Best Glamping near Pilot Point, TX

For our first RV camping trip of 2018 we took a short drive north to Bonham State Park right outside of Bonham, Texas. This great little Texas State Park was constructed by the CCC back in the 30's. There are plenty of things for a family to do while camping at Bonham State Park! Hiking, fishing, boat rental and best of all Smors cooked over a roaring camp fire! At every Texas Stae Park you can check out fishing equipment from the front office and you do not have to have a fishing license! Bonham State Park takes the fishing to a whole new level by providing boats so you can get out to where the fish are hiding! Bonham State Park is a great place to take the family for a long weekend of camping fun as it is just a short 45 min drive north of the DFW metroplex!

Check out my YouTube video here...

https://youtu.be/cxcORiV_zmA

This state park has really beautiful lake views. It can be a little tricky getting down to the lake as it is surrounded by rocky cliffs on the Texas side. Lots of fun trails.

One of my first and favorite state parks in Texas. Several nice hiking trails, fond memories of Daddy/Daughter camping trips, and a quick escape to a relaxing & restful place an hour north of Dallas!

This is a nice little state park with good camping. The bathrooms are clean as are most Texas state park. There are small hiking trails that are kid friendly. I think the longest was 3 miles.

This park has water and electric, some sites with sewer also.  There did not seem to be a campground host in the park.  The bathrooms were not well maintained.  If you don't like fishing there is not much else to do in the campground.  We did see a lot of birds along the shoreline.  If you need to go to town for anything you will need to go back to Texas.  Cartwright, OK appears to be very high poverty.

We found Lake Ray Roberts as a nice swimming spot near Dallas to go cool down during the hot Texas summers and we LOVE it to go grill and hang out as a day long activity. So when my husband and I decide to start camping 🏕 we chose this park as our first trial, and we found it a bit inconvenient for Car camping since the spots are walk up and you gotta leave your car behind in a parking lot. Also, is very primitive style, so clean bathrooms and close-by water is not really part of the package. We loved the view from our spot and if you are up for a primitive experience within a park, then this is great. Just not for us and the type of camping we wanna do 😊

One of the more expensive Texas state parks. Standard electric at 25/night. Large bathrooms and lots of trash bins. Actual pay phones (who knew those still existed?) the trails are for DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) so maybe that explains the horrible lack of signage. Bicycle fix it station.

Great security. I was with my 3 year old after dark, maybe 8PM at the playground on the water. No lights so I used our lamplight. I noticed a truck in the parking lot with its lights on. We were there maybe 90 minutes and the truck kept moving. When we left, they left. I spotted it down the road and saw they were camp rangers. Bodes well that they were keeping tabs on the facilities even if it was just a mom and kid.

Very clean and moist spots are secluded. Lots of REALLY great primitive spots if that's your thing.

We had a reservation for two camp sites for Oct 25th and 26th. It stormed heavily on Friday, October 25th. Arguably, it was even a safety hazard to go. As such, we did not go and was still charged the camp site fees. When I spoke with the Texas Parks and Recreations central reservations, they could not help and advised me to contact Eisenshower and informed me the park has discretion to refund the fees. When I called and spoke with"Rhonda," she informed me that she could not refund the money despite the rain and told me the park's policy prevents her from doing so. I question whether such a policy exist since central reservations specifically said the parks have discretion. This is the poor customer service. I didn't know state funded parks were under such pressure to squeeze money out of people and make margins since it is tax funded by individuals like me. Amazing how poor customer service governmental entities provide. Governmental workers will be just that...government workers. Sad.

Campground Review:

For Full VIDEO Review: CLICK HERE

I decided to visit Eisenhower State Park during the last part of November, just before Thanksgiving when the leaves were putting on their final showcase of the season and casting their amber and red tones everywhere. It was absolutely breathtaking to pull into the park and start to see this area unfold around me.

Eisenhower is named for our former president, Dwight D Eisenhower, who was born in nearby Denison, Texas. Opened in 1958 to tourists as a Texas State Park, the area is divided amongst lake activities and wildlife preservation. In more recent years they have added ATV trails to accompany the bike and walking trails, the swimming beach and the outdoor amphitheater and pavilion.

Day use here is only $5 or for those camping you can easily find a perfect fit for your needs between $12 and $25. I noticed depending on the loop of camp you are enjoying amenities do vary as to site sizes. All sites except primitive and a single specialty reservation lot were equipped pretty standardly with a metal picnic table and fire ring with grill. The biggest differences were in that some had electricity and water while others had neither. (You can book your campsite online by clicking HERE )

I really enjoyed the spacing of the campsites, though the area I was visiting for the day had neighbors the spacing managed to mask any noise that might come from their camp. The tree coverage in the area was amazing and shady, I can only imagine this to be a necessary feature during the hot Texas summers.

Since I was only able to enjoy the park for a day, after enjoying one of the campsites for a lunch, I took to the hiking trails and explored the many areas there are to check out. I was most excited about the swimming beach, it reminded me of the beaches I had seen in Nevada nestled along the Colorado River in groves of mountainous rocky mountains. It felt secluded and while the beach area itself was a mix of rocks and sand, it could be a great retreat on a warm day for some fun with the family. The steps down to the beach captured my attention, I later noticed the same steps repeated by the marina and also by the amphitheater. They were unlike poured concrete and made for a more organic feel to the landscape. Created by bags of concrete hardened then used as pavers the surface provided a perfect step that was both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

A few things to remember about Eisenhower:

In this area throughout camp and other parts of the property you might see bats, armadillos, beavers, coyotes, deer, opossums, rabbits, bobcats, raccoons, foxes, squirrels and roadrunners. In addition, during warm months you can see a variety of snakes hiding on rocky surfaces so always be aware of your surroundings and remember to keep your food items secured inside your vehicle.

