Cagle Recreation Area

I was hesitant to stay here due to reading reviews that cell coverage was spotty, but I am so glad we went anyway. We had 4G Verizon and AT&T with probably only 1 bar, but we used our Wilson booster and were able to get a good signal from both. Since we work during the week this was important.

Anyway, the park itself is wonderful! Especially site 30 which I think was one of the best spots in the park. The site was very spacious and private with a large yard. There is a beautiful view of Lake Conroe that you can see through the trees or walk down the path to get an unobstructed view. The sunsets were stunning!

The camp hosts are very friendly. We really enjoyed our stay and will definitely be back.

This park is fine for a stop over but there's not much to make it a destination. Sure Sam Houston forest is huge. There's lots of hiking but it's pretty boring hiking where you're just walking through the woods and there's nothing special to see. Other than ticks. If you like ticks, this is your spot. I picked no less than 50 ticks off my doggies after a 2 mile walk through the woods. I realize it's nature and all but that's a bit excessive.
Also the camp host was rude and just a total jerk. I don't normally have an opinion on hosts. I stay out of their way, they stay out of mine. Sometimes they stick out as being especially nice. There are a lot of really nice hosts out there.
This is my 1st experience with an actual jerk host. So I hope they clean that up.
Overall, decent place but nothing special.

Site accessibility (Easy to navigate and good roads in and out. Sites were mostly level but not entirely) - 4
Campground location (about 1 hr drive to Houston) - 3
Nearby amenities (Everything you could need was about 25 minute drive) - 3
Site Privacy (Sites were very short. Had to use overflow parking for the car. Although it was plentiful, it may not be as easy if the park is packed. Not much privacy but good space) - 2
Campground amenities (No laundry. Dumpsters were easily accessible.) - 3
Dog friendly (Ticks ticks ticks....although walking on the roads was pleasant) - 2
Activities (In the summer, the water would be good for kayaking. Hiking trails. Not much else) - 3
Cost ($28/night for 50 amp Full hookup) - 4
Staff friendliness (Jerk host) - 1
Connectivity (Decent signal w/out a booster for both ATT and Verizon. Lots of OTA channels but didn't come in great. May have been from most days being very cloudy) - 3
Total rating = 2.8

WE were just passing through and wanted to spend a couple of quiet nights in the Sam Houston National Forrest. Thanks to the state park being closed we found this wonderful hidden gem! Very spacious sites and clean restrooms make for a great stay. The hiking trails were closed due to storm damage so we did not get to check them out but the parks roads made for a great walk and handicap scooter ride.

Took a chance to stay here to get out of the rainy weather. One of the hosts was really helpful, but others were rude. Looked forward to a warm shower for the evening - it was warm, but floors were filthy with peeling paint. Garbage wasn't dumped the whole time we were there. Insecticide was sprayed on the floor and reeked with fumes limiting use of restrooms entirely. Entrance fee with Golden Age Pass is normally half price, but not at this campground.

This is a great place to get away from Houston without having to travel very far. Very shaded and a breeze off the lake helps with the summer heat. Very large spaces with lots of room between sites. 3 friendly hosts came around frequently to help out, check on things, keep everything clean, etc. T-Mobile had good service, but my Verizon data was unusable with only 1 bar. We'll go back again.

We camped in the Sycamore Loop in a lakefront site with reservations made 178 days prior to arriving. Beautiful view of the lake! $8 on-line reservation fee is ridiculous, but we did save on the campsite fee using our National Park Access Pass. Small campground with 28 sites. VERY quiet in this campground, all sites occupied by Friday evening. Small restroom/shower facility. Easy to maneuver park roads and ample swing space for easy back-in site.
Steel picnic table and fire ring. Parking pad was just wide enough for trailer and to walk along one side, then a drop-off to the table and fire ring, so anyone that is unstable with walking multi-level surfaces may find this site unsuitable.
Camp hosts were very welcoming. They manage the campground as there is no Government staff on site. They rely on the County Sheriff when necessary to handle difficult campers. No entrance gate closure overnight.
The boat launch into Lake Conroe was extremely busy!
No campground WIFI available.

