Best Equestrian Camping near Caddo National Grassland

Roberts Lake State Park has two main campgrounds, the Isle du Bois unit and Johnson unit. These are what I would call twins. They are very similar in layout, scenery and activities. They are on opposite sides of the lake.

Isle du Bois is a little different in that it has legitimate equestrian camp sites with horse pens built into each site. The park has several equestrian trails and is perfect if you like to ride and camp with your horse.

The rest of the park has several walk-in camp sites and then a section for campers and RV's. It is a good park and I would normally rate this park as a three but I think that all of the equestrian activities and amenities for horses moves it up to a four.

This place is just far enough from DFW to not be to far. Great place to camp, fish and hike. Bring your horses for a equestrian trail as well. Great beach for some sand castles and swimming. And don't forget to hit the Dam store and get the dam special. Good burgers there.

The park hosts and volunteers are very friendly, responsive, and work hard with the resources available to them. They deserve 5 stars This 2 star review is on the park only.

This campground is one part regular campground, one part equestrian campground. Having horses is not a requirement to camp in the equestrian area and that is hany when the "regular" area is filled. The sites are pretty close together and the entire park feels packed together when it comes to camping space.

The facilities are extremely outdated but there are new bath/shower combos coming online very shortly in the equestrian section. In the meantime there are 2 shower stalls available for men and 2 for women in the entire camp. There are pit toilets in the equestrian area and only 1 flush toilet for men located in the "regular" area until the new ones come up in the equestrian area. Possibly only 2 for women available.

The worst thing was the traffic. People would drive to swim, fish, use the restroom, visit others in adjacent campsites or just cruise around with no aim from 8 AM to 10PM Thursday thru Sunday afternoon. The outer gates close at 10 PM but some drove around inside the park after that anyway. The equestrian camp area has dirt/gravel road and all the traffic creates a dusty environment. The Main road to the entrance which runs along the south side of the equestrian area also leads to the Platter Flats Recreation area which has no gates nor closing time so there is activity on the road all day and night.

There is a long equestrian trail that goes over to Lakeside Park across the lake that can also be hiked pretty easily that has a couple secluded spots to swim along the way. The trail is well marked and easy to follow. There are large map signs on each end of the trail and markers along the way.

I would not recommend visiting this park on a weekend unless traffic doesn't bother you. It should be noted there is a rail freight line and siding not far from the camp and once the vehicle traffic slows down, the trains seem to start. The train horns at crossings may be a bother to some.

The first thing that brought me here was the option to fish without a license! It's been several years now since my wife and I stayed here the first time. It's a good size park with several options for activities: boating, fishing, picnicking, equestrian, hiking, camping, etc. The trails are thorough through the park. The lakefront is great as it gives you a good sense of the size of the lake. I'm looking forward to our next stay here!

For a more tranquil experience, book a site at the Hawthorne grounds. Showers are available at Deer Ridge and Quail Run campgrounds (less primitive). Hawthorne has water, restrooms, and some tree coverage. “Luxury” camping features can be found at other grounds (ex. Fish cleaning, electric). Camping tends to book up fast so plan your trip in advance. Fishing, swimming, lots of trails (horse, hike, bike).

We stayed here by happenstance. This campground isn't really near anything and is a 30 minute drive from even the smallest town so come prepared for all your needs. There is a vault toilet and the grounds weren't in terrible shape. This would be my choice for a campground in the National Grasslands. There is lake access here and you could tell that this is a equestrian meet up area. The camps pots weren't leveled and you just throw your tent wherever you want. We didn't have any neighbors so it was quiet. The spot we got had a fire ring and a table. This is basic no frills car camping here if you are interested. We didn't have time to research so we don't know if there are any trails or anything in this area as we couldn't find any.

The campsites here are pretty primitive. Seems like you can set up just about anywhere. There are two non flushing restroom. Plenty of poles for tying horses and there is water trofts for them but the water looked pretty disgusting. May want to think about bringing several gallons of water. Not a lot of area to get privacy from other campers as the area is pretty open. There are trails that I didn’t take to know if there were other areas that you could potentially set up at least a hammock camp at. $10 per car fee to be paid at a self serve box.

I am always pleasantly surprised with 'national' organizations' campgrounds. Whether a national forest or like this one, national grasslands, they are always pretty good, and this one is no exception. The campground is small, maybe 12 sites, vault toilets decently cleaned, and multiple water spigots. There was only one other camper, but there is access to the lake at this site with a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived, so you will see people even though it is secluded on the whole. We also saw a lot of horse riders. The sites have picnic tables, fire pits and are well spaced. You basically have your pick of sites so you can choose wooded areas or open without trees.

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.

