Dallas does not have the mountains or the coast. What we have is a good road in a lot of directions, and a handful of small towns close enough to reach in an afternoon but far enough to feel like somewhere else. Glen Rose is one of them. Ninety minutes southwest, set in limestone hill country along the Paluxy River, it has dinosaur tracks in the riverbed, a wildlife park full of giraffes wandering loose, a historic square worth a walk, and a 60-year-old barbecue joint that is the real reason I keep going back.
Here is how to spend a weekend there with a tent.
Start with the reservation. Dinosaur Valley State Park sits just outside town and has 46 campsites with water and 30-amp electric, two primitive hike-in areas, and two group camps. The park reaches capacity most weekends from March through November, and campsite reservations open five months out, so book early. The park office is at (254) 897-4588 and the Texas Parks and Wildlife reservation line is (512) 389-8900. Day use runs eight dollars for adults and is free for kids twelve and under. Gates open at six in the morning and close at ten at night.
Friday afternoon, roll in, set up camp, and get down to the river before sunset. The Paluxy runs clear over limestone, and the track sites are in the riverbed itself. Whether you can actually see them depends on the water level, which changes with the weather, so check the park’s Facebook page before you go. When the tracks are visible, they are genuinely startling. One hundred and thirteen million years old, left by theropods and sauropods walking along what was then a shallow inland sea, now right there under your feet.
For dinner, drive the two miles into town to Hammond’s BBQ at 1106 Northeast Big Bend Trail. This is the whole reason the weekend works. A.J. Hammond opened the place in 1966 after building a pit in his backyard and working from the barbecue recipes he learned growing up in Burnet. Sixty years later, Larry and Judy Higgins own it, and they have kept A.J.’s traditions intact. The room is what you want it to be. Wood paneling, picnic tables, vinyl booths, walls covered in old photographs and Texas kitsch, a counter where you order and a waitress who brings it out. The locals are half the crowd. The smell hits you from the parking lot.
The brisket is the draw. Ask for a little fat on the sliced and it comes out tender, smoky, with a proper bark. Order the rib plate and you get meat pulling cleanly off the bone with the kind of pepper-forward rub that rewards eating with your hands. The jalapeño cheddar sausage is worth adding to any plate. The smoked turkey gets quiet praise from the people who have been going there for twenty years. Sides are the southern ones you want — brisket beans, potato salad with the right tang, fried okra that is actually crispy, mac and cheese, fried green tomatoes on the days they run them. The loaded baked potato topped with chopped brisket is the move if you are trying to eat once and be done.
Save room for dessert. Peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, buttermilk pie, and pecan pie are all made in-house. The cobblers are the best bet and come out warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you ask. Thursdays, the kitchen fires up a prime rib special that is thick-cut and served with au jus. Fridays rotate a special the pitmasters invent on the fly. Both sell out. Hours are limited — Wednesday and Thursday eleven to three, Friday and Saturday eleven to eight, Sunday eleven to three, and they are closed Monday and Tuesday — so plan around them. Get there before the lunch rush at noon or after it clears around two. Friday nights fill up steadily starting around six.
Back at camp, start a fire. Bring bourbon or wine, whatever you like. The sky over Glen Rose at night is darker than anything you get in Dallas, and if you are lucky with the moon, the Milky Way is right there.
Saturday morning, coffee on the camp stove and an early walk. The park has twenty miles of trails, some easy along the river, some steeper up into the cedar breaks. Swim in the Blue Hole or the Main Track Site if the weather cooperates. Pack a lunch from the cooler or head back into town.
Saturday afternoon belongs to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, a few miles down the road. It is a 1,700-acre drive-through preserve with giraffes, zebras, rhinos, cheetahs, and a long list of endangered species you can see from your car window. Buy a bag of food at the gate and the giraffes will come to the window. Kids lose their minds. Grownups do too. Plan on two or three hours.
Dinner Saturday, you have a choice. Stay in and grill at camp, which is always a good option when the weather is right. Or drive twenty-five minutes out to Loco Coyote Grill, a roadhouse on Country Road 1004 with steaks, burgers, BBQ, catfish, live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and the feeling that you have stumbled into the right place. Go hungry. Portions are Texas-sized.
Sunday morning, break camp slowly. Walk the historic Glen Rose square before you leave. Storiebook Cafe is on the square and worth a stop for coffee and a pastry. The Somervell County Museum is free. Barnard’s Mill, the oldest standing structure in town, is nearby.
On the way home, take Highway 67 north to Stephenville and stop at Hard Eight BBQ at 1091 Glen Rose Road. This is the original location, opened in 2003 by a family that named it after a beloved eight-point buck on their whitetail ranch in Brady and a lucky roll at the craps table. Hard Eight has grown to five locations across Texas but the Stephenville pit is still the mothership, and it runs on a walk-the-line model that makes the whole experience feel like a tailgate. You queue outside at the pit, point at what you want, and the pitmaster pulls it straight off the smoke and onto your tray. Brisket, beef ribs, pork ribs, jalapeño sausage, pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, quail, and a half chicken that has been the quiet favorite of the regulars for fifteen years. Inside you pick up sides, bread, and a drink. Find a long picnic table. The cobbler here is also worth getting.
Two stops, two different traditions. Hammond’s is the small-town joint that has been doing the same thing the same way for six decades. Hard Eight is the live-pit spectacle that grew into a regional name without losing the smoke. Together they make the drive feel less like a commute and more like a proper barbecue run.
A few practical notes. Bring bug spray, a good flashlight, and more water than you think you need. The park has showers in the main camping loop but the primitive sites do not. Cell service is patchy, which is the point. The river crossing to the South Primitive Area requires wading, and high water can make it impassable, so call the park first if that is where you are headed. And book the campsite the minute the five-month window opens for any holiday weekend. These sites go fast.
Glen Rose is not a food destination in the way Lockhart or Taylor are. But it has Hammond’s, and it has a state park with dinosaur tracks in the riverbed, and it has a wildlife preserve full of giraffes, and it has a square you can walk on a Sunday morning with coffee in your hand. Add Hard Eight on the drive home and you have a weekend that covers the ground properly.
