Best Glamping near Bardwell Lake

Another great Army Corps of Engineers Park. It is a bit neglected but still pretty awesome with its spacious sites and gorgeous views of Bardwell Lake. Our site #29 was nice and shady and panoramic view of lake. We have a class a so never checked restrooms. I base my review rating on the beauty of the view.

We are from Houston and I opt to drive 4 hours to this one in burleson. Waller is good fun but that park does not compare to this site. The website doesn’t do burleson/n Texas jellystone justice for how good it actually is. Bring bikes!

This park is a great go-to if you live in Texas – centrally located and quick to access from most major cities. It can get crowded on high weekends in the spring/fall, but there are ample campsites if you plan ahead a bit. Sites 39-46 in the Horseshoe Loop are ideal for quiet spots away from people, but if you want space along the water, Lakeview and Sunset Ridge are the best picks. There are a few short trails in the park but exploring the waterfront can't be beat!

Liberty hill is a very beautiful campground but there is a serius issue with the invasive Argentian ant. This is a great campground to spend a few days or weeks relaxing and catching fish. Lake Navarro Mills is well know as the best Crappie fishing lake in Texas. Navarro Mills Liberty Hill Park features a fantastic fishing barge that is covered allowing you to fish no matter the weather. Our visit to Liberty Hill Park at Navarro Mills Lake was a real treat with one minor exception, Argentine Ants, these can be a real issue when RV camping at Liberty Hill Park as this invasive species is out of control at Liberty Hill Park. Want to see more fun RV tours and RV camping videos? Visit my channel here... https://www.youtube.com/c/BobBarkerRVGuy

We had limited weekends to take the grandkids camping. It has been raining non stop all over Texas. I began to look for places within 2 hours of Fort Worth. Texas State Parks are a great. I settled on Lake Whitney. They have these shelter sites that are awesome. For $30 per night ($10 per night more than normal e&w site) plus $5 per adult gate fee. That may not be economical for everyone, but $40 for an overnight camp was fine. The shelters are very clean and well kept. Inside is a picnic table and enough floor space for another plus some. So if your tent fails in you go. The top of walls are screened and bottom solid. I set up my camp kitchen and we ate meals inside due to weather. We set up our large tent behind the shelter to block wind from the lake. The site also had it's own parking, another table outside and fire ring. We had site 4 right across from the lake and swimming area. The bath house was very clean and only a short walk. You can fish license free from the shore. There are 5 or 6 moderate hiking trails. Also the park is home to plenty of woodland animals. The 4 yo and I took a 2 am bathroom break and saw a herd of dear about 30 head.

The park is very good for families and fishing.

There are also a boat ramp, small airstrip and day use areas.

The staff is awesome.

We spent an entire month, as we typically do, in Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park in Terrell, Texas. There is a lot to really like about this campground. We would definitely stay here again.

Pros:

• The park was clearly being maintained

• The basketball /tennis courts had just been resurfaced

• Anytime someone left, or a spot was empty, new gravel was being dumped and leveled

• Even though closed for Covid, the pool was cleaned daily.

• There's a small dog park area.

• Doggie bags were provided in multiple places, and ample trash cans in which to drop them.

• Sufficient WiFi repeaters throughout the CG

• The grass is kept mowed down, good to avoid those Texas stickers getting in your shoelaces.

• All but one staff member was really friendly.

• Package receiving was well handled and painless.

• Each visitor, even short term like us, gets a mailbox. You can go in 24/7 and check it.

• There's a "swap area" where people leave magazines, etc. (Near the mailboxes.)

• There's a nice little pond you can fish in, catch-and-release only, no license required.

• LOTS of room to walk the dog!

• There's ample overflow parking and trailer storage space so you don't have to crowd your campsite.

• Laundry facility on site, we didn't utilize it since we have a W/D in the rig.

• Bulletin board for posting things, we bought our W/D from another person at the campsite!

• Park was pretty quiet while we were there. No ruckus or loud people. Folks walked around, talked a bit.

• They have Good Sam and Passport American discounts available.

