Best Tent Camping near Salado, TX

Was planning on tent camping nearby and left a day early and all the hotel room were booked. Tried finding a tent site and no luck. Found this place online and figured I'd give it a shot. First come first serve, pick your spot, fill out the card, put it and 25 bucks in a drop box and good to go. Very easy system. I do think 25 bucks for a place with no running water, no electric, and no actual bathroom is expensive but this park is actually extremely nice and the view is great. Can camp right on top of the river.

This is not a campground this is an adventure park that has a campground. They have everything from primitive dispersed tent camping to RV site hook ups all the way up to a $600 per night cabin. They have excellent off road trails for stock trucks up to rock crawling rigs. They have a basic general store near the tent camping area that is decently stocked (yet overpriced) and they have food trucks that are sometimes open sometimes aren’t. The bathrooms are maintained and spacious enough that they don’t feel over crowded. They also have a shooting range on site so if you want the true Texas Hill Country experience you should check out HFAP. Be respectful on the trails not only to other people but also by not tearing up the trails themselves.

Fantastic short stay in Pace Bend on Lake Travis. We paid for the improved tent camping site but ended up switching to a site North Gracy Cove which had way better views of the river and more privacy. We still went back to use the showers and running water at the improved site though.

Gracy Cove was a great spot for a swim to cool off on a hot day. No boats allowed.

This camp ground was great. We tent camped by the water in section 3 and had the whole site to our self. The lake was nice to canoe on and had a beautiful view of the sunset.

The bathrooms were to far to walk so we had to drive to them ever time and there were no showers so this was a negative.

If you stay on the water just plan for the wind it was blowing the whole time and really hard at some points. Also there is no shade by the water so bring a shade tent.

Last thing this is a open camp ground and we had several people late at night ride by and shine there lights in our tent.

This is a private campground that has tent camping, car camping and RV camping. It is open to both individuals and groups. It is an excellent venue for large group events. There are some 250+ primitive campsites and a communal restroom with toilets and showers. There are a few RV sites with water and electricity hookups, but no sewage.

The campground has some nice facilities. There is a large outdoor pavilion with tables and a kitchen. The terrain itself is typical Texas Hill Country. There are not any dramatic terrain features at the sight like mountains, rivers, waterfalls or expansive forests. The real attraction of this campground lies in the opportunity to pursue a number of outdoor activities. The terrain is great for hiking, trail running, mountain biking and obstacle racing. One can paddle in the pond and even scuba dive in the nearby quarry lake.

Camper Resort On Lake Travis is conveniently located on the Hudson Bend Peninsula on Lake Travis. It is one of the few campgrounds around the lake that has direct access to the lake. This is a huge bonus if your intention to to visit the area for lake recreational opportunities.

This is mostly a seasonal RV campground. They do offer tent campsites, but offer few other facilities.

During this visit the operator of the facility told me that they would be closing the campground for a number of months for renovations. The old campground had pretty dated and basic amenities. I hope that the renovated campground will have greatly improved facilities.

This review was written in Oct 2018 to check out the renovated campsite in 2019 and write a review.

Texas Parks & Wildlife (TPW) goes BIG with this sweet little park! In 2015, a new Visitors Center and 20-site campground were built among the remnants of the old CCC structures. Little reminders of CCC construction were visible just feet from my campsite (#17)… a portion of an old wall and BBQ pits. The campsite itself was wonderful! Plenty of spacing between neighboring sites. Freshly raked gravel, four large benches/chunks of quarried limestone, a picnic table, fire pit, pole with two hooks for hanging trash or gear, water, and electric. No specific tent site— since the whole area was level. Just a short walk along a path from my campsite to the restroom/shower facilities, which were very clean. Womens’ side had two sinks, three bathroom stalls- with one being ADA accessible, and two shower stalls, one of which was ADA accessible. The restroom had a large outdoor sink area, a little library, bike rack, and informational bulletin board. Only a few miles of hiking trails within the park, but beautifully maintained, with walking access to trail system from the campground. If you’re driving a taller/bigger vehicle, you’ll want to consider using those trail access points, rather than driving back to the small trailhead parking lots. The road leading back to the TH parking areas has an 8 ft height limit. Hiking highlights are an old CCC viewing tower, a CCC picnic table, a cave, and old washing pond. Camp hosts were cordial, and Park/Visitors Center staff were helpful and efficient with check in process. I received a call from the Park staff earlier in the morning on the day of my arrival, to let me know the entrance road from the south into the park was closed, so I’d have to access from the north, and also to let me know a county-wide burn ban was in effect, so no campfires during my stay in March 2022.

