Our Experience at Lake Ray Roberts State Park

Lake Ray Roberts

Isle De Buis Unit

Map: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/park_maps/pwd_mp_p4503_137n.pdf

I had forgotten how much I loved the outdoors and camping and stuff. This place reminded me of all of that. It was really that nice. They have 20+ miles of trails for hiking, biking, and horse trails. We didn't go walk on any of them (I forgot our jackets and it was really cold!). But we saw the start of the trails and they were so nice and paved. Very impressed.

They have a beach, it was clean! And the playground equipment was colorful, inviting, and clean looking! They have a small store. By small, I mean SMALL!

A couple of down falls that I saw from camping here are: 1) you cannot forget anything! The only thing within a few miles is a Dollar General. AND 2) The campsites are rather small.

Oh, and by looking at the map, trails run through all the camps...so we should be able to get anywhere we want by foot.

COST: $25 to camp with electric & water a night, $2 extra cars (2 allowed at campsite), $5 per person per day (excludes kids under 13 yrs old)

The beach....what would I do with Maggie?

The girls really liked the beach.

The beach, picnic area, and clean playground. The small store is in this parking lot.

Primitive camping - Hawthorne Area

This is a view of the parking lot, grassy area that kids were playing ball in, and the chemical bathrooms.

The beginning of the trail to get to the camp sites (walk in only, no cars)

I never thought I'd do primitive camping with kids, but it was actually really nice! The kids could run around the campsite with out the fear of being hit by a car. And the bathrooms aren't that far of a walk. You'd just have to drive to the showers, but it's a real short drive.

Cool little finds for the kiddos...like moss on some pretty black rocks.

See, the primitive camping doesn't looks so bad. Camps are really nice. Better than the primitive camping at Cedar Hill State Park.

Piper posing on the road through the primitive area.

Beautiful view of Mother Nature in the primitive area. We went out looking for nice campsites.

The primitive area has a water spigot in the center of the camps.

Favorite primitive camping site. #18. We we end having to go primitive, we'd camp here. People were camping on it and they had a ton of tents. Must be a great site, right??? Oh and it was one of the 1st off the trail! Short walk!

Nice trails! What a change from the visit at Cedar Hill State Park.

Quail Run Area. Water and Electric hook ups. I use to go camping all the time pre-baby. I don't remember the camp sites being so small. And since when did everyone stop pitching tents and start camping in RV's? There were so many campers and RV's at the parks this weekend. It was unreal!

We did find some campers that had lots of tents on one campsite. Must mean it's a good one. That was #169. That'll be choice #1 for me!

Fishing is FREE in State Parks. And looks like the fish were biting this weekend. They are huge too. See this boy carrying his catch.

Lake Ray Roberts

Johnson Unit

Map: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/park_maps/pwd_mp_p4503_153a.pdf

Girls (in their brand new Dollar General jackets) posing as we walked thru the Johnson Unit's primitive area. Presley soooo did not want that jacket. It's a boys and teh only one they had n her size. I told her we could sew stuff on it and make it very cool for a girl to wear! Now she loves it and I have yet to sew anything on it.

There were a few cool sites that I'd camp at, like sites # 136, 137. 138. They also have chemical toilets very close by.

A lot of the camping over in this Unit was open. Not many trees in the water/electric hook up areas. This is view of the islands that were saw & a very open camp site.