Best Outdoor Activities In Abilene – My Top Five

Abilene is a destination city for golfers. There are three public golf courses within the city limits: Maxwell Municipal Golf Course, Diamondback Golf, and Willow Creek Golf Center. Each offers different experiences depending on the level of your game. Maxwell Municipal Golf Course, at 1002 South 32nd, has been the mainstay public course in Abilene since 1934 and is a reasonable outing for any avid golfer. You can play the course with or without a golf cart. Use of your own cart is permitted or they will rent you one that has a GPS on board. Diamondback Golf Club, at 1510 East Industrial Blvd, was designed by PGA winner Charles Coody, who is a long time Abilene resident. It is a challenging course and rounds of golf there include a golf cart provided by the facility. Willow Creek Golf Center, at 1166 Ben Richey Drive, is a par 3 course of 9 holes, and has a 150-yard driving range. It is fully lighted and open until midnight every night. It's a great little course for a leisurely round of golf, or just for improving your swing on the driving range.

Fishing is a popular activity in the Abilene area, and in spite of drought conditions, the lakes are accessible and well stocked. Fort Phantom Lake is the closest large, deep lake for fishermen. It is noted for hybrid striper bass, catfish, and even the occasional walleye. The public boat ramp at Lake Phantom offers easy access, or fishermen may choose to try their luck from shore. Floating docks are also available to cast a line. Fort Phantom is just off FM600 about 15 miles north of Abilene. Other excellent lakes in the region include Lake Brownwood and Lake Coleman.

Hunting opportunities abound near Abilene, and depending on the licensed season, you can hunt year round. Of course wild hog hunts are popular and open any time. It's a service to try to rid the area of them. If you know someone who owns rural land, it's easy to schedule a hunt. If not there are numerous guided hunts and day hunts available all over the region. During dove and deer season you can pick up a copy of the Abilene Reporter News or American Classifieds and find just what you're looking for. Our area of central Texas is well known for deer, dove, and quail hunting. If your tastes run to the exotics, you can find several ranches designed for those hunts as well. I've included links to a few websites to book hunting excursions.

Abilene is all about wide open spaces and rural roads so it makes sense that our city is suited for biking. Whether you're into mountain bikes or road bikes, Abilene has the terrain you're looking for. For mountain biking, Buck Creek Trails offers a dedicated area for rugged off-roading on a mountain bike. It is limited to Abilene Bike Club members and their guests, but I've included a link to more information about the site, located just off Interstate 20 at East Lake Road (FM 2833). For road bikes, the possibilities are almost endless. FM 89 South, just outside the Abilene city limits, is a popular route for bicyclists. It has wide paved shoulders and runs for approximately 6 miles from its FM 707 intersection to the beautiful little town of Buffalo Gap. There are several rural and FM roads that intersect FM 89 and riders can explore and create their own routes. Two of the more well ridden of these paved roads are Belle Plain Road and Iberis Road. Check the links below for information via local bike dealer Bike Town. This dealership also sponsors an annual charity ride in the area referenced above called 'The Tour De Gap'. All proceeds from the annual ride benefit the Food Bank Of West Central Texas.

This Abilene outdoor activity almost qualifies as a 'best kept secret'. Cal Young Park at East South 11th and T&P Lane incorporates a disc golf course, as does Will Hair Park just off Ambler between Treadaway and Judge Ely, and Wildcat Disc Golf Course at Cedar Crest and East North 10th. The Cal Young course is a full 18 holes while the other two are 9-hole courses. I've only played the game a couple of times, but as the name implies, it's just like regular golf with a frisbee! The holes are elevated metal baskets attached to a pole. Each hole has a par and golfers have an arsenal of discs in different sizes and weights, depending on whether they're driving, chipping, or putting. It really is a lot of fun and unlike regular golf, anyone can have a good time doing it without perfecting the swing of a club. Of course, to get really good at it takes a lot of practice. There is a lot of useful information via the Abilene Disc Golf Association website linked below. If you're looking for a new hobby that's a lot of fun, disc golf just might be the ticket.