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Established Camping

Cranes Mill Park

Cranes Mill Park, near Canyon Lake, Texas, is a fantastic spot for campers looking to enjoy the great outdoors with a touch of comfort. The park offers spacious sites with picnic tables and fire rings, making it easy to gather around for meals and evening chats under the stars.

This campground is pet-friendly and allows fires, so you can roast marshmallows and enjoy the warmth of a campfire. Visitors have noted the clean facilities, including recently remodeled bathrooms, which make it easy to freshen up after a day of fun. One camper mentioned, “The sites here are huge and the cement pad is long,” highlighting the generous space you’ll find.

Cranes Mill Park is perfectly situated for those who want to explore the beauty of the Texas Hill Country. You’re just a short drive from attractions in New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Austin, making it easy to enjoy local dining and entertainment. Plus, the nearby Canyon Lake offers opportunities for fishing and boating, so there’s plenty to keep you busy.

While some campers have pointed out that the water level in the lake can be low at times, the park’s natural beauty and wildlife, including deer wandering through the area, add to its charm. Whether you’re here for a weekend or a longer stay, Cranes Mill Park is a solid choice for a memorable camping experience.

Description

US Army Corps of Engineers

Canyon Lake

Overview

Cranes Mill Park is located on a long peninsula on the southwestern shore of Canyon Lake in Texas Hill Country, halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Dramatic sunrises to the east of the park across Canyon Lake and sunsets on the western side of the park behind the Guadalupe River make this an unforgettable location.

Recreation

Cranes Mill Park offers a ramp for boating and two fishing piers. The Canyon Lake area has many options for recreation including: helicopter tours, boating, kayaking, canoeing, jet-skiing, dining, hiking, biking, fishing, camping, waterskiing, parasailing, horseback riding, guided gorge tours , river tubing, and much more. Anglers are welcome to try their hand at trout fishing in the Guadalupe River between the dam and New Braunfels.

Natural Features

The Guadalupe River flows into Canyon Lake on the west side of Cranes Mill Park creating tranquil, warm summer evenings as the sun rests across the horizon. The peninsula is home to wildlife including deer, squirrel, fox, armadillo, raccoon, Cardinals, dove, Mockingbirds, finch and swallow.

Nearby Attractions

Some of the local attractions include: Historic Downtown Gruene Texas, Natural Bridge Caverns, Wonder World in San Marcos, Comal River, Guadalupe River, San Marcos River, Lake Dunlap, Lake McQueeny, historic downtown New Braunfels, San Antonio River Walk, Six Flags, Sea World and many others.

Charges & Cancellations

The reservation system has the right to charge fees for cancellation of a reservation, or for changes to a reservation. Changes include shortening a stay, extending a stay, or site transfers.

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Location

Cranes Mill Park is located in Texas

Detail location of campground

Directions

From IH 35 take Exit 191 north of New Braunfels, Texas. FM 306 is exit 191. Drive west on FM 306 for about 14 miles. Turn left on FM 2673 at the red light just after the first Guadalupe River crossing. Cranes Mill Park is located at the westernmost end of FM 2673 and South Cranes Mill Road. Drive until FM 2673 goes down to a two lane road going through a neighborhood. Continue through the neighborhood. You will go down a steep incline and be at a Y in the road. Go left on at the Y and you have entered the park. The gate house is at the far end of the road past the marina.

Address

4698 Cranes Mill Road
Canyon lake, TX 78133

Coordinates

29.8888889 N
98.2927778 W

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Access

  • Drive-In
    Park next to your site
  • Walk-In
    Park in a lot, walk to your site.
  • Boat-In
    Sites accessible by watercraft.

Stay Connected

  • WiFi
    Fair
  • Verizon
    Good
  • AT&T
    Unknown
  • T-Mobile
    Good

Site Types

  • Tent Sites
  • RV Sites
  • Standard (Tent/RV)
  • Tent Cabin

Features

For Campers

  • Trash
  • Picnic Table
  • Phone Service
  • Reservable
  • Drinking Water
  • Electric Hookups
  • Toilets
  • Alcohol
  • Pets
  • Fires

For Vehicles

  • Sanitary Dump
  • Water Hookups
  • 50 Amp Hookups
  • Big Rig Friendly

Reviews

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69%
28%
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4.5

out of 5

22 Reviews

Reviewed Oct. 7, 2024

It is beautiful

I have been here before. It is an ideal tourist destination. My family loves it here. Head Soccer

Sitehttps://head-soccer.io/
Month of VisitMarch
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Essa M., October 7, 2024
Reviewed Apr. 24, 2024

Nice size spaces

I passed off about 75 feet between sites. Most have views of the lake. At the moment the water level is very low and facilities near this campground are high and dry.

