Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Pampa, TX

We spent one night here on our way from Indiana to Valley of the Gods. Plentiful spaces, few people, pet friendly, flush toilets and showers. The best part is that all sites - except for 10 RV hook up sites - are free!!!

There are three different camping units to the park. Dry camping on one side of the dry lake. Two sections for camping on the other side of the lake RV section for OHV traffic. And then a tent RV section on the other side. Only one full bathroom with showers the rest are pet toilets. The upper campground is quite charming you need to know the lake is dry though and has been for quite a while.

We were in site #12. We had Full hook- up with a gravel pull-through. We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep.

The site was easy to level.

Our site was not shaded with limited trees. This was a smaller lot with our neighbors very close.

The lot does not have a concrete patio or fire ring but has a picnic table.

It is an easy access to the campground from highway -(approximately 1 mile from highway).

There is free WiFi. They do not offer Cable TV but there are many channels.

They do not sell wood since fire burning is not permitted (only charcoal).

They do not provide garbage service at your site so you must walk to garbage dumpster (located through out the park).

You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They do not provide golf cart rentals. There is really not a need to have a Golf cart because it is a smaller campground.

They do have a heated Swimming pool.

There is a Playground. There are not any additional play areas like Bocce ball, shuffleboard, basketball sport court, or volleyball courts.

They have a great general store. They sell limited food & alcohol as well.

The streets are gravel so not great for riding bikes. There is not really anywhere to ride bikes outside of campground.

They have cabins for rent and tent areas.

They have 2 shower houses. The shower house has the typical stalls. These are kept very clean.

There is a laundry facility. It is a cash only facility, but they have a change machine. There are approximately 6 washers and 3 large dryers. It is approximately $2 to wash and approximately $2 to dry a load.

They have two side-by-side fenced in dog parks.

There were no trails to hike in the campground.

Some fun things to do outside of the campground are Cadillac Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon state park (a must do - also stop at the Sad Monkey Mercantile for wine, beer, pizza) and Route 66 Motor Speedway (quite entertaining). The Texan Steak Ranch was delicious and a fun experience (reservations can be made on OpenTable). Also visit the Paramount Social Club (a speakeasy). This is located in the basement of the Barfield Hotel (pull the lever on the cigarette machine to access the secret door).

We stayed here for two weeks while traveling for renewable energy work in the area. They had very affordable daily, weekly, and monthly rates. They have a lot of people who come and stay a day or too while they travel, your neighbors are always changing. They have a very cute store with basics including food if needed. Maytag washers and commercial dryer available with dollars to coin machine. Hookups are great, easy to connect and setup user friendly. They have farm animals onsite to visit, great fir the kids! Pet friendly. Trash cans all over the site along with two dumpsters. Tornado shelters on site! Only 5minutes away from the town of Shamrock, TX which has multiple fuel options, grocery market and ace hardware. They have some cute shops too. Multiple propane options within an hour of each direction.

All in all very impressed with the owners and site and our stay was great. Definitely will stay here again if we are back in the area!

We stayed 2 nights. Limited number of cement rv pads with water vand electric hook ups. Great lake marina with helpful staff. RV sites were serounded by dry weeds, thorns, dirt, rocks. We couldn't walk our dogs here. We would not stay again.

It’s beautiful here. We are at the bottom of the lake and not at the cliff where most pictures are taken. We have a dog and it felt safer here. It’s very very windy, temperature swings Yand there is absolutely no reception. The connection of the Starlink is fair so if you have one you can go with that. Its a drive away into nothing but there is a Walmart 25 minutes away suprisingly.

If you Don't have a 4x4 car then make sure to scout your route beforehand. As the paths go towards the river the soil becomes sandy and loose, and your car could get stuck.

This is a nice quiet place to park for the night although I bet it gets pretty busy at certain times of the year. If you don't mind driving a few minutes away from the main road this spot will let you stargaze and walk your dog.

Sure, it's in kind of a strange location. Sure, it's sort of small. But the sites are big, the sunrises are huge, the lake is silent (at least in early Oct.)...

...And it's free. Only two bathrooms, but they're well  lit, well maintained, with flush toilets, and have showers!

Plenty of room between campsites, although the trees are more like tall shrubs, so you can wave at your neighbor. But they're so far away, you can't quite tell if they're waving back. Most of the sites are on a cliff that has a wonderful view of the lake, and each site has plenty of room, including a covered picnic bench and a fire pit. 

I've paid a fair amount of money for far worse spots. Maybe it gets busy in the summer, but October finds this place not even half full (midweek) and extremely peaceful. 

Also, my dog loved it, as you can probably tell in the pics.

West Texas winds are no joke. Our site was great, lot of sandburs so stay on roads. No sewer hookup for us. Great views. No nearby beach / water access except boat ramp / check in area.

FCFS 

FREE 

The boat ramp is open and great for "small" boats. Beautiful sunsets, picnic table, shade shelters, grills, trash cans, fire ring. There is no water, no flush toilets. This campground is more suited for tents but there is an area by the boat ramp where folks could boondock. 

Thank you Texas, you are amazing. 

