Best Tent Camping near O.C. Fisher Lake

We have enjoyed staying at San Angelo State Park because of the natural things it offers. We stayed in the Red Arroyo campground. The sites are large and well-spaced apart. You don't have much privacy due to the lack of trees since this is where the prairie and desert come together, but the distance between sites helps. Also, having a picnic table and covered shelter at each site is a nice touch. 

One thing we noticed is that when the wind gets going here it really blows hard, so be prepared to take care of anything that might need to be held down. Several times it was bad enough that we had to close our roof vent. 

The night sky is decent because it's so wide open, unfortunately, it's not as dark as we had hoped because of the lights from nearby San Angelo. You also tend to hear some road noise -- it's not bad, just louder than we expected considering how this place seems like it would be in the middle of nowhere from most of the pictures. Given the expansive horizon, though, you're in for some really cool sunrises and sunsets right from your campsite. 

The hiking, biking, and equestrian trails here offer a lot of variety and with 50 miles of them, it's tough to get bored. Note that the North and South units have separate trail systems and there's no road within the park to reach the two units. You have to drive out on the main road and it's too far to bike or walk. 

In addition to trails, make sure you check out the wildlife blind set up near the Red Arroyo loop, plus on Saturday and Wednesday mornings, the rangers do supplemental feeding of the bison and longhorn cattle herds, bringing them right up to the fence for visitors to see. It's a nice treat! As you hike, you're likely to see plenty of wildlife, too. We have seen deer, owls, birds, and javelinas so far. 

Cell service was pretty good for Verizon and T-Mobile. (2-3 bars consistently) 

The only real complaint (other than tiring of the wind after a while) was that the bathrooms are really old. They are kept clean and the showers were hot with good, modern showerheads. But in Red Arroyo, there is only one shower for women and one for men for the whole campground. And there also are very limited toilets in the main bathhouse and the secondary bathhouse has at least one defunct toilet in the men's room. The whole park could use a bathroom/shower house overhaul. It hasn't been very busy with campers here but we could see that a busy season could wreak havoc on bathroom availability. 

Note that if you're coming for O.C. Fisher Lake, that is a reservoir that is emptying out and never likely to come back. A ranger told us the lake is at about 6-8% of its glory days. The place is filled with boat ramps to nowhere and when hiking you can find several abandoned campground loops. 

All-in-all a good place to stay but go in with your eyes open.

This is camping the way we like it -- rustic, beautiful and inexpensive.  And, there was no one there in January, despite the state parks being packed!  We had the place completely to ourselves, with the exception of a few fisherman.

For $5 a night you can camp at any one of the dozens of sites scattered around the lakeshore.  Lots of space in between sites and most with beautiful sunrise/sunset views. Each campsite has a picnic shelter above the table for shade, and rain, a grill and fire ring, plus your very own trashcan – never saw all that before in such an inexpensive park but there you have it!   No hook-ups in the park, so bring your solar panel for some electricity if you need it.

The lake is used mostly by local anglers, but I can imagine it gets pretty busy during the summer months when the lake level is at its highest. The only bathrooms were centrally located near the diner/ campstore/ RV Park/ gas station near the boat launch.  So, if you are out in the campground, you'll want to bring your own method. The folks were great there and let us use the wifi for a few hours. 

There’s not much in the way of trails in the immediate area of the lake, except the dirt roads. A word about the dirt, it is mostly clay which when saturated with rain water will form the most exceptionally sticky mud to coat the underside of your vehicle. It comes off, but wow, only with some strong encouragement and a high pressure hose. 

The closest towns with grocery stores and other services are Balanger and Menard, but you can get a few things including drinking water, ice, and drinks at the camp store.

This is the north part of San Angelo State Park. I camped here the last weekend of January. Other than being quite windy during the day, the weather was gorgeous. Chilly at night with temperatures in the thirties but the days were sixties and seventies and sunny. I didn't get to do much exploring because I went to San Angelo to pick up something on Monday morning and thought I would use this trip to test out some gear. The parking sites are great for either a tent or small RV. This was ideal for my setup which is a rooftop tent on my SUV. There were some nice large trees over many of the campsites and there were clean concrete picnic tables with a sun or rain cover above that.

We stayed here for 4 nights in early May 2019. We stayed in the Red Arroyo Campground at the South entrance of the park. The best thing about this park is the amount of space between spots. Plenty of space between you and your neighbors. The park is beautiful and very quiet. When we were there the wildflowers were in full bloom. Spots are water and electric only, but there is a dump onsite. We had spot #13 and it was steep, but we were able to tuck our 30ft trailer at the bottom where it leveled out. No levelers required. The park has many trails for hiking and biking. Some of the trails were a bit muddy, but they had recently had rain. Cell phone service was good. We were able to get internet through the hotspot. Overall, it was a nice stay and we would stay here again. $20 price reflects camping fee only. Day use fee is $4 per person if you do not have a Texas State Park Pass.