Best Glamping near Waco Lake

This park is a great go-to if you live in Texas – centrally located and quick to access from most major cities. It can get crowded on high weekends in the spring/fall, but there are ample campsites if you plan ahead a bit. Sites 39-46 in the Horseshoe Loop are ideal for quiet spots away from people, but if you want space along the water, Lakeview and Sunset Ridge are the best picks. There are a few short trails in the park but exploring the waterfront can't be beat!

Meridian SP is such a hidden gem. If you’re not a fan of the Texas heat they just added one limited use cabin in addition to RV, tent and screened shelter sites. The BEST place to stay is the shelters on the lake hands down! There is also a CCC building at this park that serves as a gathering area on the lakeshore. It has several well maintained trails and the lake is good for fishing. Wildflower season here is CRAZY!

We had limited weekends to take the grandkids camping. It has been raining non stop all over Texas. I began to look for places within 2 hours of Fort Worth. Texas State Parks are a great. I settled on Lake Whitney. They have these shelter sites that are awesome. For $30 per night ($10 per night more than normal e&w site) plus $5 per adult gate fee. That may not be economical for everyone, but $40 for an overnight camp was fine. The shelters are very clean and well kept. Inside is a picnic table and enough floor space for another plus some. So if your tent fails in you go. The top of walls are screened and bottom solid. I set up my camp kitchen and we ate meals inside due to weather. We set up our large tent behind the shelter to block wind from the lake. The site also had it's own parking, another table outside and fire ring. We had site 4 right across from the lake and swimming area. The bath house was very clean and only a short walk. You can fish license free from the shore. There are 5 or 6 moderate hiking trails. Also the park is home to plenty of woodland animals. The 4 yo and I took a 2 am bathroom break and saw a herd of dear about 30 head.

The park is very good for families and fishing.

There are also a boat ramp, small airstrip and day use areas.

The staff is awesome.

Peaceful Army Corps of Engineer park with 12 sites, half are shaded. Clean vault toilets, dumpsters, and water between most sites, covered picnic tables and fire pits, a few have stand up grills. Some locals take the sites for day use fishing so those might open up towards evening. Entry gate closes at 10pm, but there is an exit gate always open. My visit was during a Texas’ rainy stretch and lake levels were on the rise flooding out the lower sites. In fact, the ACE host had me move with expected 10’ rise overnight. I’d been in trouble if I hadn’t. Thanks Mark!!

Liberty hill is a very beautiful campground but there is a serius issue with the invasive Argentian ant. This is a great campground to spend a few days or weeks relaxing and catching fish. Lake Navarro Mills is well know as the best Crappie fishing lake in Texas. Navarro Mills Liberty Hill Park features a fantastic fishing barge that is covered allowing you to fish no matter the weather. Our visit to Liberty Hill Park at Navarro Mills Lake was a real treat with one minor exception, Argentine Ants, these can be a real issue when RV camping at Liberty Hill Park as this invasive species is out of control at Liberty Hill Park. Want to see more fun RV tours and RV camping videos? Visit my channel here... https://www.youtube.com/c/BobBarkerRVGuy

First the bad. The restrooms/shower's are not on the priority list, not cleaned regularly and to think we're dealing with COVID. Privacy curtains at the showers were missing. The soap holder in the shower was dirty on Tuesday 7/26/'21when we arrived and was still dirty when we left that Friday 7/30/'21, so was the left behind shampoo bottle. We had to clean our camping area from dog poop left behind and there were flies al over the area. The only place you could find dog baggies was at the office/Headquarters, even there in front of the Headquarters, we picked up dog poop left behind, laying there for a couple of days, so we could sit on the bench and use the Wifi. We were shocked to find this at a Texas State Park. The good. The park is great👍, nice walking and biking trails and the and the lake was beautiful, fishing🐠, kayaking🚣 and swimming🏊‍♀️. If you love nature this is a nice to visit.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars for the Park itself. Submit question or comments to: https://www2.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/feedback/webcomment/?\_ga=2.215293847.1216528436.1627927584-152645507.1624108653

