Best Tent Camping near Navarro Mills Lake

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

Pros 

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

Friendly gate attendant 

Level asphalt site surrounded by crushed granite 

Grass neatly mowed throughout campground 

Large aluminum picnic table that is moveable from site concrete pad

BBQ grill, metal fire pit and lantern pole 

Night sky friendly. No street lights 

Spacious-space between each site but no privacy due to lack of vegetation 

Very quiet Sunday thru Wednesday nights except for Waco airport aircraft approach and Space X rocket testing 

Entrance gate locked 10pm-6am. Exit only permitted 

Clean toilets and showers 

Plenty of TP in restrooms 

Trash can in toilet/shower facility 

Sufficient trash dumpsters throughout park 

Deer sightings at Park entrance only 

2 LTE Verizon bars signal 

Cons 

Exterior restroom doors desperately need repaired. Have to move rock away from door to gain access. 

Sewer connection at rear of parking pad. Bring the looooong stinky slinky! 

Waco airport aircraft departing/arriving as early as 6am and as late as 11pm. One night we counted aircraft performing touch and go manuvers 42 times. Approach was directly over our campsite. 

No patrolling host or ranger 

No soap or hand towels in toilet facility 

No playground, basketball or tennis or volleyball courts 

No lake swimming area 

No park WIFI 

No hiking trails

This park is a short drive to all of Waco attractions including the famous Silos. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights. 

Pros:

• Very friendly gate attendant

• Extremely quiet park except for arriving/departing aircraft at Waco Regional Airport

• Great view of the lake as trees/shrubs are minimal

• Clean campsite

• Very clean campfire pit

• Most sites had a nice distance from neighbor sites

• Crushed granite surrounds the site’s asphalt parking pad so no muddy mess after rain

• Pedestal BBQ grill, fire pit with grilling grate and aluminum picnic table at each site

• Some sites had aluminum roof pavilion over picnic table

• Some sites had lantern pole

• Park roadways in good condition

• Entrance gate locked at 10pm

• Plenty of TP in women’s restroom

• 4 bar signal AT&T 

Cons:

• Filthy women’s restroom. Human feces on floor. Two of the three stalls locked for days. One remaining stall the door would not close and latch. Sign posted on door that restrooms were cleaned Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but the human feces were on the floor Friday night, Saturday all day and Sunday morning. Exterior door would not close completely.

• No water to sinks in women’s restroom

• No soap dispenser and no hand dryer in women’s restroom

• Men’s restroom door locked Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning

• Exterior door to one shower room was unable to be closed

• Extremely low water pressure to campsite

• No site privacy due to minimal trees/brush throughout the park

• Low hanging tree branches over roadway and campsite pad

• Our campsite pedestal BBQ grill was extremely corroded

• No wildlife sightings- not even a squirrel

• NOT A DARK SKY FRIENDLY CAMPGROUND! Boat launch lights across the cove lit up most of the campground. Large lights on the toilet/shower building that made it nearly as bright as daylight!

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!

Liberty hill is a very beautiful campground but there is a serius issue with the invasive Argentian ant. This is a great campground to spend a few days or weeks relaxing and catching fish. Lake Navarro Mills is well know as the best Crappie fishing lake in Texas. Navarro Mills Liberty Hill Park features a fantastic fishing barge that is covered allowing you to fish no matter the weather. Our visit to Liberty Hill Park at Navarro Mills Lake was a real treat with one minor exception, Argentine Ants, these can be a real issue when RV camping at Liberty Hill Park as this invasive species is out of control at Liberty Hill Park. Want to see more fun RV tours and RV camping videos? Visit my channel here... https://www.youtube.com/c/BobBarkerRVGuy

We had limited weekends to take the grandkids camping. It has been raining non stop all over Texas. I began to look for places within 2 hours of Fort Worth. Texas State Parks are a great. I settled on Lake Whitney. They have these shelter sites that are awesome. For $30 per night ($10 per night more than normal e&w site) plus $5 per adult gate fee. That may not be economical for everyone, but $40 for an overnight camp was fine. The shelters are very clean and well kept. Inside is a picnic table and enough floor space for another plus some. So if your tent fails in you go. The top of walls are screened and bottom solid. I set up my camp kitchen and we ate meals inside due to weather. We set up our large tent behind the shelter to block wind from the lake. The site also had it's own parking, another table outside and fire ring. We had site 4 right across from the lake and swimming area. The bath house was very clean and only a short walk. You can fish license free from the shore. There are 5 or 6 moderate hiking trails. Also the park is home to plenty of woodland animals. The 4 yo and I took a 2 am bathroom break and saw a herd of dear about 30 head.

The park is very good for families and fishing.

There are also a boat ramp, small airstrip and day use areas.

The staff is awesome.