In the hot month of July 2020 I loaded up Little Red and headed out to spend several days camping at the Isle Du Bois Unit of Ray Roberts Lake. Located north of the greater DFW Metroplex Isle Du Bois is one of the busiest Texas State Parks in North Texas. Ray Roberts Lake is situated in the Cross Timbers region of Texas as a result there are plenty of big oak trees to provide shade and there is an abundance of wildlife as well. The Isle Du Bois unit features well over 2 miles of concrete hike and bike trails as well as one of the nicest beaches found in North Texas. Isle Du Bois State Park on Ray Roberts Lake is an excellent place to catch a whole lot of fish! A five lane boat ramp means there is very little wait time to launch and recover. No boat? No worries! Isle Du Bois features an excellent fishing pier and plenty of easy to access bank. Come along with me as I explore the Isle Du Bois Unit of Ray Roberts Lake State Park!

https://youtu.be/iS52vk-nY3o

Big, beautiful Texas State Park. Very clean and nice level camping sites. The beach area was closed due to past flooding and cleaning but all else was open. My rig and I enjoyed site 136 🚐

We found Lake Ray Roberts as a nice swimming spot near Dallas to go cool down during the hot Texas summers and we LOVE it to go grill and hang out as a day long activity. So when my husband and I decide to start camping 🏕 we chose this park as our first trial, and we found it a bit inconvenient for Car camping since the spots are walk up and you gotta leave your car behind in a parking lot. Also, is very primitive style, so clean bathrooms and close-by water is not really part of the package. We loved the view from our spot and if you are up for a primitive experience within a park, then this is great. Just not for us and the type of camping we wanna do 😊

One of the more expensive Texas state parks. Standard electric at 25/night. Large bathrooms and lots of trash bins. Actual pay phones (who knew those still existed?) the trails are for DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) so maybe that explains the horrible lack of signage. Bicycle fix it station.

Great security. I was with my 3 year old after dark, maybe 8PM at the playground on the water. No lights so I used our lamplight. I noticed a truck in the parking lot with its lights on. We were there maybe 90 minutes and the truck kept moving. When we left, they left. I spotted it down the road and saw they were camp rangers. Bodes well that they were keeping tabs on the facilities even if it was just a mom and kid.

Very clean and moist spots are secluded. Lots of REALLY great primitive spots if that's your thing.

The campground is nice and well maintained and sites are fairly well spaced with lots of grass, trees and open areas. The park staff were very friendly and helpful. We were in site 78 for 5 days. Only a few of the sites in the Deer Ridge campground loop looked level, fortunately ours was one of them, but we saw one 5th wheel with the wheels on one side off of the ground by several inches and one Class A whose front wheels were 8-10 inches off the ground. AT&T coverage was fairly good here, generally between 1-3 Bars of LTE service, with speeds up to 4.5 MB/s. There is no WiFi, cable or sewer hookup and the dump station can get a little busy around checkout time. Restrooms and showers were clean and the shower was nice and hot. 

If you don’t already have one, you do have to purchase a Texas State Parks Pass for$70, which did add considerably to the cost of our stay. 

There are quite a few trails in the area.

The campground is nice and well maintained and sites are well spaced with lots of grass, trees and/or open areas. The park staff were very friendly and helpful. This was our second stay in site 78, this time for 4 days in late March. There is no WiFi, cable or sewer hookup at the camp sites and the dump station can get a little busy around checkout time and is a goodly distance from the CG if you plan to use a portable waste cart. Restrooms and showers were clean and the shower was nice and hot. There is a nice paved 2.25 mile trail through the CG and the surrounding area.

AT&T coverage was not as good as the last time we stayed here a couple of yeas ago, with generally 1 Bar of 5G service and speeds up to 1 MB/s. We had an unobstructed view of the sky and so we were able to receive all 3 SW Dish satellites and good Starlink coverage with speeds between 2.5 and 4 MB/s. We didn’t try to load any OTA channels. 

You do have pay a daily$7/person entrance fee or purchase a Texas State Parks Pass for$70 if you don’t already have one, which did add considerably to the cost of our stay.

This was prefect for what we needed. This was our first camping trip with our new gear so we just needed a site with bathrooms. Stayed in site 26 Juniper cove which is right next to the bathrooms. Next time would pick a spot on the water but was good for the night.

We stayed at site 136 in dogwood canyon, and it was lovely. Next time I'd stay at 137 for a bit more isolation, as you could see the boardwalk from our campsite as the area is sparsely wooded. Couldn't see the parking lot due to brush, but it was a very short walk and that was nice. Composting toilets are the only ones available in the area(even at the parking lot) and you have to walk/drive to the electric sites for showers or flush toilets. You could see the toilet in our area from the campsite, but did have to walk around a bushy area to get to it but it was doable in the middle of the night. There is a firewood vending machine there that's very cool and is reasonably priced for good wood.

Don't drive five hours like we did for this campsite, but it was nice. We had a quiet section even during spring break, and if you're a fisherman there's easy access to a couple of coves that look like they would be great fishing spots.

We camped here with some friends and had a nice experience overall. We didn't realize the spot didn't have much shade, but will be better prepared for that next time. The site was clean, waterfront and separated from the next site by brush and tall grass which was well kept. Water onsite btw our camp spots was convenient, but the walk from the site to our car and bathroom was a long one, so happy we brought our wagon to transport our items back and forth. Onsite beach area on nice and fishing hole for this kids was nice. Regardless, we will be back.

We had the best time here. The camp was clean and well Kept. Beautiful views and easy check in process. I would highly recommend. It can be a bit of a trek carrying all your gear to your site but that’s the only downfall I think.

Had a great time here. Found our site and got setup quickly. All gravel pad and site. Aluminum picnic table.

Clean grounds, bathroom, showers. Firewood for sale.

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