BY JONATHAN CANNON

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Four miles from U.S. Highway 75, nestled along Lake Texoma, there's an outdoor enthusiast's retreat.

It's a place where patrons can see a tarantula scurry across the road and where wild turkeys and deer sometimes wander into the camp grounds. It's 423 acres of serene views where fishermen can cast their lines and swimmers can enjoy a naturally sandy beach, a rugged outdoor paradise where coyotes, owls and a host of other critters create a nighttime nature chorus.

It's "the wilderness" that draws tens of thousands of visitors to Eisenhower State Park every year, said Park Superintendent Paul Kisel.

For some, the park is an inexpensive weekend retreat or day trip from a busy suburban life in the Metroplex. For others it's a regular stop on an annual RV trip to the Rio Grande Valley for the winter. They're called "winter Texans," Kisel said, and they stop at the park on their way into and out of the state.

In 2004, the park recorded 82,764 day visitors, with 65,835 of them out-of-county visitors. According to an economic impact study on the park, they spent an estimated $506,930 in the county.

"They come here to enjoy the wood and enjoy the lake," Kisel said. And while visitors can stay at numerous campsites around the lake, Kisel said he thought it was the safe, family-oriented atmosphere that draws them to a state park.

Marti and Dede Runnels, who came from Plainview to the park for Labor Day weekend, said they choose the state park because of their confidence in the park system.

"We just really trust state parks," Dede said.

The couple said they left their teen sons at home for the weekend. When asked about their plans for the weekend, Dede said: "You're looking at it," as she and her husband laid out a blanket in the sand.

As an unusually windy day brought waves onto the beach Friday afternoon, Marti did wonder about their only planned activity, to go striper fishing with a guide on Sunday. However, the wind also seemed to carry the concern away as it brought in the smell of the lake and cooled the air.

For now, the couple just uses their Texas State Parks Pass to visit occasionally, but in a little less than five years, they plan to "sell it all" and become full time RVers, Dede said. So this trip serves as a research endeavor as they quiz park staff about Eisenhower's handful of like-minded visitors.

One hundred steps up from the beach on a nearby playground in the park, Katy and Chris Sanosi watch their four-year-old twin girls play. The Frisco couple decided the cool, sunny day was too beautiful to keep them inside and left suburbia for Lake Texoma. Katy said they only happened upon the park.

They too, said they didn't have specific plans, but spending time on the beach was on the agenda. However, swimming may not be a part of it. "Swimming in the lake? Yuck," said one of the twins.

Kisel said the park, is about more than recreation. It's fulfilling the Texas State Parks' mission to create a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts.

"It's one thing to have the great outdoors, it's another to teach somebody something about it," Kisel said.

To teach visitors, the park hosts programs like a camping program that provides the equipment and training to families who want to learn the sport for a low cost and a free fishing pole and tackle loaner program. For the casual angler, the park also offers a place to cast, since no fishing license is required when fishing from a bank or pier in a Texas state park.

That's what drew Dewi Utgard and her son Brody to the park several weeks ago.

"You all were so wonderfully kind and we had a GREAT time fishing there (at) the nicest, cleanest state park we have ever been to," she wrote on the park's Facebook page.

Kisel said it's the park's staff that helps create experiences like this one. There is a full staff of rangers, he said, who patrol regularly and are always ready to take a Scout Troop on a guided tour and point out the natural plant and wildlife.

"I say all the time, a lot of this stuff is better taught then caught," Kisel said.