kickapoo cavern state park

Its away form everything. Probably not a good place if you have kids. A smallish park with not much for kids unless there into bats or camping. Hiking is ok a few trails with some incline not to bad. No place to swim if your into that. The park staff told me its one of the darkest skies in Texas due to it remoteness, so I guess if your into astronomy this would be a good park. The park is pretty new so all the facilities are in good condition. There is very little around the park I think the nearest town would be 20 plus miles away and its about 2000 population. Super nice staff.

Found this SP by happenstance and it was the almost perfect little get away. We arrived Friday afternoon and we're able to get a camping site with water and electricity. The park doesn't have many sites so it was quiet and peaceful . Also this park is 23-26mi outside of the nearest town(Brackettville) so it's very secluded. We did the 9:30am cave tour on Saturday morning . It was well worth the ten dollars and the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. Wish it wasn't so cold and we could have done the walking trails or seen the bat cave but this is definitely a park we will revisit so next time!

Bats came out about 7:30. Amazing alternative experience compared to bats emerging from Congress bridge in Austin. The park has a sitting area for viewing and the bats swarm all around you.

Needing a minimum of 5 people for a tour is a no-go when it's only you and your daughter. This even after a reservation has been made. The bat cave was nice also. The park is Nice the scenery is great and the Border Patrol presence was a plus.

The Kickapoo Cavern State Park is one of the most primitive in that the park is fairly new (2010) to the public, does not have full ranger station resources and hours, limited (but awesome) volunteer staff, no gift shop, and located in the middle of nowhere! (23 miles from Brackettville and near the Mexico border). With this being said, the natural resources in this little 6300 acre nugget of Texas history includes a million+ bat colony, multiple cave system, hundreds of Texas birds, and other wildlife! The camp sites for tents do not have electricity, the water is a communal tap between pad sites, and there are just a few spaces overall. The spaces are semi private on the outside of the loop and no privacy on the interior. The bathrooms are two stall with only a single shower stall. We stayed for two days/nights and enjoyed the experience. The night sky without city lights was excellent. The guided tour through the cave (moderate hiking required) was a two hour adventure with amazing sights, and the bat flight from the cave each evening at sun down is a life experience we all should see at least once! The bats are comparable to the colonies in the Austin area, however, at Kickapoo there are no crowds, barely a gate to separate you from the colony cave, and nearby wildlife seem unaffected, like raccoons who snacked on the fallen bats. WARNING: The trip to the nearest town is 23 miles away. Do not risk running out of gas as there is not a ranger on site in the evenings and at night. Cell phone service was not operable in the park, but outside of the gates, closer to Brackettville, we were able to use our phones. The park is in the process of receiving more funding from the State of Texas Park system, but for now, May, 2014, it is limited. I highly recommend this site for campers who know how to rough it, and plan ahead with supplies. Kids and pets are able to roam safely. Firewood for sale at the ranger station. We loved Kickapoo!

If you're into bats, this is a good place to spend the evening, seeing them take flight from their underground hideaway. There are even some OK hiking trails around the park but I have to question the value of the $4.00/person entrance fee. There is no camping. There are no cabins. There are no lakes, mountains or big canyons. There is no scenic view. It's just a place to go to watch bats leave in the evening. Hmmmm.

On the way there we drove through Bandera, Leakey, Camp Wood, up to Rocksprings and down to Kickapoo Caverns. It added 2 hours to the trip to make it 4 1/2 hours from San Antonio, but was worth it considering this is the roughest and most picturesque part of the hill country. West of Camp Wood the terrain was definitely not as rough, but it was still hilly and nice. There were less trees and the flora was an amalgam of hill country and desert. The caverns were fun for the whole family. They are not developed like most tourist caverns. You bring your own light source and you have to scramble up and down the rocks which made it more interesting. There were typical rock formations such as stalactites and stalagmites. Nothing extraordinary if you've been to other caverns but nice none the less. After touring the cave, we hiked around the park on foot. There are plenty of hills to climb and a dry creek (it was during a drought). We then drove to Brackettville and stayed in the old barracks at Fort Clark Springs which is worthy of its own review.