Best Tent Camping near Watauga, TX

Since the primitive tent sites are down due to flooding, we set up our tent on a nice RV spot near the lake (site 9). If you drive around, you’ll find some good spots like this for tent camping. A little expensive at $30 per night, but it was still worth it. Pretty water. Gorgeous sunset. Good fire pit. Running water and electricity was nice.

Only complaint: our neighbors a couple sites down were blasting music until 1am. Not a peaceful experience for sleeping. I wish the park attendants would have stopped them sooner, as the official quiet time is 10pm. Otherwise, excellent spot!

Absolutely no tent camping. Read this.... NO TENT camping.

Excellent tent camping right next to Lake Lewisville.

Overnighted here returning home from a longer trip. It was okay for what I was doing, but I would never choose to camp here as a destination as a tent camper.

Activities: looking at the lake, bringing a boat to put in the lake, fishing. Seemingly nothing else to do.

Accommodations: clearly geared towards RVers. Each of those sites have water, electricity, and a sewer connection, with a covered cement pad with a grill, a table, and other relevant features. The few tent camp sites were shoved seemingly randomly between and around the RV sites. At my particular site, the concrete pad and picnic table were cracked and seriously damaged, and few grill was rusty enough to be almost unusable. The fire pit and ground of the rest of the site were littered in bits of trash ranging from things like food wrappers, pieces of plastic hangers, and my personal favorite - a construction nail.

The only bright light of this camp experience for me? The bathrooms. Each bathroom ( 2 per building) was a single occupant bathroom with a locking door. In the bathroom was a sink, a toilet, a hand dryer, and a shower with two nozzles at different heights (tall and short). The appliances were stainless steel, and the bathrooms were clearly excellently maintained. The bathrooms also had automatic lighting, an exhaust fan, and what appeared to be a tiny space heater for colder months. The showers had hot water, and the drains in the floor were sufficient at getting all the excess water out of there quickly.

In summary, if you have an RV and/or a boat and love to do things on the water, this is probably a fine campground. If you are taking a tent, I'd avoid this campground.

Lots of good tent sites both on the water or a short hike to it.

I tent camped here one night with my friend. Our site was perfect for us. It was close to the restrooms and privacy from others was great. Views of the lake were beautiful! I recommend if you just need to get out of your house for a bit!

This is another one that is great to take the kids to. Water to play in, trails that are easy to navigate and the option to tent camp or use a shelter. The rock gorge near the lake is a wonderful place to explore. There are miles of trails and plenty to see.

Easy reservation process on recreation.gov. Stayed in the tent section for $10 a night. Each tent site has a picnic table and fire pit. Water was off when we were here. Trash cans are conveniently located (throw your trash away!) Relatively large park for being in the city. Good hiking trails and a boat launch. Shopping and restaurants so close, DoorDash delivers here!

Tent camped at site 104. Good amount of space on this site, but do your research. Some of the sites there are fairly small. Sites are spaced out well. Clean restrooms and showers. Saw a few deer and could hear coyotes in the distance at night. There is rock climbing and a small swim beach on the other side of the lake and lots of places to go fishing. The trails are very rocky and not always easy to navigate, but there is so much there to explore.

Look, I found this campground by total accident following signs. There is so much construction around Lewisville Lake it is difficult to get where you want to go. There are better parks around Lewisville Lake like Pilot Knoll Park.

This is mostly for RV's and camper trailers. There are a few tent sites near the beach but you are surrounded by baseball fields and city parks. It has a shower house and a laundry facility, but the campsites are stacked on top of each other.

The campground staff was very helpful.

I tent camped here in December at the Hawthorn campground site 8. One thing I wasn’t expecting was that this was a walk in site. It was about 100 yards from the parking lot to site 8. Kind of a pain when setting up camp but it makes for a very quiet camping experience once you’re done. Water spigots are close by. The bathrooms were really clean and there are hiking and biking trails nearby. Unfortunately I didn’t get to explore the park much but it seems there is lots to do. There is a marina where you can rent boats and a swim beach nearby. I’ll definitely be going back for a longer stay.

