Our second week along the Texas Coast
I had initially planned our second week along the Texas coast near Port Lavaca, but I found that the park options were limited, and not actually 'on the coast' vs inland on bays. I landed on Matagorda Bay Nature Park, about 5 miles from Matagorda, neither of which we had heard of before.
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| Amazing sunsets over the Colorado River from Site 15 |
Rating Matagorda Bay Nature Park
- Weather: Temps during our stay were 62-66 during the day, and about 55 at night. The wind was pretty consistent the first two days, then calmed a bit. Based on the historical temps, we experienced slightly lower than average temps. We gave the weather here a 6/10.
- Activities: You can start your walk right from the site, and it's about a 5 minute walk through the dunes to the beach. Biking is decent on the beach if you stay on the firm sand. Not many hiking trails nearby. You can rent a kayak at the park store. We gave Activities a 4/10. But if you like fishing, you may rate this higher as there were many people fishing off the river.
- Cost: The weekly rate is $240, which works out to $34.30 a night. There is no monthly rate posted, and there may be a limitation on how many consecutive nights you can stay, as with many of the state run parks in Texas. Cost for Matagorda gets a 7/10.
- Environment: We were right on the Colorado river, 5 minutes from the Gulf. There were a lot of of kids running around unsupervised on the weekend but really quieted down after that. Some bird watching within the Nature Park and along the river. However, the amount of garbage in and around the park was shocking. We ended up taking bags everywhere we went to pick it up - my pinchers sure came in handy. We gave it 5/10 for Environment.
- VIBE: Tenants were not super friendly, even those that were there the full week like us. Similar to the kids running around, even adults walking seemed oblivious to the fact that you should not walk through other campers' sites. Vibe for Matagorda Bay Nature Park is a 4/10.
- Site: Level cement sites, however they were kind of close. I selected a spot on the end but apparently the wrong end, as we had no privacy when the park was fuller. The site gets a 4/10.
- Food Basics: Basic, very much overpriced grocery store was about 5 miles away, and Walmart was in Bay City 25 miles away. This results in a score of 5/10.
- Culture: We found one dive bar in Matagorda. There were two restaurants, Snapper's Bar and Grill was basically the first level of a barn with plastic sheets covering the windows (did I mention it was cold?) We did end up having dinner twice at Snapper's. The food was really good with a limited menu. Apparently more opens up during summer. Culture gets 3/10.
- View: Since we are on the Colorado, got to see a lot of wildlife on the river and on the shore across. We enjoyed the most amazing sunsets! 8/10 for View.
- Noise: Our stay was pretty quiet - until we heard gun shots Sunday at about 7:30am...Some boat traffic but not horrible and during the day only. 5/10 for Noise.
With all of that said, our overall score for Matagorda Bay Nature Park based on our long stay criteria is 52.1/100. You can see how this stacks up against the Galveston Island RV Resort.
Images and Video
Here are some of the images we captured during our stay including those amazing sunsets:
Overall, we enjoyed our stay but a full winter or even a full month would be a lot for such a remote area. Next up - Exploring the Texas Coast: Port Aransas.
Have you been to Matagorda or Matagorda Bay Nature Park? What do you think of the area? Leave your comments below!
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