Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Langtry, TX

Two sunsets that went on and on, we hiked the Canyon Rim- Presa Overlook trails and back ( about 3 mi worth). We live in the PNW, so desert is not home territory for us. Much of the beauty is subtle, and Seminole Canyon really shines.

There is a small well done history museum in the Park Headquarters. Everything looks new and clean; restrooms, campsites are level, most have shelters. The trails are well marked and well mapped. It’s one of the best-designed and maintained camps I have been to.

They offer guided tours to the nearby Pictograph site; some of the pictographs apparently go back as far as 10,000 years. You purchase tickets for these tours and some moderately challenging hiking is required.

All in all, it’s a pretty fabulous place. But I sort of wish we didn’t bring our dog. It’s not a very pet-friendly environment because the desert is like that.

Across the street from where this listing is located there is a community center, the Vashti Skiles (old Langtry schoolhouse), where camping is allowed in the yard. There is a hose with potable water attached to the building. In town, you can use the visitor center for restrooms, wifi, and very friendly staff. The museum there is free and is actually very interesting with a beautiful cactus garden and butterfly garden in the back.

Seminole Canyon State Park is located in the southwest part of Texas. The Rio Grande River and the Pecos River run through the park and have shaped the history of the area. The park is in the dessert, so the late fall, winter and early spring are the best times to visit. The summer can be very hot. The campground has developed sites with water and electricity, basic sites with water, and primitive sights without amenities. Some of the campsites have shade shelters and if one is available I highly recommend that you take it. The sun and heat can be brutal. Bring a tarp which can be tied up to the shelter for additional shade. The distinguishing feature of this park is the rock art. The art has been left in the area by different people groups over different eras. The Fate Bell Tour is the basic tour which is led by park staff. It provides an excellent overview of the history and rock art in the park. There are other tours to offsite locations that are also worth a visit if you have time. The White Shaman, Curly Tail Panther, Painted Shelter and Bonfire Shelter tours are all great. If you need a respite from the heat visit the nearby town of Langtry and stop in at the Judge Roy Bean museum. The museum contains some displays and a film about the Law West of the Pecos. One of the best features of the museum is that it also has cool water and air conditioning to escape the heat. ;)

Camp, hike, mountain bike, geocache and study history and nature. With guided tours into on of the most preserved and spectacular dwellings with rock art. This is a part of Texas that is a must see!

Campground is located just a few miles from Del Rio, Texas and is part of the Lake Amistad Nat'l Rec Area. Great location if your looking for a safe, quiet, level, overnight stay location with good cell service signal (AT&T). Not so good if you're here to enjoy the water as there is any lake access from the campground proper (hence the 4 versus 5 star rating). Nevertheless, very clean and numerous pit toilets, covered picnic tables, and 30 or so level sites await the road weary RVer. And if you do want to enjoy the lake, lake access is a few miles nearby.

Ok. On to the next. Its just north of Del Rio, TX...named the nations friendlist boarder town. Crime rate is reportedly almost non existent around here. I did notice a TON of boarder patrol agents and police cruising everywhere around here......anyway, this is yet another campground maintained by the national park service and they do a great job. Not quite boondocking perse..... but 10 bucks a night, 5 If your a senior. First come, first served. Only 15 spots. Can stay 14 days. Was talking to one of the park service workers and he gave me the scoop on a couple other nice spots around here and still part of this national recreation area....ill stay a couple night here, than I'll check them out.. (big bend will just have to wait). No hook ups but I don't need them. My solar is cranking away. There are several potable water stations, trash cans and vault toilets if ya need them. Some sites are level, some aren't. Vzw and att Cell/data service are both strong. Laughlin Air Force base is about 20 minutes south of here and is the largest air force training base in the country. ~350 air force pilots graduate from there every year. More planes take off and land there everyday than any other airport in the country....when I was driving in on rt 90...there was a steady stream of Talons coming and going....right over the road. I hear them buzzing around the lake too. This lake...is really a reservoir. Lake Amistad was a joint project between the US and Mexico. The damn was completed in 1969. Amistad means "friendship". It was made from both the Rio grande and the Devils Rivers. It covers almost 65,000 acres, 851 miles of shoreline (574 in Texas...rest in Mexico) and has a max depth of 217' and like many bodies of water in the SW water levels are low, however it is still a popular rec area and is well known for fantastic bass fishing. Several televised Pro tournaments are held here each year. It is the 2nd biggest lake in Texas. Pretty impressive right? Yeah...glad I stopped! Quiz to follow later...lol.

