Best part of texas to live in if you want camping nearby

Texas is too huge as well know. If you were to live in one major texas city because of its surrounding outdoors areas, where would you live?

I’d say Austin because we have lots of parks and green spaces within the city and a number of State, County and LCRA parks within 150 miles. I’m also biased because I live in Austin. :slight_smile:

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Maybe this will sound strange, but we live in Ft Worth, and there are some great state parks just an hour or 2 from the DFW area! To be more specific, we LOVE Cleburne State Park; it’s only an hour from our house. Mineral Wells State Park is maybe 90 mins to our west. There’s Dinasaur Valley SP a couple hours away in Glen Rose. And there’s Tyler SP and Caddo Mills SP in east Texas, about a two hour drive. As I write this, I’m thinking to myself that Ft Worth really IS a good place to live as it pertains to RVing and/or tent camping!!!

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I wouldn’t say North Texas, at least North Central unless you are only wanting to camp near lakes. Many of the areas nearer to me are very dry in summer especially and can be even more hot as a result. I would recommend the Austin to Hill Country area, those areas are amazing, have more features for enjoying such as hiking, waterfalls, rolling hills and much more beautiful surroundings as a whole which justify the heat of summer. During fall and spring they also have an abundance of wildflowers and actual changing of the seasons during fall.

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I do agree that Austin would be a choice area since it is closer to so many parks and lakes down in the hill country area. I live in Dallas, and like Susan F. said, we are close to many State parks and lakes. Along with the ones she mentioned, I would add Possum Kingdom Lake St Pk, Lake Mineral Wells, Lake Whitney to name a few. I’m about 4 hours from Inks Lake St Pk and that surrounding area including Marble Falls, Lake Buchanan and Lake LBJ. Also, living in North Texas puts me about 4 hours away from Broken Bow Lake in Oklahoma, which is amazing. Plus I like to get up to Arkansas as well. Good reasons for both areas I’d say.

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A lot depends on what you want to do. If you want primitive camping, east or west Texas would be better. Central Texas has a lot of day trails, but not as much for primitive camping. If you are okay with a site with a concrete slab, etc., then yeah, you will find a lot of options in Central Texas. (I live in Central Texas)

I can tell you where you dont want to live, thats West Texas lol. I gotta hit the road to get to a nice park or lake, but whats camping, without a road trip!

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For primitive camping, how about The Goodwater Trail, Lost Maples, Colorado Bend or just set off in a kayak down the Colorado River? :sunglasses:

I did Colorado Bend in early August (first camping trip in Texas since we moved near Austin in early March from Northern California). That was when I decided I would never camp in TX again during the summer months (June- September)! My Tx camping will be October-May. Going to Big Bend NP in October.

Big Bend is best in March. We love to go the week after Christmas to New Years. Its cold but so enjoyable! We stay at the state park and drive to the NP once or twice during our stay. What is truly amazing is having frost on the ground and plants on the road to Chisos Basin the come over the lip to no frost in sight and warm enough to hike without a coat.

Thanks for the input, I’ll likely go back in March and maybe camp at the State Park. Is the landscape much different from Big Bend?

Yes! It is similar but it is more along the lines of Grand Canyon. We love it because the campsites are more primitive. You can have a camp fire and can camp right next to the river if you want. It also has some incredible trails.

Stephanie- I have a small Aframe trailer That I tow with my Subaru Outback. Can I get into the primitive sites with my trailer?

Yes!! There are wide dirt roads and we took a school bus full of kids one year and the bus was fine but no hookups. There are several vault toilets in most of the campgrounds if needed.

If I had to pick a major city, I guess it would be Austin or San Antonio because those are the biggest cities close to the hill country and that’s my favorite place to camp! :two_hearts: