Best Tent Camping near Whitney Lake

Reserved on-line 184 days prior to arrival. 

Pros Site in large oak tree grove, so heavily shaded 

Campground night sky friendly with good dark sky viewing NO STREET LIGHTS in campground., but toilet facilities had exterior lighting 

Crushed granite surrounding site and bordered with landscaping timbers 

Metal roof shelter over concrete slab where picnic table is located 

Metal picnic table 

Cooking grill on metal fire ring 

Campground mostly quiet except for Hwy 31 traffic noise 

Friendly camp host 

Security gate closed nightly 

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

Campsite discount with America the Beautiful Pass 

Cons 

Entrance gate not manned upon arrival at 2pm Tuesday so had to go back around after unhitched 

Our site 14 was not marked. Most sites have site number on site picnic table. Even those are tough to see in the daylight and impossible to see in darkness. Absolutely no roadside site number posts 

Campsite 14 entrance driveway was 90 degree angle to park road with a steep ditch on opposite side of road. T

rees close on both sides tight to site 14 driveway. Made back in challenging, but not impossible. 

Campsite 14 entrance/driveway 10% grade from park road 

Campsite 14 not level side to side 

Site fire ring was up against landscaping timber preventing space for chairs 

Landscaping timbers trip hazard at fire ring

Fire ring should be relocated to side or back of site to facilitate safe movement around it Fire ring was completely filled with ash upon arrival No privacy from other campsites Shower/toilet facility near playground had padlock on mens entrance, so males were using the womens restroom. This facility in extremely poor condition and desperately needs renovation. 

No campsite lantern pole 

No park Wifi 2

 bars AT&T 

Never saw any park rangers or park security driving through campground 

Wildlife sightings of grey squirrels and two dozen buzzards that constantly circled over campground

Nice camping spot for families. I chose to camp in the north primitive hike-in sites across the river. It was pretty hot but I still had a good time exploring the hiking trails. If you go hiking, take a map and of course extra water. My map came in handy a couple of times as I was hiking as the actual trails led me off track a few times.

I stayed in the primitive camping area. You hike between 1-2.5 miles across the river to sites. If the river is too high these sites may be closed. Water is only available at the trailhead. These sites are primitive so they do not have showers, restrooms, picnic tables or water.

Other sites available:

• Campsites with electricity (Picnic tables, water hookup, electric, fire ring)
• Walk-in campsites (Fire ring, lantern post)
• Group camp (fire ring, water nearby, three picnic tables)

Pros 

Discount with National Park pass 

Shady

Quiet 

Dark sky friendly

Nice metal roof cover over concrete picnic table 

Saw park ranger drive thru during daylight 

2 bars T-MOBILE 

Successful streaming with T-MOBILE hotspot device 

Cons 

So day #2 without any TP in men’s restroom.  Went to front gate to report it and was told they would call it into the Army Corps of Engineers as gate volunteers have no stock of TP on hand.  Never saw any TP before leaving on third day

Toilet facility #1 women’s had raw sewage throughout deep enough to cover your foot. Site 11 has electrical hook up at rear on the door side of the camper 

Site 11 water connection is centered at the rear of the parking pad. 

Site 11 unlevel. 

Numerous piles of charcoal ash throughout site 11 campsite not in the fire pit. 

Concrete picnic table needs degreased as surface has lots of large greasy stain 

Site numbers are painted on the concrete picnic table so extremely difficult to see in the dark. 

No WIFI

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

This park is a short drive to all of Waco attractions including the famous Silos. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights. 

Pros:

• Very friendly gate attendant

• Extremely quiet park except for arriving/departing aircraft at Waco Regional Airport

• Great view of the lake as trees/shrubs are minimal

• Clean campsite

• Very clean campfire pit

• Most sites had a nice distance from neighbor sites

• Crushed granite surrounds the site’s asphalt parking pad so no muddy mess after rain

• Pedestal BBQ grill, fire pit with grilling grate and aluminum picnic table at each site

• Some sites had aluminum roof pavilion over picnic table

• Some sites had lantern pole

• Park roadways in good condition

• Entrance gate locked at 10pm

• Plenty of TP in women’s restroom

• 4 bar signal AT&T 

Cons:

• Filthy women’s restroom. Human feces on floor. Two of the three stalls locked for days. One remaining stall the door would not close and latch. Sign posted on door that restrooms were cleaned Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but the human feces were on the floor Friday night, Saturday all day and Sunday morning. Exterior door would not close completely.

• No water to sinks in women’s restroom

• No soap dispenser and no hand dryer in women’s restroom

• Men’s restroom door locked Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning

• Exterior door to one shower room was unable to be closed

• Extremely low water pressure to campsite

• No site privacy due to minimal trees/brush throughout the park

• Low hanging tree branches over roadway and campsite pad

• Our campsite pedestal BBQ grill was extremely corroded

• No wildlife sightings- not even a squirrel

• NOT A DARK SKY FRIENDLY CAMPGROUND! Boat launch lights across the cove lit up most of the campground. Large lights on the toilet/shower building that made it nearly as bright as daylight!

PROS 

Saved $24.50 with Texas State Park Pass 

No fee charged for making on-line reservations 

Got a call the morning of arrival from park headquarters confirming my arrival 

Site 3 was immaculate upon arrival, even the crushed gravel raked. 

Site 3 level 

Site 3 has aluminum picnic table, metal firepit with cooking grate and 2 hook lantern pole all in good condition 

Site 3 afternoon shade 

Campground loop toilet/shower facility immaculate 

30 minute drive to Waco attractions

2 bar T MOBILE 

CONS 

20 total campsites but 2 are used for camp hosts 

Picnic table chained to ground so not moveable and it was 30 ft from camper 

Lots of road noise from TX236 

One toilet/shower facility for the entire park for both day users and 20 campsites 

Men’s toilet had urinal and toilets out of service during our 3 night stay 

Toilet/shower facility not climate controlled 

Lots of feral cats throughout campground 

No fire wood for sale in park 

No WIFI