Best Tent Camping near Mount Vernon, TX

Our family had such an amazing time tent camping on the water!

Clean bathrooms, good playground and beach area. Cabins, RV, equestrian and tent sites.

Absolutely stunning Texas state park located along the Texas Forest Trail that showcases the rolling hills of pine trees that dubbed this region the name “Pineywoods” of East Texas. Clean lake with available kayaking and canoeing, and even paddle boats. RV hookups or tent campgrounds.

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.

I’m an avid camper and hiker but when camping here alone at night (no one else was in the tent camping area), my camp site was accosted by a family of raccoons. They were not friendly and not scared of people at all. Be careful if you have young children. Aside from this, the lake was beautiful, peaceful and serene. Camp sites are unique and right on the water.

Hear me out :D The Park itself is very beautiful and the staff there are some of the nicest hosts you will encounter at a SP. Bathrooms were clean, and the showers were nice as well. Our issue was that Tent camping is primarily offered on the south side of the park. Which as the crow flies is about 1 mile from I20. So throughout the night the constant rumble of cars on the highway can keep you up most of the night. Then you have the local Emergency Services. Sirens down the park road and on i20. This is the perfect day use SP for the Trails and water sports. Also looks like it would be prefect for RV camping.

I visited the Shortleaf camping area in the Tyler State Park for the weekend to participate in a 50k trail race. Each campsite in this area has a sheltered cabin, picnic table, fire pit and 2 parking spots. Tent camping is also permitted on the site but I used my iKamper Roof Top Tent as my primary place to sleep. The sheltered cabin has screens on the windows to keep the bugs out and electricity. I used this area primarily for storage of the food & gear that I used during the weekend. My campsite was located at the bottom of a hill and had a path to the restrooms and showers. These facilities were very clean and had 2 shower stalls and 3 toilet stalls along with 2 sinks. This location had access to the lake via a short hike. This type of camp site is the best of both worlds, you can camp via tent/car and still have a cabin like experience via the sheltered cabin. 

In September it is still pretty warm in Tyler, humidity was 100% when I visited without rain. I'll visit again in October when the cooler temps arrive and undoubtable have an even better experience.

For folks that went camping in the 70s, 80s, 90s with your coleman lanterns, coleman fuel stoves, and actually camped in tents (as intended)... Daingerfield State Park is the place to be. It gives you the classic nostalgic feeling of camping. Its nestled in the thick pineywoods of northeast Texas - the towering pine trees, lakeside cabins and crystal clear lake all combined bring back memories of a person's childhood. Being in this park makes you feel like that picture perfect family on the packaging of camping products. It is a beautiful park with plentiful trails for mountain biking and hiking. There are multiple campgrounds allowing for large RVs/campers and tent camping. Bathrooms are always clean and the staff is polite and helpful. Fishing is good in this large spring-fed clear water lake - although motorized boats are not allowed, kayaks, canoes and paddle boats are permitted and available to rent as well. The park store is small but has most of your camping basics such as drinks, snacks and tshirts, etc.

All of the campsites have fire rings and the park sells firewood at a fair price and permits ground fires if the county is not under a burn ban. The park also hosts a healthy amount of events such as dances, Halloween in the park, and Christmas in the park.

The town of Daingerfield is a neat little town - only a 5-10 minutes from the park, it provides multiple fast food options, a Brookshires supermarket, gas stations and perhaps the most famous location in Daingetfield - the Morris Movie Theatre. (Cash only $1.50 tickets on the newest movie releases, two auditorium building, great snacks and best of all it is a family run operation. Nightly showings which makes it a perfect place to visit if you're camping at the park for a few days)

Stargazing is also great at DSP.. the park is far enough away from bigger cities which allows for darker skies.

This is defintely one of my favorite parks to go to and in the year I've lived in this area, we've probably gone to DSP at least two dozen times or more. Do make reservations ahead of time, as this park is largely popular and fills up quickly on summer days (day use) and weekend nights (camping).

I highly recommend this park and hope you and your family make long last memories.

Typical clean and safe for a texas state park. No public drinking. Very little wildlife. We did have some squirrels get into out tent, my bad for leaving sweets out.

No feral pigs which are common these days. Nice sized spaces with tent areas and tables spread out.

Bonus in the loop bathroom they have individual rooms that have toilet and shower with a high lock. Really awesome if you are using shower with toddlers.

We saw signs about the ants bit we didn't see them. We were here over Christmas so that's probably why.

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.

camp site was flat had pads for tents and was well mantaind. had a shower and restroom that was clean and also had great hikng

Sites are spread out for tent and RV's best times to visit is fall or spring