Best RV Parks & Resorts near Big Thicket National Preserve

If you are a full tie RVer you have probably heard of the Escapees. The Escapees is the largest mail forwarding service and the clyb caters to full time RVers. Livingston TX is their main Headquarters, they do have 2 other semi Headquarters in FL and SD. If you are a full timer you now you need a domicile address and a mailing address for many things, this is how we do it. They have over 17,000 subscribers to their mail forwarding service, we are one of them. We stopped by this July to get our domicile done, vehicle registration, drivers license, voter registration etc. It was hot we will not come back in July again.

The campground is split into 2 main areas. They have a lot of deeded lots for you to buy which has houses, motor homes, park trailer or just roof for your RV. They have long term areas, overnighter, short long term, weekly or daily. You do not need to be a member of the Escapees to camp here, but we hear in the winter it does get full.

Camping full hook ups, electric and water, or just dry camping. They have just got some new internet on the area we were camping in and it was good enough to stream. They have a pool, clb house, activity center, 2 laundries, meeting rooms and a lot to do even in the summer. Most site are fairly level most gravel but do have some concrete pads. If it wasn't so hot I am sure we would have enjoyed it even more. One nice thing is they have a care center, areas that you can set up your RV and if you have something wrong with you they will help you out, take you to Drs, provide meals, help you. This is nice for us older folks that we worry about what happens if we need long stay for treatments and we have no home base.

Sandy Creek ACE, TX: To Do: Great location to visit the Big Thicket National Preserve. Boat launch is in the park. Fishing. Gorgeous sunsets.

(Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(71 yr olds in 17’ trailer. )

Overall Rating: 3.5. Great price, large sites , but showers need updating and better water heaters.
Price 2023: $9 w interagency pass. Not a lot of privacy in most sites. Security: No Usage during visit: 1/3 full on Saturday. Site Privacy: No shrubbery between sites Site Spacing: Most sites have great spacing Site surface: Blacktop Reservations: Yes Campground Noise: Very quiet Road Noise: No public roads nearby Through Traffic in campground: None Electric Hookup: Yes Sewer Hookup: No Dump Station: Yes Potable Water Available: At sites Bathroom: Flush toilets. Clean, but in major need of updating. Showers: Yes. Common dressing area - needs updating. Water heated not adequate every morning. Pull Throughs: Some Cell Service (AT&T): 3 bars Setting: Sites are in what is mostly a pine forest.
Recent Weather: Cool. Typical for this time of year I am told Host: At entrance Rig Size: Largest of rigs are accommodated Sites: 32 has great shade. 51 and 35 doorside towards trees as opposed to another trailer.v

1/26/23-1/30/23- This is a great COE campsite that is spacious, clean, quiet, and site#63 has lake views on 3 sides. A picnic table, fire-pit, lantern post, 30A electric, and water are provided. This is a back-in site that slopes significantly to the rear(lake side) though. I needed to lower the front of my 34’ fifth wheel trailer 16” to level it; L/R leveling was reasonable needing 1/2” on the right side. The grassy area around the site would be great for outdoor games and the water access would be great to fish from shore, boat access to the site, or swimming. The staff were very congenial and the dump station is conveniently located on the right side just before exiting the campground. Verizon 4G was 4-bars with 20Mbps download and 2Mbps upload speeds. I paid$13/night with my Interagency Senior Pass. Too bad that it was rainy most of the weekend and we didn’t have nicer weather.

Stayed one night in 30 ft travel trailer (May 2,2022) and we were the only campers. There were other visitors/fisherman but quiet and peaceful. Restrooms clean and spacious. Shower was separate and locked but host would unlock as needed. All 7 pads are gravel, level, elevated above grass—helpful after hard rain— and would accommodate large rigs. Lake or old river course 100 plus feet from campsites. May bring kayaks next time. Road access is good and signs to guide you. One bar cell service. Each site has sewer but not conveniently located—near entrance to site and would require very long hose or require rigs to block access road when dumping This park happened to be along our route to another campground and not along major highway. Nice place to relax overnight or for few days.

ALERT: USACE parks at Town Bluff no longer accepts cash, checks or money orders. Accepts credit or debit card 

DATES: year round 

SITES: 41 to reserve, 39 have water/electric 

FEES: $10.00-$45.00 

LIMIT: 14 days 

Group day use facilities with shelter, boat ramp, dump station, gate house, camp host, flush toilets, playground, covered picnic table, accessibility, pull throughs, fish cleaning table, pedestal grill This campground is the best COE campground that we have visited. It is very well maintained and extremely large. Sites are very nicely spaced out. The cons: fire ants, deer flies, and mosquitoes. Pros: Well maintained, beautiful, peaceful, fishing, boating, trails. Love site 36 There is a free fishing pond for the exclusive use of children and individuals with special needs. It is stocked with catfish and rainbow trout. There are even trophy largemouth bass released in the pond by local fishermen. If you catch "the big one" please practice "catch and release" so someone else might enjoy. There are four well marked trails that meander through old growth hardwood forest. You will see huge southern magnolia and American beech trees. The trails are color coded and there is a very nice map available from the gate house. 

This COE campground should be a benchmark for all other COE campgrounds. We will return. 

LNT 

AIS 

BTYFI 

Travel safe

This park is owned by Escapees RV Club.  We joined Escapees for the benefits, which include discounted camping.  We've stayed at this park several times, particularly when in the learning process for our new RV, as there is a lot of support here.  A lot of full time RV'ers use Rainbow's End as their home base, and a lot of full timers stop here for long periods of time while moving across country.  I always learn a lot from these long time full-timers.

The sites are decent, with gravel driveways and full hookups for both 30 amp and 50 amp.  They have an area for dry camping as well. are not level, so be sure to bring your leveling blocks if your rig does't have a leveling system.  

There are a couple of bath houses and laundry facilities.  The bathing areas are kept clean and are spacious, but nothing fancy.  There is a swimming pool which is open in summer, but we've never used it.  They also have a weighing station, although I never used it.  Propane delivery is available once a week.  Sign up in the office if you want to get on the schedule.

We arrived 151 days after making our on-line reservations for the very busy Memorial Day weekend in Piney Shore Loop campground. This was our fourth camping adventure at Lake Livingston State Park in the Piney Shore Loop. 

Pros EXTREMELY quiet during the Memorial Day weekend. Even tho not backed up to 

lake, nice view of lake from Site#55. Double concrete pad as it is an accessible campsite. Very level concrete pad; no need to do any type of leveling. Nice early morning shade onto Site#55 Very good privacy from neighbor Site#54 and Site behind#48 Park ranger drive-thru about every four hours Restroom/showers good working condition, clean, ample hand soap and toilet paper. Recently paved park roads very nice upgrade Mosquitoes were drawn to those who strung lots of lights throughout their site, so many did not use those lights which resulted in good dark conditions for night sky viewing. 1-2 bars AT&T cell service. Lowes, Walmart and small HEB close by n the town of Livingston Cons. Campers requiring mobility assistance may find this campsite very challenging, even tho it does have a double wide concrete pad. Site#55 labeled as accessible but is very accessible unfriendly as it is not close to campground toilet shower facilities, fire ring is up a gravel hill on driver side of camper. Piney Shore Loop sewer hook up required 20 feet of stinky slinky. No privacy from Site#56. No privacy from the campground road. Picnic table in mud hole nearly the size of the table and very unleveled with one end higher than the other end. Unable to move picnic table as it is chained to concrete pylon. Picnic table not wheelchair accessible. No afternoon-to-evening shade what-so-ever. Site#56 campers permitted their dog to run without a leash. No park WIFI