Cons:

• You're really close to I-20, you will hear the road noise. Only trucks are loud. (We did hear a blowout, scared me to death!)
• The WiFi, while available, is really slow. When you connect, they track usage by hardware MAC address. Use too much, you get blocked and have to ask to be allowed back on.* There are some boggy areas you have to watch for near the pond. (Don't step on the thousands of crawfish towers!)
• The road is in fairly bad shape, leading into the park. They could really use a road company out there to fix it.
• There are some rigs that appear more"permanent" with stairs, patio furniture, that sort of thing. But none were run-down looking.
• When it rains, some of the driveways do get muddy.  The gravel replacement helps.

Other:

• There are a LOT of Tiny Houses that have been put on the property. They all looks really new, well maintained.
• The staff appears to reserve some spots near the front for folks coming in for a day or two to a week.  It was NOT all permanents by any means.

We made reservations 92 days prior to arriving Thursday of the Columbus Day weekend for Horseshoe Loop full-hook-up site, which is a nice elm tree grove. With the Texas State Park Pass, we paid$21/nightly. Our spacious pull-thru site was partially shaded, but there is no vegetation between sites in this loop, so not one site had any privacy from another. Site surface was mostly gravel from deteriorating asphalt. Our site had a deteriorating concrete picnic table on a concrete slab and a fire pit with a grilling grate. There is a possibility that trees make could make site access difficult to deploy slide outs. We witness larger rigs getting creative with pulling into their site because of close trees. Quiet campground with no highway noise. There is no gate closure overnight. This is an excellent dark sky campground, but unfortunately during our stay surrounding campers had excessive outdoor lighting illuminated throughout their site most of the night, which inhibited good star glazing and Draconid meteor shower viewing. Shower/toilet facilities for this loop were clean, but heavily worn and not ADA compliant. Besides a small step into the structure, the women’s had 3 equally sized toilet stalls and 2 equally sized shower stalls neither with any safety grab bars. There are no sites in this loop that are lake front. A few sites can just see the lake from a distance. Trash dumpsters are placed on roadway edge making safe rig egress tricky. AT&T 1 bar coverage in this campground loop. No wildlife sightings during our 4 night stay. Campfire wood available for sale from“lockers” at the Park Headquarters building. Closest restaurants, fuel stations and grocery stores in Whitney and Hillsboro. Waco is 40 miles southeast.

• Sites are first come first serve - there is no holding sites especially if you are going as a group
• No open fires - only propane or charcoal
• Bathrooms were nice, clean and air conditioned...definitely a couple of notches above the Texas State Parks   
• No wildlife here...just the human kind
• Nice shady sites but not a lot of elbow room (pretty cramped)
• Take lots of allergy medicine if you are allergic to Red Cedar
• 30 AMP sites with full hook ups
• A lot of kids activities - water melon eating contest, face painting, etc.
• Could see a lot of stars in the night sky
• Don't hang anything from the trees..will get in trouble
• No place to hang a garbage bag outside
• Overflowing trash dumpsters
• Propane filling station on the campground property
• Cell service with T-Mobile was sparse. Verizon seemed to work fine.

We got a free Thousand Trails membership from the dealership when we purchased our new camper so we decided to use it for Labor Day at Lake Whitney RV Campgrounds. We went with our camping buddies (theDyrt Ranger Jenny S and family) who also pulled their camper. The sites are first come first serve and there is no holding sites, so if you go as a group finding sites that are together is tough (several sites were bagged and not usable).  We picked Sites #6 and #83 on Loop B. Luckily these sites back up to each other and the kids could roam between the two sites. The sites were 30 AMPs with full hooks up and that part was nice. Didn't have to watch tank levels every time someone (kids) flushed. 

The campsites were pretty shady with red cedar trees which created havoc with my son's allergies. Poor kid was stuffed up the entire time we were there. The sites were pretty cramped, we were not able to extend our awning without hitting the tree branches. The road inside the campground is pretty beat up with lot of bumps. The amenities were nice - a family swimming pool, shuffleboard, washers, putt-putt golf. The campgrounds had several activities for Labor Day such as a water melon eating contest, frozen T-shirt contest which kept the kids entertained.

Don't hang anything on the trees. We had some LED light up and the park ranger had us take it down.  Was actually a little harsh about it. Following that encounter we took down the clothesline that we strung up to dry our swimming suits and wet towels. No place to hang a garbage bag either.

Politeness in customer service was hit or miss.

Our stay was free because of the Thousand Trails membership but otherwise each site goes for about $45/night. I'll do it again for free, if I have to pay...I will go down the street at Lake Whitney State Park for $25 with full hookups.