Not a DARK SKY Friendly Campground
Pros:
• Very small park
• Great view of the lake as trees/shrubs are minimal
• Clean campsite except for the trash in the fire pit
• Most sites had 2 sewer hookups.
• Most sites had a nice distance from neighbor sites.
• Crushed granite surrounds the site parking pad so no muddy mess after rain
• Lantern pole, BBQ grill, fire pit with grilling grate and wooden picnic table at each site.
• Extremely clean restrooms/shower facility.
• Heated restrooms/shower facility(we camped the week after Christmas).
• Restroom/shower facility sink had hot water and soap dispenser
• Mini golf course in the park.
• 2 bar signal AT&T
Cons:
• With reservations made 153 days prior to arriving for our 4-night stay, we encountered confusion by a rude check-in clerk who told us to come back at 3 pm (it was then 230pm and we could clearly see our campsite was vacant). Since the entry lane was down to one lane, we tied up traffic for nearly 20 minutes until the check-in clerk finally realized that we were camping and not checking in for their cabins. I’m not sure why she didn’t see our truck and 28 ft bumper pull trailer.
•$6 fee to reserve on-line.
• No mention on the park website there was a burn ban in effect, so no ground fires permitted, not even for cooking.
• No site privacy due to minimal trees/brush throughout the park.
• Campsite BBQ grill and fire pit were next to each other, so it would have been difficult to gather around the fire pit.
• Good condition asphalt site parking pad was uneven side-to-side as we noticed nearly all sites in that condition with all requiring leveling.
• NOT A DARK SKY FRIENDLY CAMPGROUND! Numerous street lights throughout this camping loop and unfortunately we had one directly across from our site#11 which lit up our site like daylight! Who camps under a street light???
• Non-stop highway noise, even throughout the night, from Texas 261.
• Doors on toilet stalls were only 5 feet tall.
• Lots of large roadway speed bumps.
• No hiking trails.
• No park WIFI
We used Black Rock as our “jumping off point” for various Hill Country Holiday Light displays, which worked out very well. Kingsland is closer to the park than Burnet where there is a HEB, Ace Hardware, Dairy Queen and local restaurants. Closest Walmart to Black Rock is in Marble Falls, along with a HEB.