Swimming with Kids at Lake Whitney State Park

This week’s Field Trip Friday happened on Thursday, as I accidentally put in our grocery pick-up for the wrong location. So we made a loop and drove from our house to Lake Whitney State Park and then to get groceries. It ended up working in our favor, as the heat index was 110 so it was great to go swimming to beat the heat.

This was our first trip to Lake Whitney State Park, which is located a little over an hour south of the Dallas Fort Worth area. We drove through Hillsboro and Lake Whitney, which are both lovely old towns. R&K in Hillsboro is always a great place to stop and eat.

We enjoyed the few rolling hills that led us into the state park and found it humorous that the road dead-ended at the State Park Headquarters. Check-in was quick, and we picked up some Junior Ranger booklets while we were there. They also had backpacks available to loan to kids — which included guidebooks and binoculars. It was definitely too hot to hike, but this would be fun to use in the fall or winter!

As we neared the swimming area, Lake Whitney came into view, and the kids’ jaws dropped! They were mesmerized by the size of the lake, saying it looked like the ocean! And indeed, it did. It reminded us of the Great Lakes because there were even small waves.

We carried our things down to the shoreline and set up camp for the afternoon. There isn’t much shade on the beach, though several picnic tables with coverings are nearby, which get a nice breeze. The kids were thrilled with the water — saying it was way better than the lake at Cleburne State Park (though I probably wouldn’t do paddle boarding on this lake).

While the shoreline is somewhat sandy, it is a mixture of sand, clay, and rocks. You can feel the clay beneath your toes as you walk out into the water, too. I was glad to bring mud shoes. We loved seeing and hearing all the birds! We saw multiple egrets, herons, ducks as well as turtles.

After swimming for a few hours, we hopped in the car to drive up to the restrooms and showers. We put on clean clothes, then sat at a picnic table under a nice big oak tree and worked on our Junior Ranger activity journals. This state park doesn’t have a park-specific Junior Ranger badge but a generic Level 1/2/3 button pin. We dropped off our booklets at the office on our way out and also picked up a Lake Whitney State Park patch.

Needless to say, the kids definitely are wanting to come back!