Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Lake O' The Pines

This ground is situation Lake o’ the Pines in east Texas. This is a corp of engineers lane and has many amp grounds available to stay.

Although the lake itself is pretty dirty, it’s fun to fish and play on water craft. Fellow campers are usually pretty friendly. This location is water and electricity only, no sewer hookups. Bath houses serve are purpose. They are don’t the nicest, but not the worst.

Fire rings are situated at each camp site. Concrete pads and picnic tables, also.

This COE campground is part of Lake O' The Pines right outside the historic town of Jefferson, TX. Our site had 180 degree views of the beautiful lake and sat amongst tall pines. The sites are a nice distance from the others and fairly level. Electric and water hookups were on site and a dump station was nearby within the park.  Many had their fishing boats and a nice swimming area was just a few yards away. We enjoyed the Jefferson Museum and train ride while we were nearby.  The only deduction was due to an abundance of ants that invaded our RV and were difficult to resolve. Though insects are an obvious hazard of camping, we'd never had that issue before. Overall, it's a gorgeous place to spend time!

Quiet, clean, nice staff. We were right by the dog park, which the dogs loved!

Nice manager .. Park 95% gravel .. has electric 30/50 amp ..water quality good .. has sewer at site .. not much going on .. mostly permanent campers here .. Passport of America site .. I paid a total of $19.24 for the night .. small dog park

Pull thru, level, concrete pad. Swimming pool & fishing lake. Very little shade. No dog park but lots of green walks for the pups. Great spot if you love antiquing! Gladewater has many, many, many antique shops. Campground staff is very nice and accommodating.

My husband evacuated here during hurricane season for a couple of days and I drove up to meet him. We love every KOA we stay in, but this was felt very “homey” - the dog park was a plus and their laundry facilities were very affordable!

Did an extended stay here, 3 months while working in the area. The staff is great and very helpful and friendly. The dog park is nice if you have them. Park is well maintained. There are only 2 reasons I couldn’t give them more than 3 stars, 1) on monthly rate they charge for electric which I get but it continued to go up even though outside temps continued to drop so no need for my A/C units. 2) During the last 4 nights of my stay there were multiple times I heard multiple gun fire in the area.

Lots of in and out traffic. I would recommend if your passing through the area and need to stop for a night or two but not long term.

Best camp ground. Very kid friendly and pet friendly. Most of the spots have some of the best views you have ever seen. Wonderful playground for the kids.

I should mention that my husband is from Canada. He was very unenthusiastic about camping in Texas. Well Tyler State Park made him change his mind! He LOVED the large trees, said it was the closest he'd felt to home in quite some time. We love the variety of types of sites they offer. Lake front, group, hike in, cabin, they have something for everyone! Only downfall is they book so quickly.

This is my favorite state park in Texas! Lots of options for all kinds of campers. For camping, lots of different sites available for RVs/Campers, Tents, etc. some along the lake, some in the woods, and also cabins and shelters available! Hiking options vary from a nature stroll, to some more serious up-downs through the hills on the outskirts of the campground. Bring your friends, family, and pets, there is truly something for everyone here, even kayak and canoe rentals at the lake!

Very quiet despite mostly long terms, lots of rules that keeps the campground clean, neat, and orderly. Not a great place for pets, walking area is rather small. Small stocked pond, fish were biting! Spaces are extra long, however made for a 5th wheel. If in class A with a tow, will have to unhook if you don’t have 25-30 foot long hoses.

It being August in Texas, we rented a limited use cabin with air conditioning. It also has a mini frig and a microwave inside. It has a queen size bed for which campers need to bring their own pillows and bed linens. The frig was super cold, and the AC worked well. There was a wood table with four chairs. The table was really sticky, so I recommend bringing something you can use as a table cloth. There are only six of these cabins, and they have a four bathroom building at the end of the cul de sac. No tents or pets are allowed at the cabin sites. Each has fire pit and water outside cabin

The park has a very small lake with canoe, kayak, paddle board, row boat, and paddle boat rentals. Life vests are provided with rental. It was fun! There is a good sized swimming area too. There are a number of trails of varying difficulty, some for hiking only, some for home and bike. Ranger programs offered.

Clean campground with decent sized sites. Only a handful are 50 amp, which we were fortunate to get. The park isn’t very large (about 50 sites). Exterior sites have more space between them than interior sites. Lots of people pulling their boats up to the shoreline and docking there. Lots of shade. Nice little campground, but because of the size, don’t expect to be “away from it all.” Nice playground for those with kids. Rocky Point campground (also COE) is just around the corner. Only cons (not the park, but camping etiquette): I have noticed a lot of folks not adhering to the “pets on leash” rule, and people also don’t seem to mind walking through others’ campsites. Beautiful trees, water is nice, and the campground is close to town if you need to run out for supplies. Will definitely camp here again.

I brought my dog on a two night weekend stay and we had a blast. The campsite was well maintained and we loved all of the trails.

PROS 

Texas State Park Pass discount saving $49 

Reserved 151 days prior to arriving 

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

Big Pine site #308 very shady site 

Extra wide asphalt parking pad 

Concrete slab that locked down the wooden picnic table 

Metal fire pit with cooking grate which was cleared of ash upon our arrival 

2 hook lantern pole 

Dark sky friendly 

Trash dumpsters near the toilet/shower building 

Tyler Rose Garden features over 30,000 bushes and is open free to the public from sunrise to sunset…very beautiful and serene 

CONS 

Had to sweep for nearly an hour to clean debris from site 

No entrance gate locked overnight 

Never saw any rangers patrolling campground during our entire stay 

Dogs on leashes not enforced 

Unable to move picnic table 

Big Pine site #308 way out of being level but manageable 

Big Pine site #308 close to campground road 

Big Pine site #308 tight fit for 28 ft 

Only pine firewood for sale in Park 

No WiFi 

1 bar Verizon 5G

Friendly service at check-in. A couple of sites were available for us to chose from. We choose A4 backing up to the catch and release pond. We caught many brim in the pond. Level site. Metal picnic table. FHU. Plenty of space between our neighbors. I had enough room to do yoga. Dog friendly.