Best Glamping near Marietta, OK

We stayed here for 2 weeks over Labor Day 2020. It is a secluded, large property far away from any road noise so it is very quiet. All sites have FHU 30/50 amp. Sites are either grass or some gravel. Our site, 25, was shady, grassy and level with room for us to park our car next to our MH. The owners are pleasant and helpful. When we arrived they were on vacation but they had a woman watching the park. She told us to pick any site. Our Verizon was 2 bars of 4G and I was told that AT&T is sketchy here. There is plenty of shopping in nearby Ardmore. There is 1 set of showers, a laundry room and 3 community fire pits. There are no dog runs but it seems nobody pays attention to the“Pets must be leashed and under control” rule. In my opinion this is one of those places where“Resort” is a misnomer. No picnic tables, cable, WiFi. Pool or other amenities associated with other RV Resorts. If you are in the area, especially for Lake Murray, you don’t need those other conveniences and enjoy peace and quiet this is a good place for you. Website is www.shangri-larvresort.com

This was the first time we camped in Loop C, which is reserve only. It was in January, so the Loop was about 1/3rd full with mostly RVs. Loop D, first come, first serve, had less campers. RV sites have water & electric & tent sites have shared water. The restrooms were very nice, clean and heated. We stayed at site 81C, which was a challenge to back into because of trees that were close to drive. The pad was fairly level & the picnic table/fire pit pad was separated from the RV pad. I could only imagine how secluded this site would feel with vegetation on the trees. This loop also had many tent sites and all the tent & RV sites are well sized & spaced. Some RV sites closer to the water look like they would be a challenge to level, but most sites have fairly level pads & all sites have very level picnic/fire pit pads for an area that has some generally steep slopes. There was only one lake view RV site in Loop C, 56C, that had the hookups on the side that pointed the front door towards the lake, but all had a gorgeous view from the picnic/fire pit pads. Absolutely love the Chickasaw National Recreational Area because of the many activities this park offers & its history.

One big issue with this park is the distance to the actual lake itself. You will need a cart or be ready for a hike to the beach area as it is quite a ways from the campground. that is an issue for us as my wife is disabled and needs a walker and we have no cart. But, lucky for us we were in the B section and decided one of the days we were there to attempt the picnic walk. Well worth it, even with a walker we managed to make it down to the waters edge within 15 minutes and its an easy gradual walk. Bring a picnic basket. tables to sit at or on the waters edge.

As for the rest of the camp, most amenities due to winter months and covid were shut down. Did see people enjoying the hot tub. The roads in many of these TT campground in the loop around Dallas do need attention so take your time going through them. We did need to use the laundry and they had ample enough machines and the basic price which was 1.50 and 1.75. The sites are nice, many shaded but snug not of other campers but trees. Some have fire pits, some do not. As with more and more campgrounds these days many annuals throughout the park.

Lake Murray is a large state park which is an easy drive north from the DFW area, so I stay in the SP frequently, but never at this campground. It’s located a bit off the beaten path on the South end of the park. It’s also a smaller campground which accommodates smaller RV’s. Also, there is boat ramp, but it is not large and has little parking, plus it’s not located down the road that leads to the campsites. This means there isn’t constant traffic and power boat noise. 

The campground is tucked into a cove of Lake Murray and is down the road from the dam.  There are some very nice walk in tent camping sites where you could walk down to the rocky lake edge and swim. There are also a few drive in tent sites. However, be aware that when I stayed here in spring of 2020, there is no bath house or toilet facilities. There was a nice playground and a little picnic area right on the lake.

The RV sites are scattered around a circular road and there are several right on the lake. These are the best in my opinion. One of them (site 17) is labeled “premium” and I would pay the extra $ to snag this site. 

• Site 14 - Water/Electric 50 and 30 amp, no sewer (dump on site)

• gravel pad, mostly level, has a tree on awning side so couldn’t deploy my awning, but really unnecessary because the site was nicely shaded

• Cement picnic bench, BBQ, fire ring

• Walk down from site to water with rock ledge to sit a chair on and dangle feet in the lake!

• Site is private on 1 side with forested creek/water run off area, but neighbor is fairly close on other side

• ***No bathhouse (gutted - see photo)

• Little cons: no trailheads within the campground, but Tucker Tower is a bike ride or hike over the dam and the trailhead to Ski Jump Campground the the Lodge connects here. (8.5 miles). Also Dump station at the campground is easy access, however the exit up the somewhat eroded gravel hill may require some maneuvering for larger rigs.

Definitely check out Tucker Tower when visiting and Lake Murray SP Nature Center is very well done! I’ll return again for the always good hiking and try to snag the premium site or site 9.

UPDATE 5/2021 - Marietta Landing Campground is being revamped.

First RV stay so this review is from the perspective of a family that has no experience with any RV Parks. 3 Stars is my starting point and as we stay at more campgrounds I would like to think that we will have a better understanding of what makes an RV stay "5 stars". This location is "first come/first serve" sites so for a beginner that can be a bit challenging. Working with Thousand Trails and the experience with that service was great. The road into and around the park was okay, there was room to drive around the entire park while looking for a spot. The spot's varied in size and there were no fire pits or grills provided by the park in the spots that we were able to see. The picnic tables have seen better days and i'm sure that is not uncommon. The 30 amp S/E/W hookups were clean and no issues with any service during the stay. There was not cable so TV was over the air antenna only. Cell coverage was fine during our stay. The park had activity areas but with COVID restrictions most were still unused. There is road to the lake that you can take to go to a small fishing pier and some rocky lake area access. The restrooms/showers were clean and the garbage bins were full but never overflowing with trash. There are multiple pools and the water appeared clear from a distance. Saw lot's of pet's and every size RV, there appeared to be quite a few long term RV sites. We would visit again since this is part of our Thousand Trails membership.