Bill Bill

We're looking at doing our first family tent camping trip this weekend - Saturday night only. We live in Garland near Dallas and I've narrowed it down to Bonham or Tyler State Parks. Both have tent sites available.

We have 2 boys, 4 and 6 years old. We want to be able to ride bikes, swim, and do a little fishing.

Which park would you recommend and why?

Thanks for any feedback!

rockhill

Tyler

It is a very beautiful, quiet park. Am very surprised they have sites available because they usually stay booked up. If the kids get restless make the short drive down 14 to Tyler and take them to Caldwell zoo. One of the more spectacular private zoo's you will ever see.

Bill Bill

Thanks for the reply! Our 6-year old is the one who's really been wanting to go. I want to make it a memorable experience and I have a few questions about Tyler.

I've read that the lake at Bonham SP has a sandy bottom, and the beach area looks great. I found some pictures of the lake at Tyler SP and it doesn't look quite as nice. What's the lake at Tyler really like?

I understand that Tyler has some excellent off-road mountain bike trails. Are there plenty of flat beginner trails I can take the family on?

The sites available at Tyler are in the Dogwood Ridge and Red Oak sections on the south side of the lake. Any reasons to avoid them or is one any better than the other?

Thanks for the help!

copuswalker

We have camped in a trailer at Tyler a number of times.

It is a very pretty park and is usually quite busy.

I would say the lake is nice but stained water and a little mucky with few weeds. We swim from the water sites when we are lucky enough to get one.

Trails I have seen might be tough for little ones but have not seen them all.

Nice hiking trail around the lake as well which May allow bikes??

I think i have seen more detailed reports in here? Try a search of Tyler.

I have never been to bonham?? Good luck

__________________
There are those that hike and those that don't and those that say they will but won't.

rockhill

The swimming area at Tyler has a grass/sand mix as I recall. The terrain is pretty hilly with very limited flat spots so it might be tough on the little ones. The areas that you are in would be fine. We have always camped on north side of park. I believe you will have a great time there.

Bill Bill

Thanks for the replies! We're going to start with Bonham State Park for the first family outing. I called the park and the camping area is shaded, there are some flat trails for the bikes, and the lake should have a nice sandy bottom. It should also be less crowded than Tyler since there were only a few spots left there.

Based on the positive feedback on Tyler, we'll probably go there the next time we go camping. It sounds like a really nice park!

MissionCamper

It is, you won't be disappointed. We camped here over Thanksgiving '04 during the time the fall colors were peaking. Lake was too chilly for swimming, but looked very nice. We stayed in the Lakeview loop. Only concern I had was one night when a front pushed through and the wind picked up. Those towering pines were a little scary there for a while (a small branch did come down on our trailer, but caused no damage).

Bill Bill

We had a great time. The lake at Bonham isn't as sandy as I had hoped and there are some rocks that need to be taken out, even at the beach area. The lake was pretty disappointing actually.

Most of the bike trails are pretty tough, but there are some flat twisty ones that are kid-friendly. It wasn't crowded so we walked on some of the tougher ones, which was nice. If you ever go to Bonham, try to get Site #20. It's away from the beach and lake, but it's in the woods at the head of a little-used trail.

The kids loved camping and we'll go to Tyler next.