Paradise On The Water

We live 5 miles from this park by water but it’s a 33 mile trek by road to enter the park. Wonderful campsites for RVs & tents. Cabins available. Very clean and well maintained. Day use available. We really enjoyed the swimming area & the tranquility of the park. Stay a day, stay a week, bring the family. Swim, fish, camp, hike...there is something for the whole family.

Then And Now

Having visited this park 30+ years ago with most pleasant memories, I regret that I found this park to be in need of some repairs and updating. To be fair, the park was built before the big rigs of today. That said, the majority of the sites appear to be for tents or small trailers. Our site (#44 - Shady Grove Loop) was asphalt in need of repair, and was not very level. The utilities (water and 50 amp electricity) were in great working order. There is a dump station in the park. Sites all have a picnic table and fire pit. Some picnic tables are situated on a concrete pad with a nice covering for shade, but the majority of the picnic tables sit on gravel/dirt. Our table was located on the wrong side of our trailer. Another note is that some of the sites were located under low hanging trees; our site was clear of that. While I am a big fan of state parks in general and Texas State Parks particularly, I would not come back until I know some repairs and updates were made.

Great State Park

We stayed in shady Grove. It is closest to the boat launch and dump station. The sites are not all equal in this area, as ours (51) was not big enough to back into due to erosion. The sites are well spaced with lots of trees. The Spanish oaks area has better site improvements but without trees it looks like the RVs are right on top of each other. Park staff is very friendly. There is a toilet and shower located in each area. They are clean enough for the Virgin Mary to be proud to take a dump in. The official swim area is by Spanish oaks. Fishing was difficult in shady Grove due to high lake levels making lots of submerged rocks and snags. The other campers were pleasant and everyone respected the 2200 quiet time. All that to say I would stay here again.

Enjoyable

Certainly more focused on fishing and boating but the place was nice and clean and quiet. The sites are mostly spaced out pretty well. Good hiking trails but theres only a small few of them.

Spanish oaks

Stayed 3 nights in the Spanish oaks campground. Pros: lakeside sites with access to water. Near the swimming beach. Covered picnic table. Fire ring. Cons: no shade; grass needed mowing and cigarette butts scattered on our campsite. Dump station is on opposite side of campground near boat launch. Marina and boat dock privately owned. Most sites are small.

Great Lakeside Spot

We were there in January and had the entire park to ourselves. It's beautiful! Make sure to pop into the marina shop, the owner gives great info about the area.