This campground is your typical Texas desert environment, and has awesome pictographs that you can view via guided tour! There are hiking trails that trace the rim of the Seminole Canyon and have views of the Rio Grande. We did the Fate Bell guided tour which is not very strenuous and takes you down into the canyon to see 4000 year old pictographs. Definitely worth it as they are fading due to man made changes in the environment and won't be visible to the eye much longer.

We stayed in site 6, which was a bit disappointing. Since you're in a desert there's not much to divide the sites, but they are spacious. The prime real estate is in the loop with sites 18 - 31. The outer sites on that loop have a really great view! The no hookup sites on the other loop (9, 10, 11, 13) also have nice views. The primitive camping area is actually pull through RV sites that just never got their hookups so if you're up for camping with no hookups those sites can accommodate large rigs. 

Don't miss taking a few mile drive to the west to check out the Pecos High Bridge views!

Just 5 miles outside of Del Rio, Texas lies the limestone lined Amistad Reservoir which gathers the waters of the Rio Grande river on its journey to the gulf. Amistad means friendship, and as a dam project, was co-sponsored by the US and Mexico.  This park is a confluence of three distinct ecosystems, which makes the flora extra special.

There are many developed campgrounds throughout the Recreation Area, the San Pedro campground has a few sites that offer more privacy away from the main campground, and dozens in the larger, more open area.  Each is set up with a grill, picnic table and shade shelter. A large group campsite is available for reservation, but not during COVID. There are no electrical hook-ups (bring your solar!), and no water available at this campground.  Pit toilets were clean and hopefully they'll fix the lock on the doors soon (in the meantime, just use a stick).  Whaddya want for 6 bucks a night?  The stay limit is 2 weeks, and the rangers do check.

San Pedro is further away from the water than some of the other camping areas, but it was quiet, comfortable and lovely. Since the Verizon signal was super strong we were able to get a ton of things accomplished while also squeezing in some hikes, bikes, paddles, and runs. There are a few trails around, but lots of quiet dirt roads to stay active.  The boat launch was a short 2 mile drive away. And of course the crystal blue lake offers everything from swimming, fishing, paddling, and powerboating.

Del Rio is one of the larger cities along the border between Loredo and El Paso, so there really isn't much you can't get in town just a short drive away. We even got some work done on our truck and were able to just bike back to the campground whiel it was in the shop.  Drinking water can be filled at the Diablo East Campground dump station, about 4 miles away for no charge, and of course the town is full of water filling kiosks like all southern desert towns.

Devils River SNA is one of my most favorite parks in the Texas Parks system. I've been here only twice but both times this park was amazing.

Things you should know before you go:

*Cell service with ATT is non-existent (Not reliable at all. I had one bar along the river in certain areas and the rest of the time no bars)

*All of the campsites are offgrid, no electric, no water, no shade. Just a picnic table. Bring a canopy or umbrella because it can get very hot in the summer. There are no trees near the campsites as this is a borderline desert ecosystem.

*The river is the main attraction. It is pristine, clear, see-through untouched river system. Alligator gar and other fish are visible from the river side. Water can be deep in some areas so swim with caution. The river also flows at elevated speed in some areas so be careful. Generally you are fine swimming in the summer though. The water is cold.

*The river is day-use only. You cant camp alongside it, which sucks but it's meant this way to protect the river. Some people are dumb and litter or pollute.. they ruin it for the rest of us.

*The park is about 1hr off a highway, back on gravel and dirt roads. A 4x4 vehicle is recommended but not necessary. First time I went I had a 2x4 ford explorer and it was fine.. however there are certain mud holes along the way to the park, so be aware of that. The roads to the park are rough, cant drive faster than 20mph, which is why it takes 1hr to get to there.

*Top off your gas tank before you go to the park... there is no gas station within 1.5hrs or so of the park itself. Bring extra gas with you if you can. Again, cell service is almost non-existent around the park area... traffic is light, so you will be in a pickle if you run out of gas.

*There are only a handful of campsites, so reserve ahead.

*There is no vehicle access to the river. You basically drive from the campsite to a parking lot and then hike to the river about 1.5miles up two steep inclines and then down a hill to the river. Carrying a cooler sucked. Along with fishing gear and chairs. We brought a wagon the 2nd time we went.

*There is no ADA access to the river. No vehicle access, period.

*Ground fires not permitted. There is no water.

*There is one set of bathrooms are the park office - they are far from the campsites, so you'll need to drive to it if you need to use it.

