MOODY, Texas – Located about an hour’s drive north of Fort Cabazos, Mother Nev State Park is a great place for easy hiking and quiet reflection. Although not flashy parks like Paro Duro Canyon or Big Bend, Mother Nev offers peaceful Central Texas landscapes and interesting history.
Mother Neff State Park, one of Texas’ first state parks, was founded in 1921 when Isabella “Mother” Neff passed away and bequeathed six acres from the family’s 900-acre home along the Leon River to the state to the park. Neff was Pat Neff’s mother and served as governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925.
Because there was no state park department at the time of the land’s contribution, Pat developed the area at Neff Memorial Park, which features campsites and hiking trails. Texas established the Texas State Parks Commission in 1923 and began accepting private property to develop into parks.
In 1934, Pat donated 250 acres of family land along Leon to the state, and his neighbors donated another 3.5 acres.
The Work Relief Program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a crew member of the Civil Protection Corps (CCC), created hiking trails and roads, campsites, pavilions and observation towers in the 259-acre park between 1934 and 1938. Mother Nev State Park officially opened in 1937.
Mother Nev has 20 full hook-up campsites with bathrooms, showers and cooking washing stations in the camp loop. For group camps, the 4-bedroom lodge can accommodate 16 people.
The park also has 15 campsites with water, but are now closed due to flood damage.
Floods have long plagued the park, with large sections being closed due to flood damage.
The park’s three CCC pavilions, like some of the park’s hiking areas, are also closed due to flood damage.
Despite some closures at the park, visitors still have many hiking areas open and access to many historic sites.
The hiking trails are well marked and maintained, but caution is urged as most of the stairs and stairs along the trail are stone. Many, if not many, of the stones were placed in the 1930s, with some being broken, loose or even removed with spots.
On an afternoon at the park, my family and I hiked the cave trails and tower trails. Both are short and easy hikes.
The cave trail is a 0.2 mile trek to the caves of the Rock Shelter, claimed to have been used by the Native American tribe Tonkawa. Today, rocky outcrops provide a cool, shady place to relax and incorporate the scenic forest. This cave is not most caves when the word “cave” is mentioned. It is a shallow but wide shelter beneath a rock overhang. The trailhead has signs that explain the history of the cave in detail.
The Tower Trail, which leads to the CCC Rock Tower observation point, is a 0.6-mile hike. This road took us to a CCC table. This is a large stone picnic table built with large limestone slabs. The table sits in a clearing, but fits well with the landscape and looks as if it had always been there.
We continued walking the trail past the table for a long time and eventually came to Rock Tower. The tower appears in virtually every written reference to Mother Nev State Park. The two-storey water and observation tower was built in the 1930s and features spiral rock staircases at the top. At the top, the open space offers panoramic views of the park. At this time of year, the 360-degree view is mostly a wooden top, but it still offers a considerable view of the scenery.
There are four or five other trails to explore. In total, the park has more than 3.5 miles of established hiking paths.
We followed the Golden Rule outdoors while we were on the trail and checked out the park. All the items we brought were photographed with us and we did not ingest or interfere with flora, wildlife or artifacts. We didn’t feed the wildlife and kept our dogs on leash. We left no trace so that we could enjoy the same natural and clean environment that others had visited on our trip.
Motherneff State Park is open daily from 8am to 8pm. The Visitor Centre is open from 9am to 4pm, but will close until noon on weekdays for lunch. There is a $2 admission fee per person, but children under the age of 12 are hospitalized free of charge. The full hook-up campsite costs $25 per night, while the watery site costs only $12 per night.
Camping reservations are highly recommended as the park is quickly filled and often abilities.
Visit to learn more about Mother Nev State Park or book a campsite tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/mother-neff.
