Best Tent Camping near Cooper, TX

I found this campground through a US army core website, and the details at that website did not turn out to be very accurate. Both loops at Pat Mayse East Campground showed to have bathrooms, which I assumed meant flush toilets and sinks, since the map also had an icon for vault toilets and this was not used. Both loops actually do have vault toilets and no running water. The campground seems set up pretty well for RVs; there were a lot of rv hookups for water and electric. There are also basic tent sites, picnic tables and metal fire rings. Water spigots are placed throughout so access is not difficult. You have your choice of sunny areas or more forested. Some spots are tightly packed in, but others are on the outside of the loop and seem like they'd be pretty quite. I wasn't overly impressed on the whole.

The South Sulphur campground is about half an hour north of Interstate 30. It’s under a 2 hour drive from the DFW area so, I find it’s a nice weekend getaway. I camped here on a Sunday to Monday and it was very quiet. I was one of only 5 campers in the Deer Haven section (aside from the 3 camp hosts). I’m giving the park 5 stars but this is based on my experience of having camped here when there were few campers around. I image this place could be loud and busy on a weekend.

There are many shaded lakeside sites in the Deer Haven section. I stayed at site 68. The site was on a cul de sac so there was no campground to the one side. However, the site located on the other side was close. This would be a great spot for 2 camping families to share. The concrete pad at site 68 was level and shaded by a beautiful, mature oak tree. I could walk from the pad to the lake. It would be a great site to put out a kayak, but unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate on my stay. So I didn’t get to kayak. I did see deer who ventured in from the wooded area next to the campsite.  Deer Haven lived up to its name!

Electric and water hookups were good as were the restroom/shower facilities, which seemed climate controlled because it felt cooler and less humid inside than outside. This usually isn’t the case in these buildings.

A big storm blew in around dinner time. The wind was fierce and blowing out of the north across the almost 20,000 acre lake! I actually called the ranger to find out if I needed to evacuate. The ranger was very responsive and reassuring. Luckily, there were no tornados warnings, so I weathered out the storm and woke to a beautiful crisp morning.

This park is huge and there is much to do. Cabins, shelters, primitive walk in sites, equine sites, a beach, several boat ramps, hiking trails, playgrounds and a fishing pier. I didn’t get to see a fraction of it, but I’ll be returning. 

I stopped in the town of Sulphur Springs on my way back to DFW. The town has a nice historic town square and makes for an interesting side stop.

PROS 

Saved $62 with Texas State Park Pass 

NO fee to make online reservation 

Very friendly Spring Point Loop camp host 

Very quiet 

Site 77 concert parking pad level 

Site 77 some shade 

Site 77 had an aluminum picnic table (brand new), pedestal BBQ grill, metal fire pit with cooking grate and lantern pole 

Firewood vending machine at park headquarters 

Security gate locked with a pad lock at 10pm with combination provided 

Very clean toilet/shower facility that are near Spring Point Camping Loop which are also used by park day visitors 

Friendly squirrels that ate from our hands 

Saw lots of deer 

CONS 

Cigarette butts all over our campsite and parking pad upon arrival 

Firepit nearly full of ashes upon arrival 

Pedestal BBQ full of ashes and trash upon arrival 

Picnic table bolted to concrete so not moveable and it was not close to parking pad 

Saw lots of feral cats roaming the campground 

Mostly 1 bar T MOBILE 

No park WIFI

PROS 

Senior discount saved $20 

Each site has unobstructed lake view 

Site 67 level concrete pad surrounded by sandy soil with afternoon only shade 

Climate controlled toilet/shower facility 

Clean toilet/shower facility which are cleaned every weekday morning 

2 sand lot volleyball courts 

Small pier shared by every two campsites 

Metal picnic table, pedestal BBQ grill and concrete fire ring with no cooking grate. 

Fairly quiet during daytime weekdays except for neighboring campers 3 sites away who had their INSIDE television blaring that we could hear every word. This went on for 7 hours daily. 