*No electricity in the park whatsoever. Bring a battery for your electronics.

*Watch the weather... the river swells when it pours or storms. You dont want to be around it when that happens. The campsites are safe though... there is a creek between the campsites and park exit.. so if it does storm bad, you could be trapped. Defintely monitor weather and leave the park if it gets questionable.

*Again, there is no electricity in the park. It is pitch black when night falls. Have plenty of flashlights, batteries. It is pitch black out there.

*Stargazing is great and worth the drive to the park. Enjoy it.

Overall, this park is awesome. I'm glad it isn't popular. This being said, if you have time, visit this park. You will not regret it. Will add pics later.

First camping trip of 2018, couldn’t have picked a better place. The views of the canyon was beautiful, took the hike many times just to see it and to have lunch.

This is a very interesting natural area. The canyon,which leads into a large reservoir, was a pleasant surprise. They have a few petroglyphs and the native history is very interesting. You will need to come before summer as this area gets very hot beginning in late April. The campgrounds are clean and organized and the price is very reasonable. The ranger and the site campground manager are overzealous and need some customer service training. The camground manager was extremely rude. I banged on our van door early in the morning only to find out we had prepaid with a reservation. The park ranger (Ashley)was even worse. She was overtly hostile and rude to multiple customers. If it was not for the staff, I would give this a high recommendation

Currently there is no camping in the park. We visited on Nov 12th, hoping to camp only to find out that we had to move on. The park is still offering guided canyon tours which we thought was odd - why allow strangers to group up for a tour, but not allow people to camp isolated in their own tent in a remote area?

Perfect camping in the high desert . Small quiet campground with stunning views . Mexico to our right … U.S . To our left . Impeccable restrooms . Site was secluded .

My son and I tent camped at Seminole Canyon State Park circa 2010. We could could see the distant mountains in Mexico on the western horizon. The sunset dimmed to indigo and purple with the long, lonesome vista to the west across sage and limestone country. The night breeze whistled by our tent. Even though you’re in a campground, there’s a wild feel to it. Right off Highway 90, the state park is south of the nearby Pecos River high bridge. RV friendly.

Official map here: https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/park_maps/pwd_mp_p4501_082b.pdf

Cave paintings in the desert. Definitely do the main tour. It's the reason to come here. No trees. The river has carved its way through. Makes for quite a sight when hiking the trails. Don't do this trip when it's very hot.

So far an amazing place and wish I was staying longer. Clean, nice, easy in and out. The views and the quiet are priceless!

This park is overlooked since it’s so far from everything (literally borders Mexico), but it’s very much worth the trip. There is wonderful natural history to learn about. Even if you can’t do a long hike the views are very pretty. There are a few options for campsites, including tent-only, but they’re all pretty similar in views.

Yay: fantastic hikes along and into canyons and caves, wildlife (lizards were cool), lots to learn. Picnic tables have nice shade (otherwise it’s very open).

Nay: they don’t have the tours of the petroglyphs every day and you can’t visit them on your own.

Surprise: this park is not huge but there is so much to do and learn. Bring a camera!

We tent camped two nights here in November, 2018 and were very pleased. The campsites were great, close proximity to bathrooms with showers, very clean. We did the 8 mile hike around the park and it was easy, beautiful views of the Rio Grande river looking into Mexico. We also took the rock art/painting guided tour (8.00 per person for adults). Sunsets were beautiful.

Even the primitive sites are close to the bathrooms! Short walk away. Sites are BIG. FREE showers!!! Bathrooms are super clean.

Only stayed one night, in late March cool night warm day. Showers / bathrooms were nice, site was private with picnic table, tent pad, a ramada, water electric,  dump station.

We missed the tour, the vistor center was very nice, did a little exploring on our own, coming back for sure.

Came here as a last minute plan B after original trip east showed too much rain. Very happy we found a great camp space here. Really enjoyed the facilities, staff were very friendly, campground extremely clean, and great hiking trails. Will be back in Spring or Fall for more temperate weather and I imagine it is spectacular!

Beautiful park with great desert scenery.

This park is right along the border, but don’t let that deter you. It’s as safe as can be, as the river in this area ledges up anyone intending on crossing over illegally. The rangers offer a tour of the petroglyphs, some of the oldest in North America, and it is done very well. Visitor center has an amazing museum inside. Campsites are pretty exposed, but spacious. There is zero cell service there, but spotty Wi-Fi from the restrooms. The trails are well marked and offer amazing vistas. Fun mountain biking too. Lots to do.