Site13
Month of VisitApril
Reviewed Dec. 29, 2022

Another fine COE campground

Disclaimer: I am biased towards COE campgrounds. Cheap, ample grass, trees, water, blue sky and stars at night. Usually a paved pad, reliable utilities, picnic table, fire ring, grill, friendly volunteers. Did I mention cheap? With a National Park Pass you get 50% off so nightly rate is usually $11-15 range. How can you go wrong. Almost always good site spacing, 20-30 feet. Almost always well maintained. Waaayy closer to camping than commercial RV parks. 

Cranes Mill is 4 of 5 on COE scale, paved pads, pretty level. Good spacing, generally 25-30 feet. Hooded picnic table with usual fire ring, grill. Excellent bath houses. Canyon Lake was low when I was there (Nov,'22) but still fishing and boating activity. Small towns/shops <5miles, major shopping 15 miles. I'm going back in Feb'22 for another stay.

Good cell coverage - Verizon, 3bars LTE, 10+mb down, ATT 3bars LTE 10+mb down. I work remote so this is important. No issues in my ten day stay.

Site27 (some shade on east side)
Month of VisitNovember
Reviewed Apr. 30, 2022

Another Enjoyable Experience

Our $15 a day rate reflects America The Beautiful/Access Pass. Arrived about 3:30 PM as you cannot check in before 3:00 PM. Check in was quick and easy. We were not provided with a map nor rules sheet but the info is on park info boards and it's such a small park, you don't need a map. We had no problem backing into site 17 with water& 50/30 AMP. Water pressure was good. We did have to be careful when backing in as there was a trash dumpster at the entrance of the site. The sites here are huge and the cement pad is long plus there’s a parking space for a vehicle or boat. All the RV sites have water& electric. Most RV sites looked level, but there were a couple of interior sites that had a slight hill. There was a fire ban so no fires but grills either propane or charcoal were allowed. We received a few OTA channels but there was a clear shot to the southern sky for satellite. We got 2 bars on Verizon and with our JetPack we could get internet, call, and text service. There was no formal dog area but we could walk down to the boat ramp and through the tent area. Early each morning there were deer wondering throughout the park. Fishing was also decent off the shore. If I had my kayak, it would have been fairly easy to launch behind the camp site.

Site17
Month of VisitApril
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by MickandKarla W., April 30, 2022
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by MickandKarla W., April 30, 2022
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by MickandKarla W., April 30, 2022
  • (10) View All
Reviewed Jul. 20, 2021

Beautiful Campground - Convenient to large cities as well!

We stayed here almost 2 weeks!  Absolutely beautiful, quiet campground.  Weekends were busier with the boaters.  Site was level. Very Spacious and away from neighbors.  AT&T and T-Mobile coverage. Picnic Table was the best design.  It had a tin roof for shading.  Lots of deer to watch in the morning and evenings.  They did have a very strict 10 pm curfew to get back into the campground. We had a great time in New Braunfels, San Antonio and Austin!  Be sure to visit Goofy's Bar & Grill and Dam Red Barn there in Canyon Lake as well.

SiteSite 27
Month of VisitJune
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Jody J., July 20, 2021
Reviewed May. 27, 2021

Canyon Lake Beauty

Saw this park on an episode of Grand Adventure with Marc Guido. We were able to reserve the site from the episode and Marc’s review was spot on. A great small park on beautiful Canyon Lake in legendary Texas Hill Country.

The park is perfectly situated to explore the Hill Country. Austin, San Marcos, Gruene Hall, Luckenbach and much more all within a short drive.

SiteRV section lakefront
Month of VisitOctober
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Marc T., May 27, 2021
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Marc T., May 27, 2021
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Marc T., May 27, 2021
Reviewed Apr. 12, 2021

Nice Spot for a weekend

Nice small campground a bit off the beaten path. Our tent site was surrounded by a low pipe fence. We parked in our designated parking spot (2 vehicles allowed) and had to walk about 30 yards to our site. It wasn’t horrible but the fence meant we couldn’t roll from the car straight there. We had a beautiful view of the lake! I loved the covered table and surrounding pad. Nice fire pit.  I also liked that we saw the sheriff and a host drive through the campground a few times. The bathhouse was functional but poorly maintained. It would have benefited from a daily sweep and counter wipe down at minimum. There was one bathhouse for the whole campground so it is a fairly long walk from the peninsula end to the toilet. A bike would be a good accessory. The boat ramp was closed and gated on our trip we weren’t sure why. This was disappointing because we weren’t able to get our kayaks in the water. I’m not sure if the closure is temporary.

Site59
Month of VisitApril
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Name , April 12, 2021
Reviewed Apr. 8, 2021

Great COE park

This is a great park. Much like the others in the area. The bathrooms were clean and the staff was very friendly. Close ramp access to the lake.

