Located on the northwest side of San Antonio, off of Bandera Road, O.P. Schnabel Park lies on just 200 acres, but it has just as much to offer as some of San Antonio’s larger parks (maybe even more with a YMCA on site!). On the Sunday we visited, it was full of families, dogs, runners, and bike riders, all enjoying the lovely pre-spring weather.

The Braundera YMCA at the park offers a pool with slides, a splash pad, and a rock wall. O.P. Schnabel Park also has a fun, updated playground; two pavilions for rent (one with a kitchen); lots of shade and places to sit; easy access to Leon Springs Greenway; more than 50 picnic tables; basketball courts; and fields for baseball, soccer, and football.

Who was O.P. Schnabel? According to the San Antonio Parks and Recreation website:

Schnabel was widely known for his efforts to ‘keep San Antonio clean and beautiful,’ and mounted many clean-up and beautification campaigns. He used catchy phrases such as ‘nice people don’t litter’ and ‘be a beauty bug, not a litter bug.’ Many thought that ‘O.P.’ stood for Old Push Broom, but the letters were actually Schnabel’s initials.”

We found the park to be clean and lots of fun.

While Delaney and Waylon love a good playground as much as the next kid, I love that O.P. Schnabel is full of trees that beg kids to climb. The branches arch up and over many sections of the park, providing a shady, fairytale-like forest, perfect for playtime.

As we walked through the woods behind the playground, we came across a few boys who were building a hut out of long tree branches. It looked like something out of a Hobbit movie. My kids were completely enchanted and began to invent stories about a troll who lived in the hut.

Next we played “camping” and Waylon set up a campfire. For us, park visits are as much about engaging the imagination as they are about exercising the body.

After playing for a while, we walked down a paved trail to check out the rest of the park. We didn’t take a stroll on the Leon Springs Greenway (this time) but lots of people were walking, running, and biking in that direction.

Instead, we took a walk down another trail in the opposite direction and checked out this pavilion and a pretty overlook.

Next time we go back we’ll take our bikes and scooters for a spin down the greenway.

Even Templeton (aka Parkaholic) had a great time at O.P. Schnabel Park. I know he’d go back in a second (although, to be fair, he’d go anywhere in a second).