Local police did regular daylight drive thrus 

Hundreds of squirrels 

Could hear whippoorwills after sunset 

Had a float plane land and then take off right in front of our campsite (see video)

Park had WIFI but didn’t use due to having 4 bars TMOBILE 

CONS 

Minimal pay/stay 3 nights

$5 fee to make on line reservations 

Had to email copy of Texas Drivers License to Water District in advance of making reservation in order to get Senior discount 

No security gate closed overnight 

No camp host 

Campers let their dogs run thru campsites and poop everywhere 

Big problem with day users and boaters walking thru campsites, even after dark, picnicking and partying late into evening in campsites where there were no campers/tenters, then leaving at all hours of the night 

LOTS of middle of the night boat noise 

Street lights throughout campground which hinders dark sky viewing 

No privacy from any other campsite 

Site picnic table anchored so not moveable

If you’re looking for somewhere off the grid that is truly primitive, then this is not the place for you. If you don’t mind other people nearby, then you may enjoy your time here. Great docks for fishing. Beautiful water views, if you camp next to the water. Tent camping sites with electrical hookups are piled next to each other pretty close, so if you’re getting a tent electrical site you had better not mind getting friendly with your neighbors. Also, when it rains some of the tent electrical camp sites fill with water. However, if this happens the front office is more than willing to work with you and give you a refund or switch your site. There is a lot of wildlife roaming around - lots of deer! The primitive camp sites by the docks that overlook the water are beautiful. There is a concrete slab, picnic table, and fire pit at each primitive site. If you want to throw up a hammock, some of the primitive sites have trees that are the perfect distance apart for that - but be aware some of these trees are covered in poison ivy! The primitive sites are all close by to other types of campers, so it is never quiet and you can hear people at all hours of the day/night for the most part. Where we stayed by the water, we were next to an RV site. The other primitive camping sites also seem to be near RV sites and electrical tent sites, according to the map. If you camp near the water, it is very windy, especially at night, so make sure to bring plenty of blankets! Are you ever really on your own here: no. Are there beautiful views: yes. Is it truly primitive: no. Will you be taken care of: yes. All sites are open, with no big trees or shrubs to give privacy. You can see your neighbors and they can see you, even at the primitive sites. It would be a good place to bring a family or children for sure. I will say, the customer service at the main office is outstanding. They have anything you could think of for sale there, which is a huge plus. It is highly likely that you won’t need to drive into town for anything. Workers drive around with trash bags every day to ensure everyone is disposing of trash properly, and will give you free trash bags if you don’t have any, which is nice. All in all it depends on what you’re looking for, whether you choose to come to this camping location or not. We enjoy going here just to get away from the house and enjoy the beauty of the lake/nature for a bit. Although, I do wish there was more privacy. Everything is too close together, in my opinion.

Arrived late, office closed. Confused by all of the red "reserved" signs throughout the campground- even thoug8h there were hardly any campers there. Too late to make an online reservation for the night. Sites 1 thru 4 are available for late arrivals; only one stays are allowed. Paid for site 4 at self pay station. Then changed to site 21 the next morning which is closer to the restroom, and paid in the office. $20 per per site, plus $5 per day per person for a day use fee (which annoyed me). Campground is clean & well maintained. Sites are not close together and have some shade. Concrete pad for parking an RV, plus a tent pad. Fire ring, table, light pole, water & electric included. Easy access to Lake Towakani, which is a typical north Texas man made lake. Nice hiking trails. Clean restroom/shower facilities. Lots of deer.

We don't stay at too many TX State Parks because of the added day use fee. We decided on this park due to its proximity to family in this area. The site was level and on a concrete pad with a parking spot right next to it. We did have a neighbor, so the space between us was fair. Our cell signal with Verizon was poor, so it made work difficult. Our site had W/E and there is a dump station. We did have a picnic table and fire ring. There are some sites that back up to a part of the lake. Noise level was pretty low. Unfortunately, we only spent 1 full day here, so we didn't really get to enjoy any of the hiking trails or do any fishing. We will definitely have to stay again in the future.

This is a beautiful park and every campsite is lakefront. 30/50amp, water and tent sites. They do have a dump station. They also have a large pavilion that can be rented that have picnic tables. There is a boat ramp in the park. The lake is great for skiing, ect. The only negative thing is that there are two buildings that have bathrooms on opposite sides of the park. Each have 2 bathrooms and a shower. The shower is motion controlled but the water is warm/hot quickly. If you don’t have a bathroom in your setup then make sure you’re close to the bathrooms. Otherwise, you’ll have quite a walk.

All the sites have a picnic table, fire ring,plenty of shade and its own pier. I will be back!