• The Lake is a BIG draw. This is one of the more popular stops along the massive Lake Texoma. Because of this you can take advantage of fishing, utilize the boat ramp and boat houses or rent one of the many watercraft they have to offer. CLICK HERE for more information about the lake, requirements of fishing and boating, activities available and any current advisories.
• There is an interpretive guide online which will completely give you a better perspective of the park and some of what it has to offer. CLICK HERE

Rating:

Overall I would give the State Park a 4 of 5 stars. I feel as though the park is large enough to accommodate large groups, essential during the busy lake season including holidays such as the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day. With the spacing it provides, not only can it accommodate crowds but it can make for a still enjoyable experience when visiting on these busy seasons.

Activities vary for those seeking non-lake related things to do, this is of great interest to me as a traveler who does not often hit the lake on one of my adventures. I like that there is an option for someone like myself to be able to if I choose however it isn’t the sole focus of the site.

Roberts Lake State Park has two main campgrounds, the Isle du Bois unit and Johnson unit. These are what I would call twins. They are very similar in layout, scenery and activities. They are on opposite sides of the lake.

Johnson Branch unit has good camp sites if you have a tent or a camper. There are several walk-in camp sites and several large sites for campers and RV's. The facilities are clean. Make sure that you spend a lot of time in the lake because it gets hot.

Very nice state park, not near as busy as Isle Du Bois. Both of these campgrounds at Luke Ray Roberts are very well kept. The beach area at Johnson Branch is not as nice as Isle Du Bois, but everything else is very similar. Johnson Branch is not near as crowded around the water, because if this. Overall it has great camp sites with lots of trees. Fall is wonderful at both Johnson ranch and Isle Du Bois.

It’s was very windy but we had loads of fun! We learned what native plants we can eat!

• Several sites have covered picnic tables
• Really nice beach area but water shoes are recommended because of Zebra Mussles
• Bank Fishing - No license needed
• Kite Boarding
• Paved hiking/biking trail
• Clean bathrooms and showers

Juniper Cove sites with good shade 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24,

Juniper Cove sites with very little shade 1, 2, 3, 4, 38

If you want a quick weekend from the busyness of the Dallas Metroplex, Ray Roberts State Park is about an hour north from downtown. Ray Roberts consists of two state parks on opposite sides of lake, Ray Roberts - Isle Du Bois Unit and Johnson Branch Unit. Johnson Branch is on the west side of the lake closer to I-35E. Johnson Branch (Juniper Cove) does not feel as claustrophobic and congested as Isle Du Bois as the various campsites are a little more spread out and offset.

I mean, a bad day camping is still better than a good day at work. We stayed in the Walnut camping circle and got site 62. The site was actually pretty nice. It had the most trees over the sites around us, to give us a “in the woods” feel. One thing wasn’t great about the site was the the fire ring is pretty close to the street, and sits in front of the parking bump (this was an rv site). We brought our Bonfire Solo Stove, so we were able to have a fire pit further off the road for a little privacy. Another thing that wasn’t my favorite was a paved walkway came right past the back of our site. People couldn’t really see us, but we could hear them as the walked/talked/yelled down the walkway. The last “con” I have to say it that on the Johnson Branch I didn’t see a store on the map. We didn’t need to buy anything, but other places we’ve been have stores and that’s where we’ve gotten the 411 on good hiking and places to see on the grounds. One of the nice thing was the tree coverage, like I said. We had a lot of trees so we could but up some lights and a slack line for the kids to play on. The tent pad was big enough for a 6 man tent and a four man tent, with room to spare, which was nice. The other nice thing from our site, was that we were about 1/4 mile from a little playground for the kids. The playground wasn’t anything grand, but it broke up the days for the kids some, which as all parents know is a gift.

Enjoyed a night here. Site was right on the water. Level and clean. Lots of hiking trails. You really can’t go wrong with Johnson Branch on Lake Ray Roberts.

Concrete back in sites with full hookup’s! Also fire rings, covered patio table’s. Great place for fishing kayaking and hiking!

This was prefect for what we needed. This was our first camping trip with our new gear so we just needed a site with bathrooms. Stayed in site 26 Juniper cove which is right next to the bathrooms. Next time would pick a spot on the water but was good for the night.

We stayed at site 136 in dogwood canyon, and it was lovely. Next time I'd stay at 137 for a bit more isolation, as you could see the boardwalk from our campsite as the area is sparsely wooded. Couldn't see the parking lot due to brush, but it was a very short walk and that was nice. Composting toilets are the only ones available in the area(even at the parking lot) and you have to walk/drive to the electric sites for showers or flush toilets. You could see the toilet in our area from the campsite, but did have to walk around a bushy area to get to it but it was doable in the middle of the night. There is a firewood vending machine there that's very cool and is reasonably priced for good wood.

Don't drive five hours like we did for this campsite, but it was nice. We had a quiet section even during spring break, and if you're a fisherman there's easy access to a couple of coves that look like they would be great fishing spots.

We camped here with some friends and had a nice experience overall. We didn't realize the spot didn't have much shade, but will be better prepared for that next time. The site was clean, waterfront and separated from the next site by brush and tall grass which was well kept. Water onsite btw our camp spots was convenient, but the walk from the site to our car and bathroom was a long one, so happy we brought our wagon to transport our items back and forth. Onsite beach area on nice and fishing hole for this kids was nice. Regardless, we will be back.

We had the best time here. The camp was clean and well Kept. Beautiful views and easy check in process. I would highly recommend. It can be a bit of a trek carrying all your gear to your site but that’s the only downfall I think.