We made reservations 92 days prior to arriving Thursday of the Columbus Day weekend for Horseshoe Loop full-hook-up site, which is a nice elm tree grove. With the Texas State Park Pass, we paid$21/nightly. Our spacious pull-thru site was partially shaded, but there is no vegetation between sites in this loop, so not one site had any privacy from another. Site surface was mostly gravel from deteriorating asphalt. Our site had a deteriorating concrete picnic table on a concrete slab and a fire pit with a grilling grate. There is a possibility that trees make could make site access difficult to deploy slide outs. We witness larger rigs getting creative with pulling into their site because of close trees. Quiet campground with no highway noise. There is no gate closure overnight. This is an excellent dark sky campground, but unfortunately during our stay surrounding campers had excessive outdoor lighting illuminated throughout their site most of the night, which inhibited good star glazing and Draconid meteor shower viewing. Shower/toilet facilities for this loop were clean, but heavily worn and not ADA compliant. Besides a small step into the structure, the women’s had 3 equally sized toilet stalls and 2 equally sized shower stalls neither with any safety grab bars. There are no sites in this loop that are lake front. A few sites can just see the lake from a distance. Trash dumpsters are placed on roadway edge making safe rig egress tricky. AT&T 1 bar coverage in this campground loop. No wildlife sightings during our 4 night stay. Campfire wood available for sale from“lockers” at the Park Headquarters building. Closest restaurants, fuel stations and grocery stores in Whitney and Hillsboro. Waco is 40 miles southeast.

• Sites are first come first serve - there is no holding sites especially if you are going as a group
• No open fires - only propane or charcoal
• Bathrooms were nice, clean and air conditioned...definitely a couple of notches above the Texas State Parks   
• No wildlife here...just the human kind
• Nice shady sites but not a lot of elbow room (pretty cramped)
• Take lots of allergy medicine if you are allergic to Red Cedar
• 30 AMP sites with full hook ups
• A lot of kids activities - water melon eating contest, face painting, etc.
• Could see a lot of stars in the night sky
• Don't hang anything from the trees..will get in trouble
• No place to hang a garbage bag outside
• Overflowing trash dumpsters
• Propane filling station on the campground property
• Cell service with T-Mobile was sparse. Verizon seemed to work fine.

We got a free Thousand Trails membership from the dealership when we purchased our new camper so we decided to use it for Labor Day at Lake Whitney RV Campgrounds. We went with our camping buddies (theDyrt Ranger Jenny S and family) who also pulled their camper. The sites are first come first serve and there is no holding sites, so if you go as a group finding sites that are together is tough (several sites were bagged and not usable).  We picked Sites #6 and #83 on Loop B. Luckily these sites back up to each other and the kids could roam between the two sites. The sites were 30 AMPs with full hooks up and that part was nice. Didn't have to watch tank levels every time someone (kids) flushed. 

The campsites were pretty shady with red cedar trees which created havoc with my son's allergies. Poor kid was stuffed up the entire time we were there. The sites were pretty cramped, we were not able to extend our awning without hitting the tree branches. The road inside the campground is pretty beat up with lot of bumps. The amenities were nice - a family swimming pool, shuffleboard, washers, putt-putt golf. The campgrounds had several activities for Labor Day such as a water melon eating contest, frozen T-shirt contest which kept the kids entertained.

Don't hang anything on the trees. We had some LED light up and the park ranger had us take it down.  Was actually a little harsh about it. Following that encounter we took down the clothesline that we strung up to dry our swimming suits and wet towels. No place to hang a garbage bag either.

Politeness in customer service was hit or miss.

Our stay was free because of the Thousand Trails membership but otherwise each site goes for about $45/night. I'll do it again for free, if I have to pay...I will go down the street at Lake Whitney State Park for $25 with full hookups.

Wonderful views of the lake.. Pretty level and well maintained. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Pros 

Not charged a fee to make my own on-line reservation 

Friendly gate attendant 

Level asphalt site surrounded by crushed granite 

Grass neatly mowed throughout campground 

Large aluminum picnic table that is moveable from site concrete pad

BBQ grill, metal fire pit and lantern pole 

Night sky friendly. No street lights 

Spacious-space between each site but no privacy due to lack of vegetation 

Very quiet Sunday thru Wednesday nights except for Waco airport aircraft approach and Space X rocket testing 

Entrance gate locked 10pm-6am. Exit only permitted 

Clean toilets and showers 

Plenty of TP in restrooms 

Trash can in toilet/shower facility 

Sufficient trash dumpsters throughout park 

Deer sightings at Park entrance only 

2 LTE Verizon bars signal 

Cons 

Exterior restroom doors desperately need repaired. Have to move rock away from door to gain access. 

Sewer connection at rear of parking pad. Bring the looooong stinky slinky! 

Waco airport aircraft departing/arriving as early as 6am and as late as 11pm. One night we counted aircraft performing touch and go manuvers 42 times. Approach was directly over our campsite. 

No patrolling host or ranger 

No soap or hand towels in toilet facility 

No playground, basketball or tennis or volleyball courts 

No lake swimming area 

No park WIFI 

No hiking trails