Mustang Island State Park

Mustang Island takes its name from the wild horses that came ashore from shipwrecks and Spanish expeditions and once ran here. It is one of the seven Texas barrier islands, a long strip of dune and grass between Corpus Christi Bay and the Gulf. The Karankawa peoples camped on and around the islands in fall and winter and moved inland in spring and summer, before ranchers and then tourists came.

The state park holds more than five miles of the island's Gulf beach, with the dunes behind it, between Port Aransas and Padre Island. You can camp on the sand at one of 50 drive-up primitive sites or a third of a mile back at 48 sites with water and electricity, where the showers are. Portable toilets stand along two miles of beach. Fishing is in the surf or on the bay, birding is best in spring and fall migrations, and the park lends two beach wheelchairs free.

The bay side is the quieter half. The Mustang Island Paddling Trail follows the island's western shoreline in Corpus Christi Bay in three segments, twenty miles in all, through some of the best shallow-water fishing in Texas, with close views of coastal birds. Visit in the cooler months for an emptier beach; spring and summer are the busy seasons, and the park often fills, so reserve a day pass. Read the park's swimming safety tips before going in.