Very well kept area. Two restrooms. Each little camp site has its own picnic table and grill. On a Monday night there was only one person using the lake for fishing and one person camping in the shaded part. There is a little slide. Not very private at most of the tent sites. Although, I did see a fire ring out alone in the grass on the other side of the parking lot but it was in direct sun with no trees or shade nearby. There were two men working on the site. Its also pretty close (12 minute drive) the trails over at the lbj grasslands spot which is where we were staying for the night. We just popped over to black creek lake to check out the day usage and restrooms.

I stayed at two different sites while I was here, in total about 14 days. P07 had a lot more privacy and P11 was quite exposed. The walk-in to P07 was quite lengthy, but P11 had parking spots right next to camp. They are strict about parking; I got woken up around 1:30am by local police because I parked in an area I wasn’t allowed to and also forgot to print a permit to put on my dash.

Super, super windy. Got hit by two really bad lightning and thunderstorms and had to sit in my car for a while during the worst of it (certain parts had tornados and hail).

I will say, there seems to be a few long-timers here despite a max 14 day stay. The park is technically closed at 10pm but there’s no gate and technically anyone can drive in any time.

I saw the police drive through often, but it still didn’t feel as secure as other campsites I’ve been to.

The park seems to be well-known amongst locals, so on the weekends it’s especially crowded. Lots of big groups coming, drinking beers, being slightly rowdy. Maybe it’s just because I’m an introvert and wanted peace and quiet, but I felt a little too close to everyone trying to have a good time.

My stay ended prematurely because there was a guy who kept trying to talk to me and made some weird comments. The park did seem to attract a certain clientele, so if safety is your primary concern (I’m a woman traveling solo), then this might not be your best bet.

Other than that, the staff were super nice and welcoming. I got to know the compliance officer by name while my stay there, and it’s clear he takes great pride in the park.

The bathrooms are clean, signal is great for Verizon and T-mobile. There are showers but I wasn’t brave enough to try them; there are a few Planet Fitness locations close-ish by that have great showers, so that’s what I did instead!

Fairly close by to Carrollton where there’s amazing Asian food and boba. Lake is gorgeous too but no swimming was allowed from what I could see. Cute coffee shops nearby too. Sip Stir, The Perc Coffeehouse, and George Coffee and Provisions are all great digital nomad spots and are some of the coolest coffee shops I’ve seen! Super unique, local gems with fast WiFi.

Overall: Great park. I personally wouldn’t stay here for more than a few days, especially if you’re camping in a tent full-time. RV’ers made up the majority here and I didn’t feel as safe in my tent. Still well-kept though and overall a positive experience!

RV sites have water and 50/30 amp electric and there are 12 tent sites. We had a nice view of Lake Lavon. Grills and tables vary by site, some are very old, but many have been replaced. There are trees- some large enough to provide some shade if desired, but most small enough to allow satellite reception. The sites are well spaced and are"mostly" paved with aging asphalt. The roads are in need of repair, with numerous potholes, some very large, but the attendant did say that the park was on the CoEs list for repairs. There is a dump station just outside the entrance. The entry gate is locked from 10PM to 6AM, so plan accordingly if leaving the park, lest you park outside and walk back to your site. Overall, this is a good value, and one of the few non-RV park options in the greater Dallas area.

68 year-old solo camper getting ready to travel around the country, car/tent camping primarily. Haven't really camped since 1973, so I drove out to Lake Ray Roberts for a one-night trial for some new gear and knock off the rust. 

This was a terrific choice – Hawthorn Area #9, wooded area, 4th on the path from the Hawthorn parking lot to the other nine campsites on this loop (150 steps from campsite to car and restrooms, a little over 100 yards). As most (maybe all) of the campsites here, this was walk-in to the campsite from a common parking lot.

I walked around the rest of this loop and the adjoining one (16-40). Each campsite had a tent pad, picnic table, fire pit and lantern post. Mine was one of the more private in that I couldn't see another picnic table. However, with the trees and in some places tall grass, I would rate most of the sites as private. 

