Best Equestrian Camping near Benbrook, TX

Campground Review

I spent a night at Holiday Park which is one of three on Benbrook lake. It used to be father outside of town, but as the suburbs creep in, it is slowly becoming surrounded. In fact, it appears part of the property had been sold off for development as one camp road ended and houses began. It must be a wonderful perk for those residents to be able to just walk in for swimming or fishing. I neglected to do a satellite view before choosing my spot, so I was in one of the handful that had no trees. It was fine though as there are covered tables and the polls were strong enough to hold me in a hammock as well as put up shade. I was also right on the water, so there was a nice breeze.

If you’re into fishing, this spot is for you. Every couple of minutes there was a “plop” from another fish popping out of the water. If you have a small boat, you could drop in right from your site and head out across the lake. Take care though, there are a few boats and some moving pretty quick.

Love wildlife? There were dozens of deer out of all sizes. I came across 5 different groups of them as I was driving around taking in the entire campground. Of course, where there are deer there are ticks. Make sure to use insect repellent and give yourself a check.

The toilets and showers are showing their age, so they are not for the squeamish. There are no hiking trails to speak of, but they do have an equestrian trail and sites if you have horses. Bicyclists seem to love it here as I saw dozens riding the streets. I got to barely hear a Friday night football game being called across the lake with bright stadium lights and all. Site prices were $14 for just the covered table or $28 with water and electric

Pros

• Close to town
• Easy online check in
• Friendly park staff
• Access to various water sports

Cons

• City is encroaching
• Relatively expensive
• Not many hiking trails
• Aging facilities

Product Review

As a ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products from time to time. I was given the opportunity to test the Hellagood blanket by Belmont Blanket. As a cover, it is very warm. The soft layer is a faux fur with medium plush. The other side is a rubbery, waterproof material. The soft side tended to hold onto debris and pet hair, but cleaned up with a few shakes. It's a bit heavy, weighing about 3 lbs, so it's not bad for day hikes, but I would not recommend it for long excursions. I laid it out on the wet ground and it is completely waterproof. If you camp in a rainy area, the blanket would act as a decent rain shield. It got a bit chill once the sun went down and the breeze came off the lake. Soft and warm by the fire. When I went to sleep, I realized I’d forgotten my pillow so I folded it up with the soft side out and slept like a baby. All in all, I love the blanket and look forward to using it on other trips.

Pros

• Soft
• Waterproof
• Washable
• Durable
• Handmade in the USA

Cons

• A bit heavy
• Tricky to roll up
• Kind of pricey

I chose this campground for its proximity to Fort Worth, and the lake. Just far enough off the highway to diminish all noise, surrounded by hiking trails, is the well maintained Holiday Park. Offering both water and electric hookups for RVs, some with a cabin included, alongside standard campsites right at the lake shore. Bathrooms are simple, fully functional, and never too far from any site. Sites are all a good size and not too close to neighbors. Nature/Horse trails line the park, and it's fairly quiet. There's some occasional aircraft noise, but no noise from the highway. The ranger station is well staffed and by the book, all the sites are visibly well maintained, cleaned regularly.

Late in the day we stopped at Lake Mineral Wells State Park, TX. We weren't sure where to go as the gate was unmanned at our arrival. We missed the turn to the campground, but a friendly and helpful Texas State Park Officer directed us how to get there. He helped us with how to make payment as well. 

The campground was beautiful. It was quiet, the bathrooms were clean, and the lake was serene. There are at least 3 campgrounds, including shelters, equestrian, a loop for tenters, and a loop for larger rigs.  We stayed in the Plateau loop. Even though we only stayed one night, I would go back.

We enjoyed our overnight stay near the trailhead. We weren't sure about the accessibility to the trailhead road with our 23 foot travel trailer so we opted to stay off road 904, where the horse trailers park, since there were some nice flat spots. Since we were just staying overnight as we were traveling back to the Midwest we didn't check out the other options. We did call the park Ranger and he said the trailhead is a great place to camp and easy to access with a trailer. Our hot spot on our cell phone was slow since we only had a couple bars, but we were able to get our work done. I would stay here again. We enjoyed a nice hike in the morning before we headed out.

