Best Tent Camping near Caddo National Grassland

Since the primitive tent sites are down due to flooding, we set up our tent on a nice RV spot near the lake (site 9). If you drive around, you’ll find some good spots like this for tent camping. A little expensive at $30 per night, but it was still worth it. Pretty water. Gorgeous sunset. Good fire pit. Running water and electricity was nice.

Only complaint: our neighbors a couple sites down were blasting music until 1am. Not a peaceful experience for sleeping. I wish the park attendants would have stopped them sooner, as the official quiet time is 10pm. Otherwise, excellent spot!

Absolutely no tent camping. Read this.... NO TENT camping.

Lake Murray is a large state park which is an easy drive north from the DFW area, so I stay in the SP frequently, but never at this campground. It’s located a bit off the beaten path on the South end of the park. It’s also a smaller campground which accommodates smaller RV’s. Also, there is boat ramp, but it is not large and has little parking, plus it’s not located down the road that leads to the campsites. This means there isn’t constant traffic and power boat noise. 

The campground is tucked into a cove of Lake Murray and is down the road from the dam.  There are some very nice walk in tent camping sites where you could walk down to the rocky lake edge and swim. There are also a few drive in tent sites. However, be aware that when I stayed here in spring of 2020, there is no bath house or toilet facilities. There was a nice playground and a little picnic area right on the lake.

The RV sites are scattered around a circular road and there are several right on the lake. These are the best in my opinion. One of them (site 17) is labeled “premium” and I would pay the extra $ to snag this site. 

• Site 14 - Water/Electric 50 and 30 amp, no sewer (dump on site)

• gravel pad, mostly level, has a tree on awning side so couldn’t deploy my awning, but really unnecessary because the site was nicely shaded

• Cement picnic bench, BBQ, fire ring

• Walk down from site to water with rock ledge to sit a chair on and dangle feet in the lake!

• Site is private on 1 side with forested creek/water run off area, but neighbor is fairly close on other side

• ***No bathhouse (gutted - see photo)

• Little cons: no trailheads within the campground, but Tucker Tower is a bike ride or hike over the dam and the trailhead to Ski Jump Campground the the Lodge connects here. (8.5 miles). Also Dump station at the campground is easy access, however the exit up the somewhat eroded gravel hill may require some maneuvering for larger rigs.

Definitely check out Tucker Tower when visiting and Lake Murray SP Nature Center is very well done! I’ll return again for the always good hiking and try to snag the premium site or site 9.

UPDATE 5/2021 - Marietta Landing Campground is being revamped.

Nice area to tent camp

Excellent tent camping right next to Lake Lewisville.

Overnighted here returning home from a longer trip. It was okay for what I was doing, but I would never choose to camp here as a destination as a tent camper.

Activities: looking at the lake, bringing a boat to put in the lake, fishing. Seemingly nothing else to do.

Accommodations: clearly geared towards RVers. Each of those sites have water, electricity, and a sewer connection, with a covered cement pad with a grill, a table, and other relevant features. The few tent camp sites were shoved seemingly randomly between and around the RV sites. At my particular site, the concrete pad and picnic table were cracked and seriously damaged, and few grill was rusty enough to be almost unusable. The fire pit and ground of the rest of the site were littered in bits of trash ranging from things like food wrappers, pieces of plastic hangers, and my personal favorite - a construction nail.

The only bright light of this camp experience for me? The bathrooms. Each bathroom ( 2 per building) was a single occupant bathroom with a locking door. In the bathroom was a sink, a toilet, a hand dryer, and a shower with two nozzles at different heights (tall and short). The appliances were stainless steel, and the bathrooms were clearly excellently maintained. The bathrooms also had automatic lighting, an exhaust fan, and what appeared to be a tiny space heater for colder months. The showers had hot water, and the drains in the floor were sufficient at getting all the excess water out of there quickly.

In summary, if you have an RV and/or a boat and love to do things on the water, this is probably a fine campground. If you are taking a tent, I'd avoid this campground.

Lots of good tent sites both on the water or a short hike to it.

Great Tent camping. The grills are combined with the fire pits. The RV area has showers that are separate from the toilets. There are no electrical outlets or hand dryers or soap dispensers.

This park is very large! There is camping for everyone here! Great marina, fishing, hiking, kayaking and camp fires! All types of RV and tent sites! The swimming beach is the best, but you have to walk way down a hill to get to it!

Easy reservation process on recreation.gov. Stayed in the tent section for $10 a night. Each tent site has a picnic table and fire pit. Water was off when we were here. Trash cans are conveniently located (throw your trash away!) Relatively large park for being in the city. Good hiking trails and a boat launch. Shopping and restaurants so close, DoorDash delivers here!

Loved our stay here in the tent section. Trees provided much needed shade, yet enough for solar to stay charged. Restrooms were close, showers were a little bit of a walk. Each tent site has a table and fire pit. Lovely views of lake Texoma. Great hiking and rock climbing opportunities. The marina store is a short walk away and you can rent kayaks and canoes!

We brought our small family of four out to tent camp for the first time this last weekend. I really enjoyed how well kept the grounds were and did love the open space between sites and the water, giving lots of space for the kids to play. Really pretty views. And despite the close together sites, I did still feel like it was peaceful and every one was respectful of one another.

I have camped here many times. The park is well maintained and offers beautiful hiking trails and scenery. It is also safe with plenty of staff making rounds to ensure everyone's safety. I have stayed at their pull through camper sites, shelters, as well as tent camping with no complaints. The park is also undergoing construction upgrades and new paved roads ATM but the areas are clearly identified on their website. Definitely a family friendly park with plenty of wildlife to enjoy!

We loved the proximity to north Dallas. It makes for a nice getaway weekend. We enjoyed exploring the different areas of the park. We noticed most of the trailer/tent sites are almost in pairs. So two sites, have a common grassy area. Makes this park great for camping with friends or for making new friends, as we did! The store are the marina was a great break for ice cream on a hot day. Our friends have a boat on Lake Texoma and their home was only a 15 minute drive from the park.

Look, I found this campground by total accident following signs. There is so much construction around Lewisville Lake it is difficult to get where you want to go. There are better parks around Lewisville Lake like Pilot Knoll Park.

This is mostly for RV's and camper trailers. There are a few tent sites near the beach but you are surrounded by baseball fields and city parks. It has a shower house and a laundry facility, but the campsites are stacked on top of each other.

The campground staff was very helpful.

I tent camped here in December at the Hawthorn campground site 8. One thing I wasn’t expecting was that this was a walk in site. It was about 100 yards from the parking lot to site 8. Kind of a pain when setting up camp but it makes for a very quiet camping experience once you’re done. Water spigots are close by. The bathrooms were really clean and there are hiking and biking trails nearby. Unfortunately I didn’t get to explore the park much but it seems there is lots to do. There is a marina where you can rent boats and a swim beach nearby. I’ll definitely be going back for a longer stay.