Sheldon Lake State Park Houston, TX

The weather in Houston was just gorgeous this past weekend so my friend Becky (aka CampingBuddyBecky) and I decided to check out Sheldon Lake State Park which is actually within the northeast city limits of Houston.

The only State Park in Houston.

Becky is the proud owner of a brand new kayak so our first stop was the boat ramp on the southwest corner of Sheldon Lake, which doubles as one of Houston's reservoirs,

Becky in her new kayak with her $200 graphite paddle!

We kayaked on the lake for about 90 minutes, I somehow managed to not have my kayak's seat set up correctly and had to paddle from almost a recline so back pain for me was the limiting time factor.  Becky was ready to kayak for a much longer period.

A pretty large blue heron amid the lakes bull rushes.

  After loading the kayaks back into the Tank we headed for the Park itself and did some Geo-caching (found three out of a possible four) and climbed the real attraction at the park, the 87 foot high observation tower.

The solar powered observation tower, it even has an elevator!

Urban legend said that on a clear day you could see downtown Houston from the top floor of the observation tower....

A little hard to see in this photo but Downtown was visible!

Here's a shot of Sheldon Lake from the top of the observation tower.

Sheldon Lake.

You may have noticed I didn't do a "Campground Review:" of the park because there is no overnight camping allowed there which is a little unusual for Texas State Parks but, there you go.

Part of the Evironmental Learning Center - we found a Geo-cache there.

Becky and I both came away from Sheldon Lake State Park impressed.  It's very well kept, park employees are really friendly and helpful, and after being there for a while you forget you're still in Houston and not at a more remote location.  It's a great day visit and the only thing that would make it better would be if you could camp there.

Thanks for reading!