City of Ingleside)
- City parks (City of Portland)
- Charlie's Pasture (City of Port Aransas)
- Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve and Learning Center (City of Corpus Christi)
- South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center
- Padre Island National Seashore (National Park Service)
- Birding at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
- Tropical cyclone climatology (NOAA National Hurricane Center)
- National Weather Service Corpus Christi