  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Tim M., April 8, 2021
Reviewed Feb. 10, 2021

great place

Plenty of room on each campsite close to stores clean bathhouse

Site12 easy to back into
Month of VisitFebruary
Reviewed Dec. 23, 2020

100% Recommend

Great park! Very clean and the sites are well maintained. They aren’t all level but compared to other campgrounds they are pretty even. Loved the extra parking spot for our truck. This campground feels super secluded away from the bustle of town, but is an easy 30-40 mins drive into New Braunfels/San Antonio. I’d recommend picking up food at the H‑E‑B on they way in. There is a Lowe’s grocery store near by but the selection of organic produce was non existent. Didn’t have a chance to explore the towns near by but did spend a lot of time in New Braunfels which is very quaint. We’d recommend and if we’re ever back in the area would stay again.

Reviewed Sep. 15, 2020

Peace and quiet

Nice open space with a lot of places for camping far from other sites. The Stars looked amazing at night. Ended up staying an extra night because we didn't want to leave. The bathrooms were very clean and showers were amazing.

  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Angel S., September 15, 2020
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Angel S., September 15, 2020
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Angel S., September 15, 2020
  • (4) View All
Reviewed Jan. 5, 2020

Really nice spot

We stained over New Years, beautiful little spot. Camp was very clean and had decent large bathrooms with a clean shower. Sites are large and well maintained, covered area was very nice and sturdy. Large amount of room between sites. No sewer hock up so we had to pump out. No fires they had a burn ban in effect but we were allowed to grill. Had a few visitors to the site. Would definitely stay again, very nice small RV park.

  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Karen  B., January 5, 2020
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Karen  B., January 5, 2020
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Karen  B., January 5, 2020
  • (5) View All
Reviewed Nov. 1, 2019

Serene setting at dusk

Cranes mill is a National Park. I purchased the senior lifetime pass and was able to stay every night for half price at this serene park. We arrived on the afternoon of Columbus Day weekend and we're happy that the park cleared out a bit on Monday. The views were spectacular at sunset. I appreciated camping on a small peninsula being able to see Canyon Lake on both sides of our campground. Most of the pads were fairly level though ours was a bit steep. We were disappointed that there was a burn ban at that time. The small town of Startzeville is very near with adequate grocery and forgotten item facilities. We found this a very nice, clean and quiet camp site in near proximity of home.

  • Mouth of the Guadalupe from Crain's Mill Park
    Play button icon
Reviewed Aug. 30, 2018

Clean Campground

The water level of Canyon Lake was down so access to the water wasn’t real easy. once in the water it was great floating in a tube. very clean bathrooms. each campsite has a covered picnic table, barbs and fire pit. I will definitely return.

  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Barb M., August 30, 2018
Reviewed May. 6, 2018

Great place

Quiet and peaceful

SiteWe’ve stayed in 13 and 25
Month of VisitApril
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by David R., May 6, 2018
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by David R., May 6, 2018
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by David R., May 6, 2018
  • (6) View All
Reviewed May. 28, 2017

Canyon Lake

I absolutely love canyon lake and have been to pretty much all of the surrounding parks. Cranes Mill has great trees for hammock camping as well as traditional camp sites. There are all the normal amenities you'd expect and there is a lot of space for everyone to spread out. Definitely recommend the park!

Month of VisitJuly
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Matt M., May 28, 2017
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Matt M., May 28, 2017
  • Review photo of Cranes Mill Park by Matt M., May 28, 2017

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Does Cranes Mill Park have RV hookups?

    According to TheDyrt.com, Cranes Mill Park has 50 amp electric hookups and water hookups.

  • What is the max vehicle length at Cranes Mill Park?

    Cranes Mill Park allows vehicles up to 80 feet.

  • Are fires allowed at Cranes Mill Park?

    Yes, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, fires are allowed at Cranes Mill Park, although make sure to check current fire restrictions in the area.

  • Does Cranes Mill Park have wifi?

    No, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, Cranes Mill Park does not have wifi.

  • Is there cell phone reception at Cranes Mill Park?

    According to campers on TheDyrt.com, Verizon signal is good, AT&T is unknown, and T-Mobile is good.

  • How hard is it to get a campsite at Cranes Mill Park?

    Some campers book as far as 6 months in advance, so on high-demand weekends it can be very difficult to get a campsite at Cranes Mill Park. If you want to get a last-minute campsite at Cranes Mill Park, try setting up a text message Alert atTheDyrt.com/alerts

  • Why is it so hard to get a campsite at Cranes Mill Park?

    There are 64 campsites at Cranes Mill Park and over 80 million Americans who camp! Try snagging a cancellation by setting up a text message Alert atTheDyrt.com/alerts