Blanco State Park Campground

A neighboring camper greets me upon our arrival.

He is from Michigan, as are my children's maternal ancestors. We joke about the rain, the ice, the 25 degrees cooler on average the country--and this park--are at the moment.

"We got a monthly spot," he tells me, contrary to other park officials' information wherein the context of which led me to believe that one cannot stay in any state park, combined, for more than 14 days without leaving the entire park system for another two weeks. "For only $325 a month," he continues. "That's around $11 a day."

We cancel our plans for nearby Pedernales State Park in exchange for an additional 5 days here in Blanco, though the other park promises spectacularly better landscape. Good cell reception is the primary reason for this decision, and I promise myself to make it up with a hearty one night stand in Pedernales.

Tonight though, iced over in my van, I sit listening to the sound of a Texas rain reminding me that the bridge to the campground was inches from underwater. I pray to the Lone Star Flag that I brought enough beer to last the weather.

A small state park right on the town of Blanco, straddling the Blanco River. Both full-hookup and water+electric RV sites as well as screen shelters. We were in one of the full-hookup sites with 50A power available, but just use 30A on our Airstream. The water+electric sites are $20/night. Of course if you don't have a State Park card, there's a day-use fee per person per day on top of the campsite fee...it's worth it to get the State Park card if you're going to use the parks much.

The park isn't large, but it's pretty and it's convenient to our home, it was a very easy and relaxing stay. The full-hookup sites mean that on longer stays you don't have to conserve space in the holding tanks, and park staff are friendly. The campground isn't far from US281, so you occasionally hear some noise from the highway if an emergency vehicle is going by or if a really loud motorcycle or truck is passing on the highway.

Good cell phone access on all 4 major carriers. No wifi to speak of, it seemed like there's wifi at the little office at the entrance, but that's across the river from the campground.

This is a cute little state park about an hour north of San Antonio. The campground is just a short walk to the Blanco River where many enjoy fishing. Lots of picnic tables set up by the river too. Kayaks are for rent here. When we camped here it got down to freezing so we weren't about to venture out on the river in that cold of weather. Everything was very green, lots of grass and places to walk for our dogs. There were nearby goats and cows too, I believe someones ranch that was near the campground. We went into town and visited the Real Ale Brewer while here too. Cool little tour of the brewery and great beers! Close to the interstate but the noise wasn't too bad at all.

This is a cute little state park about an hour north of San Antonio. The campground is just a short walk to the Blanco River where many enjoy fishing. Lots of picnic tables set up by the river too. Kayaks are for rent here. When we camped here it got down to freezing so we weren't about to venture out on the river in that cold of weather. Everything was very green, lots of grass and places to walk for our dogs. There were nearby goats and cows too, I believe someones ranch that was near the campground. We went into town and visited the Real Ale Brewer while here too. Cool little tour of the brewery and great beers! Close to the interstate but the noise wasn't too bad at all.

YouTube video of our stay here: https://youtu.be/3ecAKvTI8Cw

We'll be back! This was a great park for our maiden voyage in our new RV. Close enough to home just in case something went wrong. It couldn't have been better! Park hosts were super friendly and helpful. Shower area was nice and clean with a separate code for those camping. Restrooms were clean. Well maintained park with nice areas for walking by the river. Set up well for fishing, swimming, kayaking and canoeing. This would be a great destination for a family or even a solo RVer.

We stayed in site 18 and it seems to be the most spacious and private of sites. It backs up to the edge of the park and overlooks a farmer's field and the woods. Saw lots of deer and other wildlife. Site was level and hookups were easy. Very quiet park. No issues at all with road noise or noise from neighbors. Sites are roomy and the covered picnic table and fire pit was easy to use and well maintained. Site is positioned facing somewhat south so the sun passes over you for sunrise/set and it's never beating directly into your face/trailer.

Can't think of even one complaint. Super easy park to get around in. Can't wait to go back and do some fishing/kayaking/swimming!

We arrived on a Friday afternoon with FHU reservations made 151 days prior to arriving.
Here's our Blanco State Park PROS and CONS
Pros
Beautiful site along the Blanco River
River swimming
Campground has large mature trees providing 75-80% shade cover
Very level campsites
Easy to walk to downtown Blanco and Catholic Church
Easy access from Highway 281
Campsite firewood for a donation of $5
Wooden shelter over FHU campsite picnic table
FHU outlets in good condition
Cons
Heavily used park and it shows it
Campground restrooms also used by day users
One shower for male and one for female for entire campground with entry code
FHU sites lack privacy; sites close together
No gate
In 2 days, no appearance of ranger or camp host
Highway 281 traffic noise; noticeable when outside only
Mostly dirt sites
One lane bridge for access to campground; vehicles not hauling assumed right-of-way causing us (hauling) to back up (what a mess!)
No TPWD Wi-Fi connectivity

Great for the price. Older state park but nice

We were really happy with our stay here. The sites around the perimeter are water/electric only. The sites on the perimeter are spacious. We had lots of trees around us and enjoyed our site. Spaces #19 and #20 have really nice grassy areas. There is limited road noise, especially for being right off the main road. We did not hear any road noise at night. Lots of birds all around, quiet at night. We did not check out the bathroom/showers. Our AT & T phones worked as did my UnlimitedToGo AT & T hotspot. It was strong enough to use our Amazon firestick and I was able to teach online with no problems at all. We would definitely go back to this campground. When in town be sure to eat the Chess Club Cafe. They make all of their own bread, even sandwich bread. SO GOOD! Lots of locals visit this place and you won't be disappointed. We also really liked the Old 300 BBQ in town on the square. You can tour the old courthouse in a short amount of time, it has an interesting history. If you're into history, we enjoyed our self-guided tour of the Buggy Museum. It also has an "old town" where you can go in the "old west" buildings with artifacts. We spent a nice afternoon at the Real Ale Brewery, and took the tour. It was interesting, but if you're more interested in the more technical aspect, I think they do those tours on Fridays/Saturdays. They had a food truck on the Sunday afternoon we were there with really good fries and chicken fried steak strips.

Our third camping stay at one of our favorite Hill Country state parks alongside the beautiful Blanco River. Reservations for a FHU site made 88 days prior to arriving and with a Texas State Park Pass, it cost us $17.25/nightly. Nice and shady campground with a shelter over the campsite picnic table. Level gravel site. Campsites are packed in closely without any privacy from neighbors. Due to this, sadly we witnessed some crazy camper behavior…tent campers cutting tree branches from their campsite for a campfire and another campsite permitting their toddler to run naked most of the daylight hours who defecated throughout their campsite repeatedly.
One lane bridge across the Blanco River to the campground. There is no controlled access after hours. Some road noise from US Highway 281. We never saw a camp host or ranger in the campground during our stay.
One toilet/shower facility serves 29 campsites PLUS day users swimming at the dam. Facilities were in fairly clean condition. Upon check-in, we were issued a code to the shower stall. It took up to a dozen attempts with the code to gain access.
Toilet paper in the women’s toilet was scarce this weekend, so much so, women were going into the men’s toilet and taking it from there.
We took advantage of the no-fee entrance and toured both Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site and the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, approximately 22 miles from Blanco State Park. Even with COVID19 closures of some buildings and displays, we took over 3 hours for this experience. Great shady picnic areas at LBJ State Park.

We loved this campground. Mostly quiet, friendly people around. Good nature walks, places to bike ride, and plenty of fishing to do. Good amount of space between sites, my kids had a blast.

There is a donut shop right by the entrance that is excellent. Had both donuts and kolachees (think breakfast sandwiches). Get the smoked brisket, you'll have to go back every morning.