Lick Creek Park is College Station's big nature park

Tucked into south College Station, Lick Creek Park is 523 acres of Post Oak Savannah, not a ballfield park. The Gary Halter Nature Center is the front door. It has a meeting room, outdoor classroom, amphitheater, native plant displays, and a monarch butterfly garden.

Five miles of marked trails wind through the park for hiking, cycling, bird watching, horseback riding, and nature study. The habitat protects the endangered Navasota ladies'-tresses, a small native orchid found in only a few Texas counties.

Spring and fall migration make the birding especially good. The park lets visitors feel the older landscape under College Station.