PIN101: Grasslands Nature Trail
in Texas
This Chronolog station provides long-term monitoring of the changing plant life within the coastal prairie habitat in the park. The prairie habitat at this station is often drier than lower lying wetland prairie habitat in the park. The Grasslands Nature Trail is a 0.75-mile (1.2 km) loop trail with paved access to the grasslands and dunes of the island, and provides benches interspersed throughout the loop.
Among the abundant dune grasses and wildflowers of the coastal prairie, hikers may also spot ground squirrels, keeled earless lizards, crested caracaras, and a variety of other wildlife from the trail. View the photo timelapse from this chronolog station.
- States
- Texas
- Trail type
- National Seashore trail
- Centroid nearest city
- San Antonio, TX · 153 mi · ~4 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 27.4739°, -97.2875°
About Padre Island National Seashore
This trail is inside Padre Island National Seashore, a national seashore managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Conditions, road status, trail closures, and reservation requirements are published on the park's NPS page — check it before driving in, especially in winter or during major weather events.
Entrance fee: $25 per vehicle (verify current rate on the park page). An America the Beautiful annual pass ($80) covers entrance to all NPS units.
Official NPS trail page: https://www.nps.gov/places/pin101-grasslands-nature-trail.htm
Park homepage: https://www.nps.gov/pais/index.htm
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked PIN101: Grasslands Nature Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.