Freshwater Pond Loop

Dogs Unknown

Features Birding · Wildlife

The park map shows a parking lot on the south end of the loop, but the gate is almost always closed and you'll be required to walk Prairie Trail and/or Freshwater Pond Trail to access the Freshwater Pond Loop.

The best way to access Freshwater Pond Loop is by parking at the lot by the trailheads for Caracara and Clapper Rail Trail, then starting at Prairie Trail and turning left onto Freshwater Pond Trail. The map for this trail shows the starting point at the northern corner of the loop, where Freshwater Pond Trail connects to it.

The Freshwater Pond Loop is the best chance for spotting alligators at Galveston Island State Park, so keep your eyes peeled the entire time you're on it. You can hike the loop trail in either direction, but if you decide to hike clockwise then you'll begin with the large pond on your right and a small stand of trees on the left. When you reach the eastern corner of the loop, you'll take a right and continue with a pond on either side of you.

There's a fork in the trail ahead of you, and both options will rejoin as the common trail after just a tenth of a mile. After re-merging, you'll come up to a grass parking area that's no longer in use and you'll take another right. As you approach the West corner of the loop, you have the option to continue straight and return to the parking lot via Prairie Trail, or turn right again to finish the last quarter mile of Freshwater Pond Loop.

You'll have the pond in sight on your righthand side until you reach the start/end point on the northern end of the pond. From there, return to the parking lot the same way you came.

Alligators and coastal birds.