Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Sam Houston National Forest

This is a designated primitive camp located on the Lone Star Trail. This camp is located about a mile from LSHT Trailhead #13. It is at mile 83.5 if you are traveling from the Western to Eastern Terminus in the Sam Houston National Forest and is about 100 years East off of the actual trail itself. It is a primitive campsite with no amenities other than a place to sleep. During hunting season (September 26 – January 8) camping in Sam Houston National Forest is restricted to only developed campgrounds, designated hunter camps, or designated primitive camps. This is an optional campground for the LSHT all year long! THERE IS NO POTABLE WATER HERE.

Our first adventure into Sam Houston National Forest. Was a great one. Trees all around trails to hike around, full hook ups if you are in an RV or trailer! Tent spots available at all sites!

March 22-29, 2019 Located in Sam Houston National Forest. Electric, water and sewer. Dump station. Showers and flush toilets. TV reception - CBS+. Received 1/2 price with lifetime sr pass but had to pay additional $10 per day.

Wonderful camp grounds nestled in Sam Houston National Forest. Old school drop box style. First come, first serve. Make sure you have cash. Water access throughout the sites, each camp site has table, fire ring with a cooking grate and tent pad. Clean bathrooms with jot showers on timers. Access to an inlet of Lake Conroe. Hiking trails. Not much breeze due to the thick forest, so perfect for fall and spring camping.

This is a designated primitive camp located on the Lone Star Trail. It is at mile 75.7 if you are traveling from the Western Terminus to the Eastern Terminus and about 2 miles from LSHT Trailhead # 11. It is a primitive campsite with no amenities other than a place to sleep.

During hunting season (September 26 – January 8) camping in Sam Houston National Forest is restricted to only developed campgrounds, designated hunter camps, or designated primitive camps. This is an optional campground for the LSHT all year long! THERE IS NO POTABLE WATER HERE.

There are 29 campsites which include a tent pad, picnic table, and a trash pole. Water is available throighout the camp ground. The campground has two public bath houses with hot showers. It is well maintained by volunteer hosts working with the Sam Houston National Forest. The Lone Star Hiking Trail connects at the south side of the park. The east side of the park borders Stubblefield Lake. The adjacent Sam Houston National Foredt offers hunting, Trails for ATV, horse back. and motorcyle use. There no RV hook ups. Spaces will accomodate RV up tp 20 Ft in length, but they must be self contained. No reservations are allowed; first come only.

Just finished another camping trip to Cagle Recreation Area in the Sam Houston National forest.  It was pretty chilly in the beginning of March, but we camped during the week when all the weekenders had left, and there were only a handful of campers there.  So peaceful and serene.  Lots of clearly marked trails to hike.  The campsites are so spacious, with full hookups.  Our site was sloped a bit so had to use 9 leveling blocks.  All sites have asphalt pads and are kept clean.  The hosts gave us some firewood to make a fire in the pit, and we got to roast some hot dogs.  Camped in Sycamore Loop, which is the campground loop closest to the boat ramp.  Great views of Lake Conroe, and I'm told there is great fishing here.  We walked miles and miles on the trails and just enjoyed the beauty.  Saw a bald eagle, which was an awesome experience.  The bathhouse was cleaned daily and was always well stocked.  Sites are very large, so social distancing is no problem.  Cagle is one of my favorite places to camp!

You’ll find Huntsville State Park six miles southwest of Huntsville, TX in Walker County in the Sam Houston National Forest. Huntsville State Park has over 20 miles of trails to explore along with a pretty great lake to fish, paddle or swim. Fish for crappie, perch, catfish, or bass. Lake Raven also has a boat ramp, fishing piers, and fish cleaning stations. Bring your own canoe or rent one from the little supply store. The supply store also has miscellaneous supplies and bait for purchase.

Campsites are spaced modestly except those in the full hookup loop. If you are looking for full hookups, book in advanced as those are in high demand at this location. All sites have a two-day minimum on Friday and Saturday.

Available sites:

• Full hookup campsites - pull-through, picnic table, fire ring, water hookup, lantern post, restrooms & showers nearby 20/30/50-amp hookup
• Electric sites - picnic table, fire ring, water hookup, lantern post, restrooms & showers nearby 20/30/50-amp electric hook up
• Campsites with water - picnic table, fire ring, water hookup, lantern post, & restrooms & showers nearby

It’s a large campground and spaces are very small. There’s a grass strip between camp sites. No picnic tables or grills. The office gave us a map and showed us how to get to our site but virtually impossible to understand. A very nice gentleman that stayed here took us to our site. He said they have no idea how to do directions and a buddy of his really messed up his camper by trolling around looking for their site. It’s very crowded and no room for awnings or for both campers side by side to put out awnings. There is a pool but it doesn’t look well maintained and there’s absolutely no chairs. Just the pool and it’s small. Laundry room is large. There’s no dog park or anywhere to walk your dog. Signs everywhere that say no pets, yet they are allowed. The flea market is only on the wknd. It’s close to a lot of restaurants and in a nice area.

Sam Houston National Forest is my absolute favorite. There is so much to do there, plus the longest foot trail in Texas (Lone Star trail) resides here. This campsite is located on the Eastern side of the forest and it very close to the Eastern Terminus of the Lone Star trail ( trailhead #15).

