Best RV Parks & Resorts near Gardner, LA

     I was looking for a Louisiana location for an extended stay, I wanted to find a riverside, quiet location with large sites. A place where there was room for my travel trailer, boat, and truck. I found that and much more at Jones' Riverside Marina & RV Park.

     It is in the country but not that far from the charming city of Natchitoches. The staff members are always friendly and helpful. There is a well-stocked store along with a carry-out restaurant (sit down part is closed due to covid-19). They have a free boat ramp and docks (very handy for me). The fishing is always good from the bank or a boat. My travel trailer is small but this facility is big rig friendly. I like the laid-back atmosphere and southern hospitality that is present here. This is not a huge, fancy, "resort", but those are not for me. I don't care for the crowds, noise, price, and many restrictions of those places. This RV Park emulates the real Louisiana!

Chicot State Park is wonderful and well maintained. We had a wonderful weekend stay, and the weather was perfect. Take the time to drive around to the East Landing in the evening before sunset. It has one of the prettiest views of Chicot Lake. Also drive down to the South Fishing Pier below the South Campground. It has a long pier that goes out into the lake. My son spent a lot of time at the splash pad. Be sure to visit the free La. State Arboretum onsite. It has a great visitor center with some fantastic exhibits and nice hiking trails. 

Stayed in campsite#84. It has a nice deck with picnic table. BBQ grill and fire pit are on the other side of the RV spot. Even though it is in the front, it is actually quite secluded with woods all around. Nearest neighbor was at least 40-50 ft. Away. My son could easily walk or ride his bike to the splash pad. Both AT&T and Verizon had poor signal(1 bar each). Was able to connect to the free park Wi-Fi. It was slow, but I could send text messages and make the occasional phone call. Wasn't a big deal, because I came here to camp and get unplugged. We camped at Chicot State Park in a Travel Trailer.

I was out looking for a place to camp. I drove around the park. Some RV’s had dug in their sewer hoses for a more permanent living arrangement. There were other clues that verified some were living here very long term. You could tell some sites were set up like the people had been living there longer than a year.

While the owner was very nice and friendly, I just would not feel comfortable camping around people who live there long term.

I have since found out that this happens around Military Bases frequently. The reason is because it makes more financial sense for Military Personnel to not stay in base housing. Permanent Base Housing sucks their housing allowance away quickly. However, purchasing an RV and getting into a campground enables them to keep more of that money in their pockets.

This campground is near Fort Polk. I was told by one of the Army People that works there, this is what is happening with all of the RV resorts/campgrounds in the area. I understand what’s happening better now.

However, camping in a campground around a majority of the people that live in a place long term is more like moving into an old neighborhood. It’s equivalent to going to camp in a residential trailer park. That’s not camping. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This campground has large paved pull through sites with full hookups (electricity, water, and sewage). There are picnic tables, a playground, a swimming pool, a clubhouse and laundry facilities. There is also a camp store with RV essentials with name brands like Camco and they are reasonably priced. The casino has a shuttle service to take you back and forth to the casino and it runs all day and most of the night. The casino itself has a movie theater, spa, entertainment venues, an arcade for families, restaurants and a coffeehouse. My boys loved playing the basketball game in the arcade. The most amazing thing about the casino (since I am not a gambler) is their lobby. It has live alligators, fish and turtles in there. There’s also a boardwalk that connects the casino, campground and Tunica Indian museum and powwow ceremonial grounds and is also great for walking for exercise. They also have little cabins and chalets for rent at the back of the campground. They also accept Passport America.

Gator Grounds is a great private RV park near Bunkie, LA. We stayed two nights. Most of the sites are not shady. The park streets are concrete and sites are small crushed limestone. The park was clean and the staff was friendly, except for the manager. We went to the pool/slide area after setting up camp the evening of July 2. The big slide was closed. A staff person said they were short handed. We tried the yellow slide. My kids had no trouble, but I got stuck several times. My kids continued to slide while I went to the lazy river. Unfortunately we didn't have much time because we didn't realize the outside pool area closes at 7pm. Bummer! Really? Fourth of July weekend and you close down at 7pm! As we left my kids told me the manager was rude. She yelled at them for going down the slide doubled up. Ok, maybe that's against the rules, but there was no lifeguard at the top of the slide and the slide is not dangerous. Many kids were doing the same thing. The manager argued with my kids there was a lifeguard, even though I personally saw there wasn't. She also argued with them that they had been there for hours even though we only arrived less than 30 minutes ago. The fireworks show July 2nd night was very good. I was surprised how good and long it was. Included music, too. The rest of the weekend was great. Had a lot of fun playing beach volleyball with another family we met. Fortunately, the big slide was open July 3rd. But the outside pool area closed at 7pm again. One nice feature is they let you bring your own ice chest to the pavilion area by the pools. I didn't use the restrooms myself, but my kids said they were not clean. 

Amenities include pools, water slides, lazy river, hot tubs, volleyball pool, indoor pool/slide/splash pad, beach volleyball court, basketball court, hay bale"obstacle course", pond, camp store, mini restaurant, trash pickup, and golf cart rental. There is a zip-line area, but it didn't look open and we didn't ask about it. Stayed in back-in campsite#116 which was not shady but level. It was a crushed limestone site with some landscaping on either side and grass in the back. There are some trees planted between the sites, but it will be some years before they provide significant shade. There was enough parking for my 34 ft TT and truck. Neighbors are close by not crammed in. The site included: picnic table and fire ring. Utilities: 20/30/50A electric in middle of site. Water in middle of site, good pressure. Sewer in middle of site with 4-in screw-on fitting. 

AT&T had 2 bars of LTE. AT&T Speedtest: 7.6 Mbps down, 1.07 Mbps up. Did not use the WiFi service. Would probably stay here again, especially with a group. We camped at Gator Grounds RV Resort in a Travel Trailer.