Palo Pinto Mountains State Park, State park in Palo Pinto County, Texas.
Palo Pinto Mountains State Park is a Texas state park in Palo Pinto County featuring high plateaus, canyons, and a lake at its center. The terrain belongs to the Cross Timbers forest region, where rocky ridges and open woodland cover the hills and drop into narrow valleys.
The land was a private ranch before the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department bought it in October 2011 with help from The Nature Conservancy. The park was planned to open in 2023, but supply issues during the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the opening to March 1, 2026, with a grand ceremony on April 10, 2026.
The name "Palo Pinto" is Spanish for "painted stick," referring to the mottled wood of the area's trees. The park lies in the Western Cross Timbers Ecoregion, where live oak, blackjack oak, post oak and pecan grow among rocky ridges. Visitors can also look for sideoats grama, the state grass of Texas, and bluebonnets and Indian blanket in season.
The park lies near Strawn, west of Dallas-Fort Worth, in Palo Pinto and Stephens counties. Tucker Lake allows only boats with electric motors, and the reservoir supplies drinking water for the town, so swimming access is limited. The park opened on March 1, 2026, with its grand opening ceremony on April 10, 2026.
Tucker Lake, the 90-acre reservoir at the park's centre, was completed in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration with Public Works Administration financing. Originally called Strawn Lake, it was renamed for a local mayor, is about 35 feet deep at its deepest, and supplies the town of Strawn's drinking water. Only electric-motor boats are allowed.
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