Smithville Party Bus, Limo & Shuttle Rental

The Lost Pines forest that surrounds Smithville is one of the most unusual ecosystems in Texas, and it is worth understanding before visiting Buescher and Bastrop State Parks. The Lost Pines are a stand of loblolly pines -- the same species that dominates East Texas piney woods -- but separated by more than a hundred miles from the nearest naturally occurring pine population. Geologists believe the Lost Pines are a relic forest from a wetter, cooler climate that persisted in the sandy soil and slightly elevated terrain of southern Bastrop County after the surrounding pine forests retreated east. There are theoretical reasons the Lost Pines should not exist where they do; in practice, they have been there for thousands of years. Buescher State Park sits two miles north of Smithville on Park Road 1C and is the smaller, quieter of the two state parks in the Lost Pines. The park covers about 1,000 acres centered on a 30-acre lake that is good for fishing and quiet kayaking but not for big swimming; the water is shaded, cool, and somewhat shallow. The hiking trails wind through pine and post-oak woodland and are some of the few opportunities in Central Texas to walk through what feels like East Texas piney woods. Several of the original Civilian Conservation Corps structures from the 1930s -- stone shelters, picnic pavilions, the original park headquarters -- are still standing and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Park Road 1C, a twelve-mile scenic road, connects Buescher to Bastrop State Park to the west. The road runs through the heart of the Lost Pines and is one of the most scenic short drives in Central Texas. The 2011 Bastrop Complex Fire -- the most destructive wildfire in Texas history at the time -- burned through much of the Lost Pines along this road, killing an estimated 1.5 million pine trees and destroying more than 1,600 homes. The reforestation effort that followed planted millions of seedlings; today the canopy is recovering, with new pines fifteen to twenty feet tall mixed with the surviving older trees and the bleached snags of the fire-killed ones. Driving the road in 2026 is a real-time view of forest recovery in progress; it is not the same forest it was before the fire, but it is no longer the post-apocalyptic landscape it became immediately after. Bastrop State Park itself, on the western end of Park Road 1C, has more developed amenities than Buescher -- a larger lake, more campsites, the historic Refectory restaurant building from the CCC era, and a swimming pool. The park is twice the size of Buescher (about 6,600 acres) and gets significantly more visitors. For a Smithville bus day that includes the parks, the typical pattern: morning in Smithville (downtown, "Hope Floats" walk, lunch), afternoon at Buescher or driving Park Road 1C to Bastrop State Park, return to Austin via TX-71. The bus accommodates the dual-park visit easily.