Best Tent Camping near Mesquite, TX

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!

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.

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.