The next morning there were about half-dozen deer roaming around the area between my camp and the parking lot. There was only one other car in the parking lot overnight and they camped in one of the other areas. One of the lots (I think it was #13) actually had lake front. Others had views of the water. 

Depending on exact location you could see the dam and except for a few hours of the deepest night you could faintly hear the drone of road noise. But the near-full moon lit the area so well I walked to my car about 4:30 in the morning without a light and could see very well – it was really nice and bright. 

The Isle du Bois unit is at the far southeast corner of the lake, near the eastern end of the dam. The Hawthorn area is one of the first sites from the entrance, maybe a 5-minute drive.

I have seen this place a million times living in the community nearby and never thought to check to see if they all tent campers. I was shocked to find out they do accommodate them so I passed through and checked out the grounds and wanted to let people know it exists!

There are two entries at the front of the property each easily accessed from the highway. Though they are gravel they are easy to navigate but do hold a little water in the rain. As you drive into the camp there are 4 main rows of camping, mostly in use by RVs however they do also accommodate tent campers. These sites can be picked up nightly or for more long term use so many people at this park have called this their home for a bit. Despite obvious signs of the long term dwellers, the grounds are clean and well maintained and don't look cluttered like some long term campgrounds will begin to look.

The site offers nice restrooms with showers, a bbq for general use, a rec room perfect for having your breakfast or dinner or perhaps a game of cards with friends and has connections for RVs up to 50 amp as well as a dump station.

For the tent camper sites are wide enough to be comfortable to move around and have scattered picnic tables. The tent camping sites are located on a grassy area next to the pond so they are not squished between big rigs and have a bit more privacy.

This site might not look as elaborate as some, but it more than makes up for the few things you do not have by its friendly staff and on site mechanic.

TIPS:

• Call in advance if looking for an RV site, they do have several spaces available but during certain times of the year they do fill up as they are centrally located to many things.

• Check out the LBJ Grasslands which are nearby when visiting this location, a great get away for some outdoor activities.

I know I am a bit biased because I do only tent camping. But I never turn away a good RV park to check out for friends or followers who ask me for advice on their travels. This one is right in my backyard so I wanted to make sure everyone knew it was out there!!

The facility itself has a lot of sites for rigs both small and large. The owners are extremely nice and are very welcoming. As a result of their great attitudes and welcoming demeanor they do have a lot of people who call this place home long term. This place has a sense of community because people are neighbors instead of just all passers through.

It offers a laundry and shower facility mid camp and a propane station just in front of the office on the road toward the community of Sunset. There is another entrance on the opposite side along the highway access road but you will have to pull all the way through the camp to get to the office.

I noticed that for the most part the grounds are even for RVs however there are a few areas where it does dip off a bit. Some of the long term campers do not maintain their rigs to the same standards as the travelers so those areas look a little less kept, but that is very similar to a lot of RV areas which offer long term stay.

There is a store very close, although the camp itself doesn't have one but everything else appears to be in place. There are not as many amenities for the kiddos although there is a small playground here.

The campground host and the easy access to the highway makes this one a good stop when passing though this area, you can easily access it from both sides and it is easy to locate on GPS.

(Photos were taken in July so it is a bit more dry than it is during most months as we have been experiencing a heat wave)

TIPS:

• Book ahead of time and take advantage of any specials they might have. They currently are offering a discount on services when you stay a month.

• Check out the proximity to the LBJ Grasslands which have hiking, fishing and boating only a short distance from the campground.

• Closest chain grocery store is about 8 miles north in Bowie or 7 miles south in Alvord so if you aren't wanting to pull in and then have to leave you might want to get your supply stop in before you arrive.

Lake mineral wells state park was great for biking, hiking, swimming and fishing. We had something fun for all 6 of us. My husband and I stayed in our tent, while rest of family stayed in their RV. It has been a very rainy month in Texas so some trails were closed. The camp store was awesome.we didn’t take advantage of the kayak or canoe rentals, but the prices were reasonable. Bathrooms, while a little dated were clean and had soap!