Goose Island State Park Campground

We go camping here as often as we can. Not only is there a concrete shoreline, but also a quiet wooded area to camp. Love the off season. State park workers are nice and keep the place clean and beautiful.

This park is part of Padre Island National Sea Shore. It is a lot quieter than Mustang Island, which is closer to the city of Corpus Christi. I chose to come in on 77 and it seemed to take forever, including a very secluded road that connects it to 35, not easy to find that connection at night in the small town of Refugio. I will return via 35. Onto the important stuff, the park. There are two camping areas, wooded and on the water. The wooded sites are really cool, very private, shady and appropriate for rv and tent camping. I chose a bay view camp site instead. These are also split into two sections, both with the same amenities in terms of covered shelter, elec, water. I wouldn't want to camp in a tent on the bay view because it is just too too unprotected and out in the open. It is perfect for rv though! They don't seem like much because they are really spare, just gravel and a covered shelter. No dunes, trees, grass, nothin'. What makes up for that is that you are practically ON the water. There is actually a little seawall so the water is lapping about 30 feet from your shelter. It is magical! I really liked my site because it was near the showerhouse as well as a little walkway overlooking a restored marsh that is basically behind us. In the distance behind us are houses. The second bayside camper area is better for fishermen because there is a really pretty, lighted pier at the end of that side, with fish washing stations. That side doesn't have houses (in the distance) behind them. Note, "my side" is also great for fishing right in your "backyard" but doesn't have the cleaning stations. The reason I chose this side over the other bayview side was that the camps are in single file, compared to a front and back row on the other side. This just feels less crowded even though it is the same number of sites.

I went to gaze upon "big tree" a 1,000+ year old oak, in a grove of oaks. I also learned to geocache with a ranger led program. Even though it is off season, there are plenty of activities. Lastly, I saw multiple whooping cranes as well as sand hill cranes. The whoopers were nearly extinct 50 years ago and it is very exciting to have them back!

We camped here in March, 2015 in a 35 foot fifth wheel. The nightly rate does not include the daily per person entry fee.

We camped in site 34 of the Bay campground near the nature viewing area. There are more bay front sites near the fishing pier and another campground in a wooded area. The bay sites are on hard packed sand right on the water. Each site has water and electric hookups and a shelter with a picnic table. Many people fish right from their campsite.

The state park also has a dock with a fish cleaning station and a boat launch. Brown pelicans and white pelicans were hanging out around the dock every day waiting for a handout.

In another area of the park is a thousand year old Texas live oak tree called The Big Tree. Birders will love the wading birds. Whooping Cranes winter in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and might be seen in the area during the winter. Deer are sometimes seen in the park.

In the nearby towns of Rockport and Fulton you'll find shopping, beaches, fishing, restaurants, wildlife tours, and museums. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is within driving distance.

Camped here in February 2014. My birder friends wanted to camp here for the birding. I know they were happy with all of the birds in the area. The park itself is nice and site #154 was quiet and private. There are also some bird blinds and knowledgeable bird guiders at the state park. Unfortunately for me it rained quite a bit and was muggy. We took a boat tour with Rockport Tours to see Aransas WR and the whopping cranes which was well worth the trip. The park is close enough to Rockport to get groceries and dining options.

We arrived on Thursday before Memorial Day weekend about 4:00 PM in a light rain shower. The park employee came out to our rig using an umbrella to check us in. His first words were "the mosquitoes are thick" and so they were. We had a beautiful campsite (114) under an oak tree with green grass all around. But, the mosquitoes were so bad we got bites while were spraying up. There were in my nose and my ears! Once completely sprayed you could move about without being carried away. On Saturday night a huge line of thunderstorms came through and we were advised to seek shelter immediately. We hid out in the cinder block restroom. We discovered the next morning our campsite had turned into a small pond about 3" deep. Not to give up, we noticed a lot of folks bailing out and we were able to move to the bay front, which had previously been full. This was better. We were right on the bay and could fish right from our campsite. That is, if you can cast directly into a 20-25 mph wind. I fished all day and evening without success.

Anyway, it's a beautiful place and I might come back in winter, but never in spring or summer.

We paid the extra $4/night for a site in the Bayfront section, however, when we arrived there weren't any water-views available. We spent our first night in one of the 9 Bayfront sites that doesn't have a view and moved to one that does the next morning.

We really enjoyed walking to the end of the pier almost every morning and night.

Sites 1-24 are along the drive to the boat ramp, I heard fishermen driving by during the night, but it really didn't bother us. If you're sensitive to noise, 25-44 might be a better choice.

There were many over-the-air HDTV channels including CBS for our favorite morning show.

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Goose Island State Park is a nice quiet park with wildlife (mostly birds), nature trails, fishing pier, and access to the Aransas Bay for kayaking/fishing. For more information visit the Texas State Parks website http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/goose-island Check availability and make reservations for Texas State Parks here: http://texas.reserveworld.com/

There is a daily use fee ($5) in addition to the camping fee, unless you have a Texas State Parks Pass ($70/yr).

There are shaded, wooded sites or if you camp on the bay (open sites with a pavilion, no trees) you can fish from your campsite. If you don't have any fishing gear, you can borrow some from the Ranger station. Beware there are low hanging trees so if you have a tall/big rig or a 5th wheel, you might not fit in some areas of the park. We stayed in early November, so it was quiet, cool, and comfortable.

We had no T-Mobile cell coverage at our campsite, but other areas of the park had some coverage.

We did not use the facilities, but each camping loop has a bathhouse.

We have stayed here before and this time was just as good. Showers are a bit of a gamble or I would have given 5 stars. This place is so pretty. We were allowed to pull our trailer in facing the bay, which gave us a wonderful view out the front window. Fishing was slow this year due to the freeze but still caught some. Crabbing was also slow due to colder temps.

I know there is a lot of great free beach camping on the south coast of Texas, but if you want an electric and water hookup with the convenience of a toilet block with free hot showers, then get a reservation here. LOTS of people fishing so this must be a go to location - both behind the campers and also our on the boardwalk. A 1,000+ year old oak tree is in the state park and is worth checking out. Sites are somewhat close together, but the dedicated shelters with picnic table provides privacy. Pets allowed.

It was a really nice park, tons of wildlife, close to the water. We had plans to stay in the wooded area for 3 nights and then the water front for 2 nights - but due to area flooding decided to head inland so we missed our water stay. But we did go down to the pier and fish one day. The mosquitos were super super bad in the wooded area. Couldn't even walk around but they seemed to be none near the water. Restrooms-showers were mainly clean, no complaints. We loved that we had a fire pit and grill and picnic table. Very reasonable pricing. We'd come here again!