What a great park full of history! Mother Neff has a lot to offer and is just about 30 miles from Waco, TX that is known for all the Magnolia stuff! The park headquarters have a lot of information so you can figure out your trip and hit all the main attractions in one decent hike! The cave is an amazing part of history and is definitely a must-see!

Leon river runs through this park, although we are currently in a drought so it is as dry as a bone. The Tonkawa tribe lived along the river in the 1800's and many artifacts have been found along with the awesome cave they used. You can also see the wash pond and parts of the original park in the 1930's. There are lots of trees which make for some great trails and lots of shade. Plus the facilities are brand new and so nice.

The trails are quite short and you could go through the whole park in a day but it is well worth the drive to see and feel the history around you. The do have some really nice RV sites, but the tent camping is very limited and closed currently along with the cabins because of flooding. The park has been destroyed many times from the Leon River flooding and is still in the process of being cleaned up.

Also if you take a 7 mile drive down the road to The Grove, TX, you will find another beautiful piece of history. The Grove a tiny, tiny little ghost town that was established in the 1860's! If you love seeing old buildings it is definitely worth the quick drive and take some awesome pics! Some of the original buildings are still there.

I took a trip here with my son and my grandmother and it was such a fun experience. All of the main attractions were able to be seen from the main trail so my grandma was able to keep up and see the park she has memories of as a kid. She said it is much more fancy now than it was in the 60's!

This is a county park in Travis County, Texas. We stayed one week in the middle of March 2019. We decided to stay outside the campground in the dispersed area. Technically, you can camp anywhere in the park; however, we believe there are only a few decent spots for RVs. Camping is limited to 7 days in a 30-day period. We stayed at Mudd Cove Mesquite Point and found a great spot right by the lake. We were able to get level without leveling blocks after some trial and error. There were several spots in that area that would be great for a RV of any size. As of April 1, 2019, they are closing the Tournament Point area to camping, so Mudd Cove Mesquite Point will have some of the only RV spots (IMO). Those spots are off Grisham Trail. The areas down Pace Bend Road were not RV friendly. Most were a tight squeeze, and many did not have turnaround spots. Great areas in there for tent camping, but not RVs. On Grisham Trail, you will find potable water. It is easy to miss and in a horrible spot on a curve and hill. It will be on left if you are coming from the park entrance. The dump station is outside of the park, right before the entrance on the right.  Easy in and out when leaving. Since we were in the dispersed area, we relied on our solar for electricity. The area we found was perfect for that. We were able to find a nice open spot with no trees and the weather cooperated, so we had no trouble with electricity. The park was quiet and empty for most of the week. Things did pick up Thursday and over the weekend, but most people were respectful and quieted down after 11pm. We walked the trails a few times, but overall there is not a ton to do here unless you are swimming. The cost for us was $20/night. $15 for the truck and $5 for the travel trailer. Day use fees are $7 a person which is included in the camping costs. The employee working when we arrived was not friendly or helpful at all, but the other employees we encountered were very helpful and nice. Overall, we will likely not be back. The price seemed steep for no hookups and the park just didn’t offer enough for us to want to stay again.

Pace Bend is one of my most favorite places to camp in Texas.

Not far from the old (and new!) Backyard (a great place to see live music in the live oak capital of Texas), Pace Bend is a quick drive away. A perfect spot to pitch a bunch of tents, jump off cliffs, swim and barbeque. Maybe 45 minutes from downtown Austin (without traffic).

I won't lie the cliff diving kinda freaks me out. Be careful is all I'm saying!

There are several primitive campsites throughout the park with picnic tables, grills and toilets. Additionally there are 20 RV hook-up type sites that offer running water, electricity, restrooms and showers.

When I arrived at this site in hopes of finding something semi-close to Salado I was pleased to find a great location with some awesome options. But with that being said it looked as through those coming before simply didn't understand the concept of Leave No Travel and instead had littered their left overs throughout the camp space.

What was even more so disturbing was that this site is not a camping site at all and is day use only, open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with camping prohibited. There are two great outdoor shelters for shade for recreation but no camping near these.

A host directed me to another site on the Stillhouse Lake, this making site #3 for me to attempt to find camping. Salado area is not Tent friendly!! Sad because there are some great areas there to enjoy including those pictured.