LNT 

AIS Clean, Drain, Dry 

Travel safe

We stayed at this campsite on our journey out west it’s right on Lake Mary is a very large man-made reserve the campsite has access to a boat ramp there are about 10+ primitive sites all with picnic tables no grills and there is currently a fire ban otherwise fires would be allowed but the firemen I believe is most of the state of Texas we stayed here on 107° day so be mindful there’s very little shelter even under the covered picnic tables highly would recommend not being outside during dusk as a plethora of insects will come and they can get quite aggressive but once the sun settle down so did the bugs and we had a lovely evening it does get very hot here as you are in the middle of Texas and there is no water available pit toilets were excellent very clean and also double as tornado shelters as this is in tornado alley so be careful there’s lots of interesting vegetation here and lots of different plant life you can get down to the lake from a long path like that starts at a large paved parking lot it’s not really a parking lot it’s just a large giant pain. On top of the rock I can easily accommodate Very long rigs it’s about 30 minutes to the nearest anything at least so be sure you bring everything you need

McDowell Campground is a pleasant little campground on the shore of Lake McClellan right in the middle of the Texas panhandle. Signs on the interstate direct you to the exit for the recreation area, but after that don't expect any other signage to help you find the campground, the only other sign you will get is the National Grasslands sign when you reach the area. Use your GPS or Google Maps to find you way and you will not have any trouble. After entering the Grassland do not take the first entrance you see on the left(dirt road leading to East Bluff#1 campground), but take the second paved entrance. Neither have a sign. The road is paved all the way to the campground. Once you turn off the main road their will be a road to the right which leads to the dump station. Just past this is a fork in the road with a sign for Lake McClellan. Take the road to the left for McDowell Campground, going to the right will take you to Lake McClellan Campground. Pay station will be on your right as you drive in.

This is a nice pleasant quiet campground next to the lake. A few campsites sit on the shore of Lake McClellan. Very nice wooded sites through out the campground. The campground has hook up sites with electric and water($15), and non-hookup sites($10). Two vault toilets serve the campground, located on each end. Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring, some sites also include pedestal grills as well. All sites are nice and level. This is a very pleasant campground and located away from the ATV trails so should be quieter that the near by Lake McClellan Campground. If you want a hot shower then head over to Lake McClellan Campground. Only a few other campers were here mid week in October. In true Texas still a working oil well can be seen right at the edge of the campground.

Nothing wrong with this spot in any way shape or form. Lots and lots of bugs and critters. We were greeted in the morning by mowers and people picking up trash, but that’s a fantastic sign of a campsite well taken care of, so no complaints from me. In the night, we got to hear coyotes and we heard the scurrying feet of a raccoon or possum. Designated fire pits and a picnic table for each site. Check the site for ant mounds first!! The ants in Texas are bigger too I guess lol. There were also plenty of places for horses so that was awesome. Each site was large enough for an RV or camper.

There are various campgrounds around Lake Meredith. Blue West is on the opposite side from the city of Fritch side. Contrary to some pictures here, it does NOT have access to the water. No docks, no ramps, no water for filling, no electricity. Those are at other spots, not Blue West. It is up in a cliff over looking the lake. That said, it was very empty in July. And being so high up, I was afraid the winds were going to tear my popup canvas. It's a beautiful spot. Nothing wrong with it at all. Just those Texas winds! Shelters have two picnic tables in them. So, there is some shade. The pics are views of the lake from my campsite. So is the video

This place is free and has some sites with both water/hookups and some dry camping. The views are so sick and I had no idea Texas had spots to offer like this (Midwesterner here lol). Fun to watch the deer down by the shore. Cool lil trails and loved the sunrises here, I parked right on the edge. I was at a site with hookups for a few hours (self converted camper van but sometimes I just hook up to the 20a/put my batteries on trickle charger). Some lady w a fifth wheel came up and said I was in her spot tho I’m pretty sure she duped me bc it’s free/aren’t reservations lol. Didn’t put up a fight. No problem camping dry with a better view!! Will be back when traversing TX again.

Lake McClellan Campground is a nice campground in the middle of the Texas panhandle. Signs on the interstate direct you to the exit, but after that don't expect any other signage to help you find the campground, the only other sign you will get is the National Grasslands sign when you reach the area. Use your GPS or Google Maps to find you way and you will not have any trouble. After entering the Grassland do not take the first entrance you see on the left(dirt road leading to East Bluff#1 campground), but take the second paved entrance. Neither have a sign. The road is paved all the way to the campground. Once you turn off the main road their will be a road to the right which leads to the dump station. Just past this is a fork in the road with a sign for Lake McClellan. Take the road to the right for Lake McClellan Campground, going to the left will take you to McDowell Campground. Pay station will be on your left as you drive in, continue past the pay station to the camping area.

The campground has hook up sites with electric and water($15), and non-hookup sites($10). The first 8 sites are just a large parking area for RVs, the remainder of the sites sit on small loops in the trees. All sites are nice and level. A few sites are missing their site numbers which made it a little difficult to figure out which site we were in. Campground has flush toilets with hot showers, one of the two restroom/shower building was locked. Site could use a little upkeep but for$10 for a sight with flushing toilets and showers, this is a good deal. Only a few other campers mid week in October. This are has ATV trails, so I am guessing it might get busy on the weekends. All sites have picnic tables, metal fire rings and most have pedestal grills as well.