Double Lake is the campsite that has it all. Plus there is a lake, or two, where you can fish, boat, and swim. There are lots of bike and hiking trails, along with off roading vehicle trails. The scenery is amazing. I love to go hiking early in the morning as all of the wildlife begins to rise. The sounds and views are some of the best in the state.

The facilities are kept very clean and the staff is always to kind and helpful. Some of the trails were closed the last time I visited but the park rangers were very helpful in helping me navigate. There are tent sites, group tent sites and RV sites available to reserve, which you can easily reserve online. My favorite tent site, that I try to get every time is site # 28. It is easily accessible, off by itself, and still close enough to the bathrooms. I like it because it has quite a bit of room, lots of tree cover ( which is nice when it rains, or in the summer) and it has some character to it.

There is a ranger station at the entrance of this site, but be aware they are closed on the weekend. They have a little drop box and fill out sheet is you come on the weekends, but make sure to download a map of the trails and park beforehand, because the maps are never stocked and there likely won't be one. If you don't have one, there is usually a ranger driving around on a golf cart you can ask.

Make sure you hike the double lake trail. It is about 9 miles long with a very easy footpath, but the views and stillness of the forest make it worth it. The trailhead is between the lake and bathrooms after entering, but be aware it is also a bike trail and can get muddy after a good rail.

There is a fee to enter. If you have a National Park pass it is free and it is twenty dollars a night. Please visit this park!!

Check out the stocked fishing pond! Did I say bass, catfish and bluegill? Excellent Wi-Fi 2 dog parks Free laundry

We spend Thanksgiving in this campground. We arrived shortly after checkin and had limited selection of sites. The person at checkin did have a good site recommendation. Beware that not all sites have full hookups. For the size of the place I would have explained small convenience store but they only had ice. Our site backed up to some trees so that was nice. Good dog park and plenty of activities available. I walk the dog a lot and run and road around the grounds needs to be repaved, lots of pot holes and uneven areas.

My son and I went in mid-November, so your experience will vary depending on time of year.

The LSHT is the longest hiking trail in the state. It is broken up into sections. We started at Section 1, which is the easternmost portion, hiking east-west. Each section has a trailhead with a parking lot. We hiked all of Section 1 and half of Section 2. Each of the 2 sections was about 8 miles long. The length of the LSHT is about 130 miles.

Zero amenities. No restrooms. No electricity. No cell coverage. Nada. The LSHT is in the Sam Houston National Forest, about an hour north of Houston. So it’s not a "campground," per se, but you can camp anywhere that’s feasible. We just didn’t find very many feasible places to camp. There is a lot of dense undergrowth along the trail portion we hiked. And mud. Lots and lots of mud. It had been raining a lot in the preceding weeks. I’d call the ranger office and ask about trail conditions and what the weather's been like if I were you. I hope you have a good pair of waterproof boots.

We found a decent spot about 4 miles in, set up our hammocks, and had a good night's rest. The first day's hike was great - plenty of sunshine, cool but not cold, few mosquitoes. It got cold within a couple hours after sunset. I’m glad I brought my underquilt, sleeping bag, and blanket. I’m also glad I brought an extra pair of warm socks, flannel pajama bottoms, and a sock cap. My hiking clothes were soaked with sweat, so changing out of them was essential for a good night's sleep. Well, I don’t actually sleep on these trips. I doze off and on. Anyway, there were no big surprises during the night. The sound of insects. Leaves and branches falling. Coyotes howling in the distance. But nothing scary or annoying. It was very pleasant.

The original plan was to hike both sections, so we parked my son's pickup at Trailhead 6 and drove back to Trailhead 1 to park my Jeep and start the hike. The plan was solid as long as we started early in the day and could average 2 miles an hour. But we wound up starting out late in the day and did I mention the mud? There was a lot of mud. And obstacles to cross. And creeks to cross. And mud. And more mud. Lots and lots of mud. So we were only able to do 4 miles before we had to find a place to camp. Otherwise, we'd be hiking in the dark.

So the morning of day 2, we packed our gear and trudged on as quickly as we could. We had about 12 miles to cover. It seemed doable at the time. But the weather changed. It got considerably cooler and overcast and rainy. It wasn’t constant, and it was never a downpour. But it was 50s and damp. Drizzly. We trudged on for about another 8 miles and decided to leave the trail at Trailhead 4 and hit the pavement, for fear that we'd again run out of daylight somewhere between Trailheads 4 and 6.

My advice? Do your homework. Read up in the LSHT. Peruse the website http://lonestartrail.org and buy the book. Prepare for a long slog through mud. I’m glad I took a hammock because there weren’t many places suitable for tent camping. Take plenty of water and a water purifier because there is no potable water available on the sections we hiked. Two people in 2 separate vehicles is a must unless you’re a thru-hiker or just want to hike a bit and hike back to your car. It’s mostly flat with no steep ups and downs, rock climbing, or anything like that. But there were quite a few creek crossings that required going down into a gully and up the other side. I did mention the mud, right?

We've camped here several times and it's very comfortable. Pets allowed and it has fire rings.