campermom

The approach to the park has the entrance on the "Dam side". You can almost see the whole lake from there. Most of the sites in our area were still occupied, but we were given a list of those leaving that day. We spotted the site we wanted, registered for it, then went to the store to rent a 2 person yak. I've used a friend's yak for bringing baits out but not a 2 person ( with the front person just along for the ride). It was quite a bit more difficult than I thought. We went out to explore the small island in the lake. There was a ruin of a few seating arrangements, and one with a fireplace. Too bad a Boy Scout troup couldn't go over there and clean it up a bit. It was old work, but hasn't been maintained.

When our time was up, we headed to the swim beach. There was the perfect amount of beach, and swimming area for the Saturday crowd. The water was level, and shallow for a while. Safe for the little ones. I would advise rivershoes, there is some submerged riprap material once in a while, nothing large, just brick sized. The water was refreshing and fairly clear. A very nice way to cool off.

Late in the day we went to our site, now vacant, and made camp. My son discovered a short trail from the back of our site, down in incline to the lake. There was a rock ledge to sit on to fish or reflect. We fished a little from there, but watching the sunset across the lake from there was even better.

There were tons of ants here. The weather must be the main culprit. Some of those ants traveled on the tent to our next campground. Hope they appreciate their new digs.

I would have enjoyed another night here. We took a short trip over to Penitentiary Hollow, a rock formation which is a great place for rock climbers. My son scrambled over a few spots, but mostly we took pictures. There is a scenic overlook at the top of the rocks ( Photo is seen in some of the parks published photos), It looked real nice with the sun going down. We also stopped to check out the amphitheatre. The Lake Mineral Wells Trailway Trailhead is located there also. There were 2 hitching posts and an 8 foot horse trough, full-up with clean clear water. It was hard to keep from jumping in. I told my son about how the cowboys would cool off during their long work days, in the trough. He too had visions of swimming in there.

The next morning, we had to leave. As we got past the dam, a tarantula was crossing the road. I had to stop and take it's picture. I've never seen a real, wild tarantula before. ( it would not be the last during our trip ).

Seclusion/privacy - 6
swimming-8
restroom-6
wildlife-5
store 9 1/2
hiking-did not hike but with trailway and rock climbing, got to be at least 7
playground- did not have time to rate, or find
staff-6

Bill Bill

Sounds awesome - what site(s) would you recommend?

campermom

We spent almost no time touring sites. Our reservation was for water only which has only 11 sites. There were tons of sites along the top of the ridge overlooking the lake. Sorry I can't tell you much more. We played hard all day. I can tell you that I'd love to go back some day. I'm not much of a climber but that side of the park, trails and all, looked interesting. If you go, leave some time to explore over there. They have plenty of picnic tables sprinkled between naturally landscaped islands in the parking lot of the day use area. Lots of nice scenic overlooks from there.

Turn Key

#55(Live Oak Area); Shade and privacy.
#53(Live Oak Area); Large site. Nice.
#86(Plateau Area); Large and shady.

All of these are "Power & Water". If "Water Only" is good enough, most anything in the "Post Oak Area" is nice.

Hope this helps. Post further if you need more info.

Happy Camping!

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toejam

I think the shelters are the best developed camp sites. The backcountry primitive sites are nice. The good hiking is in the north end of the park where there are maybe 15 miles of trail. The Trailway at the park is good for biking or horses, but not for hiking since it travels next to a road. The other end of the Trailway in Weatherford is good for hiking or jogging.