Penitentiary Hollow Mineral Wells Sate Park Texas

PENITENTIARY HOLLOW IN LAKE MINERAL WELLS STATE PARK

Lake Mineral Wells State Park is just a couple miles from beautiful downtown Mineral Wells. This park has many attributes, a fishing lake surrounded by woods which becomes a warm swimming hole in summer, a trail connection to the main Lake Mineral Wells Trailway and a major rock climbing area called Penitentiary Hollow.

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A dam forms Lake Mineral Wells. Dams seem to form most of the lakes in Texas. The road across the dam often serves double duty as a spillway.

The entry to Penitentiary Hollow.

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Looking into the Hollow. The photo assistant for this look at Penitentiary Hollow was an acrophobic West Texan. West Texans grow up in a flatland with few opportunities to get acclimated to cliffs and mountains.

Dozens of rock climbers, here above the Hollow, dozens more down in the Hollow.

Ropes tethered to trees with humans dangling below.

Rock climbers and rock climber assistants in the Hollow.

As you can see in this photo rock climbers in Texas come in all shapes, sizes and ages.

Like a bug on a wall this climber seemed glued to one spot for a long time. And then he fell.

Rappelling down appeared to be a lot more fun than trying to climb up.

This one appears to be climbing up. But he may be rappelling down.

There are caves down in Penitentiary Hollow. And narrow passageways between cliffs. These passageways activated the West Texan's claustrophobia. That flat West Texas land seems to be a severe phobia generator.

Trails take you from Penitentiary Hollow down to Lake Mineral Wells and then lead around the lake to the other parts of the park, like the camping area.

Lake Mineral Wells State Park & Trailway is located in Mineral Wells, Parker County, Texas. It includes Lake Mineral Wells and Penitentiary Hollow, a geological feature which resembles a small canyon. It is a popular site for rock climbing. The park also has over 17 miles of hiking trails, 9 of which are open to bicycles and horses.

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