Best camping ground ever! Bathrooms and restrooms are newly remodeled, everything is clean and organized. Every camp spot has its own water source and electricity hookup, makes a huge difference at the hot Texas summer days and perfect for spending the nights not in a complete dark in case you’re using only a tent without a generator. The trails are great even in the Texan summer as many of them are beside the river where you can cool off. Highly recommended for families with kids all ages!

From website:

Find dinosaur tracks, camp, picnic, hike, mountain bike, swim, fish and paddle in the river, watch for wildlife, look for a geocache, ride your horse, or visit our interpretive center.

Stay at one of our campsites. Explore 20 miles of trails. Shop our park store for souvenirs, camping and fishing supplies, books and much more.

Discover dinosaur tracks It’s easy to find dinosaur tracks in the park – just head to the river!

St Patrick’s Day 2018 we head out to Cedar Hill State Park on the banks of Joe Pool Lake. Cedar Hill State Park is one big Texas State Park! With over 300 campsites you are sure to find one to your liking! A visit to the historical Penn Farm, heavy spring rains and lots of paved roads for scooting make this visit to Cedar Hill State Park a truly unique Texas State Park Visit for the Dude RV crew!

There are 5 camping loops in this park! If you are wanting a lakeside campsite there are many options. The 3 loops on the north end of the park are close to the very busy road so there is road noise all the time.

The Penn FArm exhibit is very cool for the whole family and is ADA compliant but a bit on the rough side for handicap scooters. 

The day use area was in need of some work on my visit but I think the day use area has since been rebuilt.

You can see the several videos of my visit on my YouTube...DudeRV

When we got to Benbrook, we used the campground(CG) website instructions as we didn’t see any signage for the CG on US377 coming in from the east. We turned right onto Pearl Ranch Rd and followed it to the Holiday COE entrance about 2 miles straight down the road. Check in was easy and the guy who checked us in was very informative. We needed to fill our freshwater tank and he pointed out on the map the two dump stations with potable water. We proceeded to the dump station just inside the gate to find out there was not a potable water spigot just the usual rinse hose. We went back to the entrance and he informed us the park ranger had told him they are on well water and thus the water at the dump station was safe, even though there was a sign clearly stating it was not safe to drink. We were then told we could go to an empty camp site that had water hook-ups and fill up there, which we did. Not sure what we would have done if this had been a busy weekend with all of the water sites full. We then proceeded to pull through site 72 with 30/50 AMP. There was plenty of space for our 39’ fifth wheel and F-450 on the asphalt pad. The site had a covered cement patio with picnic table, and bbq/fire pit that we couldn't use due to a burn ban. Site 73 was the only other site in our little cul-de-sac. For the intent of this review, we toured the campground specifically looking for free standing water spigots, but didn't find any. The showers/restroom were old but in workable shape. If you want to stay where we did in sites 72-75 they were definitely electric only, contrary to what other reviews mentioned. There were water spigots at the sites but they had been capped off. Sites 76, 77,& 78 were also electric only and sat up on a hill with a slight lake view but are across the street from a neighborhood that backs up to the park. Sites 83- 93 had water and electric as well as some of the sites near the front of the park. We got 3 bars on Verizon and a whole bunch of OTA channels. We enjoyed the view of the lake and privacy at our site since we were the only ones there the whole time of our stay during the week.

This just may become our home away from home. I absolutely love this little park. We stayed in spot#5 right at the end of the cove. Calm water, large lot land area and clean, easy access to walk right into the lake to swim, and space to dock your boat make the cove side of the park an excellent score. Each lot has large raised gravel areas set up in place outside the camper doorway. I love this feature because it provides a mud free immediate campsite area. As we walked the perimeter of the park while feeding the ducks and noticed that most all of the spots are great. On the other side of the cove, the lots are not quite as big, but the water is right outside your front door! The temperature difference is quite noticeable the closer you are to the breeze coming off the water. There is plenty of trees to provide shade, but not so many to block your view of the water. The only outside lots without direct access to the water are 54, 56, and 57. There is also a small playground with slides and climbing structures across from the restrooms(lots 22-23). My youngest was super excited to see a little library set up at the playground. We chose Star Wars readers.

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