Goliad State Park - Mission Espíritu Santo

The Mission Espíritu Santo was established on the Texas coast in 1722 to convert native Karankawa Indians to Christianity. The Karankawa were not receptive to this new religion and the mission was moved two times before it settled along the San Antonio River near present day Goliad, Texas. The native Aranama in the area converted to Christianity and accepted a life of farming and ranching in return for food, shelter and protection from more aggressive tribes. The mission became the first large cattle ranch in Texas, with nearly 40,000 free roaming cattle. It was closed in 1830, slowly crumbling, until  the 1930s when it was restored by the CCC under President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.

 

The mission is part of Goliad State Park and includes the restored church, a small museum and a mission school building with exhibits on the crafts taught to the Aranama. The park also has two RV campgrounds and two tent only campgrounds.

  To access the paved path to the mission enter through the front door of the ranger station and exit through the back door. The church is accessible. The museum is accessible but has a steep ramp between the rooms. A packed gravel path leads to the school building. Follow it around to the rear of the building to access the ramp. We did not stay at the campground.

The parking lots are large enough for RVs.

Park   28.65705, -97.38669

Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site

   Seminole Canyon gets it’s name from the Black Seminole scouts who fought in the US army during the Texas-Indian wars. The Black Seminole were escaped slaves who had been living in Florida with the Seminole Indian tribes. Both the Seminole and Black Seminole were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1830s. Many of the Black Seminole went across the border to Mexico to escape becoming enslaved again. In 1870 the Black Seminole were invited back to the US and promised food and provisions, as well as reimbursement for traveling costs if they agreed to join the army. Unfortunately none of the promises were met but decedents of the scouts still live in the area.

The canyon has been a home for people for 12,000 years. Grasslands and forests supported elephants, camels, bison, and horses but by 7,000 years ago the drier climate meant small game hunting and gathering of desert plants. Early people had always used the rock shelters carved by the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Devils Rivers and later inhabitants left their mark by making huge, intricate paintings on the shelter walls which have survived for 4,000 years due to the dry climate.
  The park was established in 1980 to protect the canyon and rock shelters. It features a visitor center with a very nice little museum, guided tours of two shelters, trails, picnic areas, and a campground.
The trails are not accessible but the museum has displays of the shelter paintings along with a brief history of the Native Americans, Black Seminoles, ranching and sheep herding.  We did not check the campground for accessibility.

  The visitor center lot has long RV spaces.  Park
29.70037, -101.31347

San Antonio River Walk - North

  The northern section of the River Walk was completed in 2009 and is much more tranquil than the downtown loop with beautiful landscaping and water features. Art installations are spaced out along the walkway and it also goes past the San Antonio Museum of Art .

  Since this section of the walkway is new all of the access points have ramps along with steps. The bridges that cross the river are all accessible. The pavement is mostly smooth concrete. Watch the edges because many sections do not have railings or edge guards. The river taxis venture as far as the lock and dam.The boats are wheelchair accessible with a flat spot at the front of the boat next to the driver.  River Boat 

  Parking is available along the streets at the far north end of the River Walk near the old Pearl Brewery.

Parking may also be possible in the brewery lot.  River Walk
29.44382, -98.48124
 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

   We visited this park hoping that some of the trails would be a little accessible but they all are narrow with a deep rut in the middle. The handicapped sites, however, are very good. There are three newly built sites in the Sagebrush Campground. They have a large paved area for a RV and another vehicle and pavement to an accessible table, grill, and fire pit. The paving also extends to the water and electrical hookups and to the restrooms.

  The terrain of the canyon is quite different from the surrounding Texas plains so even though there aren’t many accessible activities, the scenic drive along the canyon road is nice. The road down to the canyon is very steep-be prepared to downshift. The small visitor’s center is accessible but the road to the parking area is so steep that the rangers recommend parking in the lot above and walking down. A van should be fine but large RVs shouldn’t attempt it.  Palo Duro Canyon
34.93549, -101.63688
 

Lake Texana State Park

    Six campsites in this campground are considered handicapped accessible but most of them are inadequate. The tables are on elevated concrete platforms so in the handicapped sites,concrete ramps have been built up to the platform. The paved parking pads have not been widened and there isn’t any pavement leading to the tables. Some of the sites have a drop off from the parking pad ,slopes down to the table , rough ground leading to the table and ramp front edges that are not even with the ground. Only one has easy access to the restroom.  The tables do have a long overhang on one end.

   We didn’t use a handicapped site. The site pictured above is in the non-electric section which is only suitable for shorter RVs. If you can fit and don’t need electricity ,I’d recommend the non-electric section because it isn’t very popular. We had it almost all to ourselves with a nice lake view too.  Check around first rather than taking a handicapped site. Some of the regular ones have fairly level ground,the parking pads are flush with the ground and the concrete table platforms are flush to the ground too. The only thing that you won’t have is the table overhang.  Lake Texana State Park Campground