Best Tent Camping near Telephone, TX

I found this campground through a US army core website, and the details at that website did not turn out to be very accurate. Both loops at Pat Mayse East Campground showed to have bathrooms, which I assumed meant flush toilets and sinks, since the map also had an icon for vault toilets and this was not used. Both loops actually do have vault toilets and no running water. The campground seems set up pretty well for RVs; there were a lot of rv hookups for water and electric. There are also basic tent sites, picnic tables and metal fire rings. Water spigots are placed throughout so access is not difficult. You have your choice of sunny areas or more forested. Some spots are tightly packed in, but others are on the outside of the loop and seem like they'd be pretty quite. I wasn't overly impressed on the whole.

We reserved in area D (tent camping no electric) for 2 nights. We got in the first night around 8 and it was pouring rain. So we did not stay the night. We returned early the next morning and were able to set up camp. They have concrete picnic tables, fire rings and the area we were in had a bathhouse. Stalls had a toilet, sink and shower area. The sites were pretty close together. Our neighbors were very friendly but I like having a little more space. Overall it was a good time. Just not as secluded as we are used to and the rain kind of put a damper on things.

The South Sulphur campground is about half an hour north of Interstate 30. It’s under a 2 hour drive from the DFW area so, I find it’s a nice weekend getaway. I camped here on a Sunday to Monday and it was very quiet. I was one of only 5 campers in the Deer Haven section (aside from the 3 camp hosts). I’m giving the park 5 stars but this is based on my experience of having camped here when there were few campers around. I image this place could be loud and busy on a weekend.

There are many shaded lakeside sites in the Deer Haven section. I stayed at site 68. The site was on a cul de sac so there was no campground to the one side. However, the site located on the other side was close. This would be a great spot for 2 camping families to share. The concrete pad at site 68 was level and shaded by a beautiful, mature oak tree. I could walk from the pad to the lake. It would be a great site to put out a kayak, but unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate on my stay. So I didn’t get to kayak. I did see deer who ventured in from the wooded area next to the campsite.  Deer Haven lived up to its name!

Electric and water hookups were good as were the restroom/shower facilities, which seemed climate controlled because it felt cooler and less humid inside than outside. This usually isn’t the case in these buildings.

A big storm blew in around dinner time. The wind was fierce and blowing out of the north across the almost 20,000 acre lake! I actually called the ranger to find out if I needed to evacuate. The ranger was very responsive and reassuring. Luckily, there were no tornados warnings, so I weathered out the storm and woke to a beautiful crisp morning.

This park is huge and there is much to do. Cabins, shelters, primitive walk in sites, equine sites, a beach, several boat ramps, hiking trails, playgrounds and a fishing pier. I didn’t get to see a fraction of it, but I’ll be returning. 

I stopped in the town of Sulphur Springs on my way back to DFW. The town has a nice historic town square and makes for an interesting side stop.

Amazing and Great for trail riding 

Sites: 26 family with electric and water 

          35 equestrian with hookups 

            3 equestrian tent sites no hook ups 

            1 day use shelter with electric 

Reservations only: 877-444-6777 or recreation.gov 

No camp host Flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water, trash, picnic table, dump station, boat ramp, dock 

Great for horseback riding, fishing, hiking, fishing, hunting, and boating. Beautiful rolling hills with mature trees. Great shade especially in the equestrian area. Well maintained. Wonderful lake views with amazing sunsets. 

LNT 

BTYFI 

Travel safe.

We camped at McGee Creek State Park over Memorial Day weekend. We camped at tent hill #3. The thing we really liked about this particular site was that there are only 4 tent sites here, so it’s secluded and nice and quiet. There is very little traffic driving by as well. What we didn’t like is that there is only a pit toilet and no water faucets. There is a real bathroom with a shower about a 10-15 minute walk away. The bathroom was pretty typical of a state park. There is an area that has some lake huts for rent as well. They don’t have bathrooms but the are heated/cooled.

There is another area about 1.5 miles away called Buster Height campground. This is where the swim beach and another boat dock is. There is also an RV area and a bunch of tent sites. Most of these tent sites are pretty small and crowded together. If you have a big tent or don’t like being near others, you might want to consider tent hill if it’s available.

On the other side of the lake (about a 25-30 minute drive) is the natural scenic recreation area. There are a ton of hiking trails that lead to backpacking campsites, equestrian camps and there are boat in sites as well.

Overall a pretty decent park but definitely not one of our favorites.