Texas Hill Country Camping

[UNTMatt]

Ok...wife and I are a little....ok, alot...behind! Wasn't sure on tent/camping until about a week ago.

Any suggestions on a place to camp for Saturday and possibly Sunday? The SP's seem to be full...who would have thunk it. I'd prefer the tent be close to the bike and some sort of shower facility (truck stop showers would be a very last resort...wife won't go for that at all).

Help?

[Mellow]

Ok...wife and I are a little....ok, alot...behind! Wasn't sure on tent/camping until about a week ago.

Any suggestions on a place to camp for Saturday and possibly Sunday? The SP's seem to be full...who would have thunk it. I'd prefer the tent be close to the bike and some sort of shower facility (truck stop showers would be a very last resort...wife won't go for that at all).

Help?

Garner SP is pretty big and a great park but given this is a holiday weekend (I try to never plan a camping trip around a holiday weekend) you're going to get a lot of weekend campers showing up.

If you can, make a reservation at kerrville state park, it's not bad. 2nd would be Lost Maples.. great park but small so you would have already had to make a res to get a site... you might get lucky. Garner would be my 3rd option, I can't imagine it being full but it wouldn't surprise me either. They also have cabins.

[hscoggin]

You might also try the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park in Fredericksburg. They have an RV park there. I don't know about shower facilities, but my wife and I ended up pitching a tent there several years ago when we couldn't find any other place. The phone number there is (830) 997-4202. Give them a call for more info.

[UNTMatt]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got a call into the Texas Parks customer service line and waiting for a call back to see if they have anything available. I'm trying to avoid KOA on a holiday weekend and their campsites are much more expensive than the SP's.

[STeve1300]

In Wisconsin a number of parks have a few "first come - first serve" (non-reservable) sites..... if its not too far, take a run out there today if they have one available, and just throw the tent up and pay for an extra nite... come back and camp this weekend.

[UNTMatt]

The lady on the phone said to call the parks tomorrow and there *might* be some available spots but other than that, they are full up for this weekend, including Garner.

Anyone camped at Seminole Canyon State Park (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/seminole_canyon/)? Looks interesting but it is 200 miles from where we were planning on being. Doesn't look like much for riding but could get in some hiking or something.

[dparker182]

You might try the Kerrville City Park - it used to be a state park but the city took it over & its not part of the state system anymore. At Lost Maples they might have some camp spaces in the backcountry. A couple of them are only 1 mile hike.

[UNTMatt]

Kerrville is full.

Lost Maples has a few primitive but they said that backpacking equipment is required for those sites and we are not really interested in hiking a mile to the sleeping quarters.

Looks like camping is out for the weekend. May just head down on Sunday.

[uptoblackwood]

Inks Lake State park....very nice and not far from the action....

If you are somewhat flexible, last minute no shows will always yeild sites in the State Park System. You can hotel it if nothing opens up.

Forest

[Mike]

I camp in Blanco, it's on the river and if you can score one they have those shelters that are pretty nice , especially when the weather gets nasty.

[RideCoach]

If you want to be near Kerrbille, then Coyote Campground is a great place, they have covered parking campsites for your bike. They are on 16, just about 14 miles S. of Kerrville. Great ride to get there too.
Ride Coach

[Vtwin]

Be careful even if you have a reservation. I had a confirmed reservation at Garner for July 4th, year before last. When I got there the parking lot (large) was totally full. When I finally made it to the office around 9am there was a 'take a number' system. From talking to folks that already had a number and a couple of Park rangers, they estimated I was going to have at least a 3hr hour wait to just get checked in (even though I had a reservation). Being the impatient person I am I rode to Lost Maples and they happened to have a couple of openings for tent camping. I stayed there and really enjoyed it.
Howard.

[dparker182]

Someone mentioned the Koyote Ranch (yea they spell it that way). That's a possibility, they have tent camping & cabins & are geared to motorcycles. They are between Kerrville & Medina on Hwy 16 -- 830-225-0991

[STArnie13]

I camped at Seminole Canyon sveral years ago. There wasn't much there for shade and the ground was pretty rocky. The canyon tour was nice. :03biker:

[UNTMatt]

Inks Lake State park....very nice and not far from the action....

If you are somewhat flexible, last minute no shows will always yeild sites in the State Park System. You can hotel it if nothing opens up.

Forest

I'm flexible to an extent. I'd hate to be wandering around the hill country looking for the crash zone on Memorial Day weekend and not be able to locate anything. I'm sure most of the hotels are all booked up as well.

If it was me, I'd probably chance it but with Dee on the back and us never doing this before, it's a little too stressful. I need a landing zone. I'll call around to the parks themselves tomorrow and see if there is anything opening up. Thanks for the suggestion though. :)

[UNTMatt]

If you want to be near Kerrbille, then Coyote Campground is a great place, they have covered parking campsites for your bike. They are on 16, just about 14 miles S. of Kerrville. Great ride to get there too.
Ride Coach

Someone mentioned the Koyote Ranch (yea they spell it that way). That's a possibility, they have tent camping & cabins & are geared to motorcycles. They are between Kerrville & Medina on Hwy 16 -- 830-225-0991

Koyote Ranch looks good on the website but @ $45/night that's almost pushing a hotel room. I'll get w/Dee and see what she thinks but I somehow doubt she'll go for that one. Thanks for the suggestion, though. If they have anything available, we might go that route just to try out the tent sleeping thing.

[Medicine Bear]

Well, if push comes to shove you can camp in my backyard. You can even use the bathroom in the house. :D

Fred :03biker: :confused:

[UNTMatt]

Well, Dee and I have decided to hold off on leaving until Sunday. We want to thank MB and Tom for the offers to crash at their places.

Scott, we still would like to pick up the tent tomorrow so we can become familure with it and make the decision to purchase it after we get back. We may take it along and stay a night at a SP later in the week.

[TexTom]

Well first to Saltydog56......what??????????
Then to Matt, I was gonna say that I don't ride on big weekend holidays[Memorial Day Labor Day etc] cause it seems there are too many nuts out there on the road.
You guys are always welcome to stay here, now that being said I'll be spending most of the summer in DFW.
See ya at the hanger in a coupla weeks.
:06biker:
Tom