Best Tent Camping near Fairfield, TX

Reserved on-line 184 days prior to arrival. 

Pros Site in large oak tree grove, so heavily shaded 

Campground night sky friendly with good dark sky viewing NO STREET LIGHTS in campground., but toilet facilities had exterior lighting 

Crushed granite surrounding site and bordered with landscaping timbers 

Metal roof shelter over concrete slab where picnic table is located 

Metal picnic table 

Cooking grill on metal fire ring 

Campground mostly quiet except for Hwy 31 traffic noise 

Friendly camp host 

Security gate closed nightly 

Not charged a fee to make my own on-line reservation 

Campsite discount with America the Beautiful Pass 

Cons 

Entrance gate not manned upon arrival at 2pm Tuesday so had to go back around after unhitched 

Our site 14 was not marked. Most sites have site number on site picnic table. Even those are tough to see in the daylight and impossible to see in darkness. Absolutely no roadside site number posts 

Campsite 14 entrance driveway was 90 degree angle to park road with a steep ditch on opposite side of road. T

rees close on both sides tight to site 14 driveway. Made back in challenging, but not impossible. 

Campsite 14 entrance/driveway 10% grade from park road 

Campsite 14 not level side to side 

Site fire ring was up against landscaping timber preventing space for chairs 

Landscaping timbers trip hazard at fire ring

Fire ring should be relocated to side or back of site to facilitate safe movement around it Fire ring was completely filled with ash upon arrival No privacy from other campsites Shower/toilet facility near playground had padlock on mens entrance, so males were using the womens restroom. This facility in extremely poor condition and desperately needs renovation. 

No campsite lantern pole 

No park Wifi 2

 bars AT&T 

Never saw any park rangers or park security driving through campground 

Wildlife sightings of grey squirrels and two dozen buzzards that constantly circled over campground

We tent camped in a primitive spot #47. Overall the spot was nice but not very level making the best placement of our large tent a bit of a challenge. Vault toilets were clean and had hand sanitizer. The nature and hiking in this park was our favorite part. Even rented a canoe and paddled across the lake to the river. Park staff were friendly and helpful. Some primitive tent sites are right on the edge of the lake and after a big rain were very swampy. I believe all sites had partial shade and some have more privacy than others. We did spot some full hook up sites in the RV section that have good space for a tent set up and we may try that next time cause we definitely will be back.

Pros 

Discount with National Park pass 

Shady

Quiet 

Dark sky friendly

Nice metal roof cover over concrete picnic table 

Saw park ranger drive thru during daylight 

2 bars T-MOBILE 

Successful streaming with T-MOBILE hotspot device 

Cons 

So day #2 without any TP in men’s restroom.  Went to front gate to report it and was told they would call it into the Army Corps of Engineers as gate volunteers have no stock of TP on hand.  Never saw any TP before leaving on third day

Toilet facility #1 women’s had raw sewage throughout deep enough to cover your foot. Site 11 has electrical hook up at rear on the door side of the camper 

Site 11 water connection is centered at the rear of the parking pad. 

Site 11 unlevel. 

Numerous piles of charcoal ash throughout site 11 campsite not in the fire pit. 

Concrete picnic table needs degreased as surface has lots of large greasy stain 

Site numbers are painted on the concrete picnic table so extremely difficult to see in the dark. 

No WIFI

We went to check this place out to reserve for a family camp trip. The grounds are clean and spacious. They have wonderful cabins and RV sites. The only have 5 tent sites. There are no tent pads and the sites are on a small hill. The picnic tables are limited and not every tent site has one. There are no fire rings so it’s a little unnerving building a fire on the grass. The lake and marina is wonderful and clean. They have all sorts of thing to do there. Kayak rentals, fishing charters, a cute little cafe. This is a place I would come to rent a cabin but not to tent camp!

Made my reservation on line just a few spots were available. Spot 04 with a water view space is slanted. They had the parking pass ready to pick up so it was not necessary to speak with anyone. The view, electricity, water, and showers was very nice at such an affordable price. Take your cleaning supplies into the bathroom as a precaution, I did not see trash can in the bathrooms. Leave No Trace is not really practiced by other campers so feel free to pick up after someone else this space is beautiful and deserves respect. I enjoyed the rain and the view it was very relaxing and I appreciated a shower as well as powering all my extras before heading on the road to Minnesota. $14 for the space very appreciate.