Coming from the high desert of Texas it was a super experience staying in the Sam Houston National Forest. Camp host were very friendly and helpful. The site was clean and roomy. All sites were engineered to be easily backed in. The only negative was the hot water in the shower was lacking. Bathroom and shower were very clean. Unfortunately there was a burn band on during our stay so we could not use the fire ring, but it was an excellent fire ring with a grill attached. I highly recommend this camp.

We showed up last minute on a holiday weekend, but luckily the man at the gate knew of one spot open for 1 night, we stayed at spot 14. Then the next night there was a cancellation so we moved to 28 for 2 nights and then 41 for 5 nights. There are two loops, the first one is surrounded by woods and there is a beautiful walking trail through the woods next to the lake. The second loop had beautiful views of the lake and close to the boat dock. Some neighbors caught some huge fish, so if you are a fisher it’s a great place for that. Not much else to do besides fish and walk the trail unless you are a hunter or have a boat. The bathrooms/shower were pretty gross so we didn’t use them, but there are full hookups so you don’t really need them. In all, it was a great stay and the hosts were so nice and helpful. There wasn’t great ATT cell service, but I was able to make phone calls and my TOGO internet still worked as fast as normal.

Cagle Recreation Area Campground consists of two loops, the Sweet Gum loop (sites 1-19) which is located away from the lake and the SYME loop (sites 20+) which is located close to the lake. Both loops are located among the pines in mowed grassy area. The sites are large and there is significant separation between the sites so even though there is no screening vegetation, you will not notice your neighbors. We stayed in the Sweet Gum loop and found it peaceful and relaxing. The SYME loop may be noisier because it is near the boat ramp area which sees quite a bit of day use. As a bonus though, a few of the sites in this loop have short paths down to the lake shore and some campers had beached their boats near their camp.

The campsites consist of asphalt pads for your RV, a gravel tent pad, and a concrete pad for the picnic table, in addition to a fire ring. Electricity was solid while we were there, though water pressure was fairly low. My one concern about the site was that the sewer connection was quite high (or my trailer was quite low). I did need to park far forward to get enough drop to empty my tanks. This seemed to be an issue on many sites, with the rear of the site being lower than the front. Side-to-side we had no issues being level. Mobile coverage is a bit more difficult the farther you get from the lake. So if connections are important, the SYME loop may be best.

One nice feature of the park we enjoyed was the loop trail that circled the campground. It is about 2.5 miles long and follows the lakeshore for a while and then winds back through the pine forest. It made for a lovely walk every day. There is another shorter loop trail down near the boat ramp as well. There are other trails in the nearby forest that you can drive to and then walk through the forest.

The nice thing about this campground is how convenient it is to get into the Houston suburbs. It's only about 30 minutes to The Woodlands if you need to get some shopping done and Conroe is even closer. So it makes a good base for visiting Houston.

My wife and I camped in Site 9, which was fantastic. It was super easy to back our 22' travel trailer into the site, with a nice 45 degree angle from the loop road. The site was nice and level left/right and only slightly downhill towards the rear of the trailer. We had a fantastic view of forest and nature, with the lake visible through the trees. There were no immediate neighbors on either side of the site, making for a very spacious and private experience. The site had full hookups, along with a steel picnic table and fire ring. There was even a cute little coat hook pole near the fire. There is also a nice semi-paved trail immediately behind the site that wound it's way down to the lake, over to the boat dock, and back. Overall we had a great time on our shakedown trip for 2021 (despite the impending ice storm and accidentally locking ourselves out of the trailer on the very first night). Only negative of the weekend was the lack of cell service... not bad when you want to disconnect but not good when you lock yourself out of your trailer!