Sam Houston Jones State Park — Sam Houston Jones State Park District II

We originally had two nights booked at this campground, but after one night and spending a day on the trails here, we booked two more nights for a different campground that was available. We originally were insight 24, and then we moved over to site number six. Both of these two have no one beside them on one side, so it gave us some privacy and made us feel like we were really camping. Lol. It appears that a lot of people use this campsite as a stop over as they are traveling, because in the evenings it would fill up and then early the next morning lots of people would be gone. There are very spacious sites here, there were lots of very large bus RVs and fifth wheels. We have a small travel trailer, so we had loads of space around our campsite. Each paved and pretty level campsite has a nice paved picnic area with a picnic table and a fire ring. All of the hook ups were very well maintained. The dumpster is located near the bathhouse, which looks to be fairly new. There’s also a small laundromat here that I saw people going in and out of. Everything is very well-maintained throughout this park. The roads have obviously been repaved over the last few years, and there are nice cabins to be rented as well as spaces for tent campers. We saw a variety of birds while riding our bikes through the trails and around the swamp/marsh area. We also saw turtles and a few alligators. I record my GPS tracks when riding bicycles and we rode over 40 miles while there. The trails are a mixture of gravel and dirt, and there are shared roads. There were some more difficult trails, that we definitely would not ride again, but we saw other people that were very easily getting around on the trails. There are a lot of what seem to be local people who use this park for exercise, walking, running, bicycling, even people on scooters, people out, enjoying the solitude of sitting by the river, it’s really nice to see. The staff members that we encountered at the gate were very efficient and friendly. We ventured off site to a visit to a rum distillery for a tour one day and that was fun. There’s a nice dollar store nearby for any necessary items.

This park is old and needs some work, but we enjoyed the stay. We were there mid-February 2019 and stayed for a week. It rained almost the entire time we were there so didn’t get to explore as much as we would have liked. However, one day we were able to walk the trail beside the river which was very nice and well-maintained. The campground is small and for the weekend it was full. During the week there were very few campers. We were in spot #53 and I would highly recommend that spot. We only had one neighbor to one side, and it felt a bit more isolated than the others. When things are full on the weekends, it can seem a bit crowded with spots being close together. It never felt like to cramped for us because we had (IMO) one of the best spots in the campground. Some spots have full hook-up, while others are electricity and water only. Ours was electricity and water only. The dump station is nearby and if you need to dump with a tote you could easily do so. Most of the campground is not level, but nothing bad enough that you can’t get level with blocks. There is a very nice laundry room that is free. That was a great perk. There are 3 washers and 3 dryers. Several of the units seemed brand new. We took advantage of that and did some laundry during our stay. Like I said, it rained the entire time, so the site was muddy, but not as bad as we thought it would get. Internet access was good. We had 3-4 bars of AT&T and Verizon. Lake Charles and Sulphur are not far away and have anything you need while visiting. The park has some nice scenery and the trail provided some good wildlife. The main things they need to do to improve it would be fix some of the roads/camping spots that have significant potholes. Also, the camping spots could benefit from some grading to make them a bit more level. It is my understanding that the park has made vast improvements recently and it shows. Give it a bit more time and it will be a great place to stay. Overall, we would probably camp there again.  Cost is $20/night during the week and $28/night on the weekend. These price are for off-peak season.