Four Great Texas Gulf Coast Campgrounds

It’s Not Small…It’s Fun Size!

Random comments:

“Can you sleep in there?”

“Look at that cute little trailer.”

“Does that have a bathroom?”

And then:

Daughter – “Mom, look at that little trailer.”

Mom – “It looks like a doll house.”

Enough already.

I thought the teardrop was bad. I have given probably 15 tours of the Scamp so far. I think everyone is just jealous.

I have been busy since Christmas, visiting four more state parks in Texas.

I stayed at Lake Corpus Christi first.

I really liked this campground. There are 108 sites here located about 30 miles north of Corpus Christi.

I stayed in #21.

This is the closest site to the lake with electricity. There are three separate areas. One with no hookups, one with water and electricity, and one with full hookups.

Some of the no hookup sites were lakeside. Here are sites 63-66.

The neat thing about #66, above, is that if you come when it is raining you can release your catch into your own personal lake.

There is a fishing pier and several picnic areas as well.

It is a great lake for fishing and playing in the warmer months. If you want privacy, visit between Christmas and New Year’s Eve like I did.

I stopped by Mustang Island next.

I planned to spend the night here but the campground was full. Well, the RV section was full.

There are 48 sites with hook ups in a glorified parking lot. But some are better than others, like #48. Definitely make reservations if you want electricity and water.

The main attraction is the Gulf of Mexico just a few hundred feet away.

Mustang Island is 30 miles south of Corpus Christi, right next to Padre Island. This area is extremely busy in the summer but if you have a tent you can usually find a spot here. Why? Because there are over 300 primitive tent sites right on the sand that are first come first served.

Oceanfront property for $10 per night. Can’t beat that. I thought about dragging the trailer down there but thought about it some more and continued on to Goose Island.

But there was a problem. The road continued along the coast but my map didn’t show any bridge going back to the mainland. I decided to trust the GPS and follow it’s directions. I ended up on a boat.

About a half dozen little ferries were crossing the bay in Port Aransas.

My little trailer felt right at home. I glanced at the GPS to see how it would react to being on a ferry.

Interesting.

Anyway, I made it to Goose Island State Park.

There was just one spot left on December 29th and they gave it to me. There is a story behind that I will address later on.

There are two separate and distinct camping areas here.

Sites 1-44 are open with shade shelters on the water, like #26.

Sites 101-157 are 1/4 mile away and naturally shaded by oak trees, like #109.

Sites 201-225 are tent sites. I liked #205.

This is another campground I would like to spend some time exploring. So I did. I spent four nights here, leaving on January 1.

The oak trees seemed to grow sideways and I tracked down the biggest of them all. It even had it’s own sign.

Two, actually.

It was hard to capture the whole tree at once on camera.

So I took a close up pic.

I wanted to climb it but the signs said that was not allowed. I looked around and found another candidate.

Yep, I climbed it.

Then rode my bike down to pier area.

I passed by the day use area and boat ramp on the way there.

One of the neat amenities at Texas State Parks is that you do not need a fishing license to cast a line.

The weather was too cold and windy for me to give it a try, but there was one person dunking bait on the pier.

See if you can spot him.

I left on New Year’s Day and drove 150 miles northeast to Brazos Bend State Park near Houston.

There are 77 sites here and 18 of them were occupied by fiberglass eggs.

Turns out that there was a get-together of egg owners for the holiday. I felt right at home.

Brazos Bend was named one of America’s top state parks by National Geographic Traveler Magazine. It’s 5000 acres include 35 miles of trails, three lakes, and over 300 species of birds.

I only had one day there so my goal was to check out the river and find an alligator.

I hiked down a trail to the river.

It’s right there through the trees.

The steep bank precluded me from reaching it so I headed off to Elm Lake.

It looked promising.

The birds did not seem too scared.

There was a splash in the distance and the birds took flight.

Nothing happened. I think I saw one in the distance but it could have been a log.

Oh well. I will be in Florida soon anyway. Lots of gators there.

I settled for taking a few photos of the lake.

The campsites here are enormous. #232 had a football field sized area behind it.

My car was getting jealous of all the pictures of the new trailer. That is the reason for this one.

Speaking of the trailer, I do not find it to be small at all. Here is photo from Lake Corpus Christi. There is a motorhome to the left and a fifth-wheel on the right. I don’t see much difference.

Small does have it’s advantages, however. When I arrived at Goose Island I was told that the campground was full. The ranger then looked out and saw the size of my trailer. He told me that he had the perfect spot for me.

Perfect.

Having a trailer has also caused me to reconsider my opinion on bad weather. I now have a new point of view.

Here it is.

Ahem.

Bad Weather – This is no such thing as bad weather. You are simply wearing the wrong clothes.

Regards, Park Ranger