Lake Tawakoni State Park Campground

Lake Tawakoni is known for its giant communal spider webs, so if you're afraid of spiders, dont go. If you're looking for a decent campground to use your boat, its nice. There are a lot of trees, but the sites are pretty close together. There are also a lot of hiking trails, but agan, watch out for the spiders.

We arrived here on day two of the Memorial Day weekend. Needless to say the campground was packed and somewhat noisy. However, with most campers gone by noon on Memorial Day, we had nearly the entire campground to ourselves and moved to a secluded site with lake access for the week.

Most sites are well-spaced and back up to the lake or to the woods. We stayed in the White Deer Ranch loop, which is mostly only 30amp and water - no sewer, which is fine for us for a week as in our opinion the sites are further spaced out for more privacy. The Spring Point loop has more 50amp full hookups, which is where most RVers are, but the sites are less private, yet still ok.

If you can camp here during the week, you'll find the campground very quiet. Weekends are hard to get without reservations in advance and of course, packed with weekenders.

Amenities are good - each site has a relatively level concrete pad, fire pit, tent pad and lantern pole. Sites are well-maintained by the park, with a maintenance person going out to pick up trash and tidy up sites during the day.

We enjoyed our stay here, and would certainly come back again, although not on a weekend if we can help it. The staff is very friendly and did a great job making us feel welcome.

Finally, Verizon and AT&T have decent signal here, but if you absolutely must have internet for work purposes, a booster would be helpful. Two bars on each carrier was our experience.

Our site had full hookups and was in a small loop (sites 68 - 75) off the main camping road. Some of the sites there afforded more privacy than some of the other fhu sites on the main camping road. We were in site 73, which had a wider parking pad for our 40', 4-slideouts motorhome, and, in our opinion, the most privacy of any site in the loop.

The lake is nice for kayaking IF you stay in the coves. We enjoyed bike riding around the park. Also enjoyed some of the hiking trails, although there was some litter on trails, which we picked up. Always do that and don't mind it.9

While we saw people mowing vast expanses of grass (that hardly seemed in need of mowing at the time), we never saw a park staffer or volunteer host cleaning out fire rings or picking up litter at campsites. Our first site had been empty for most of the day, but had some litter on the ground and a fire ring full of burned charcoal briquettes and ash. Second site was full of ash and burned wood. I did several walk-grounds of many empty sites to pick up litter and noted that lots of fire rings were full of ash, burned wood, trash or briquettes, or all of the above. During the middle of the week when the park was almost empty, you would think you'd see some people out cleaning campsites and fire rings. Nope. Those same fire rings were still full of old fire debris when campers arrived on Friday for the weekend.

I admit to having a low tolerance for unkempt campsites and dirty fire rings, because I've been a park host and worked with a great team of hosts who were on top of cleaning up campsites and cleaning out fire rings pronto when a site was vacated. And if we ever had an arrival to a site before we had a chance to clean it, we always asked the campers if they minded if we cleaned out their fire ring and swept off their parking pad. Every camper wants to start with a clean fire ring and a litter-free site.

The bathhouse/restroom situation leaves a lot to be desired. I wouldn't use them. Shower stalls only have cheap, plastic, opaque curtains. The park needs to replace those (one had mold on it) with higher quality dark curtains that you can't see shapes through!

Park has light use Monday - Thursday, but fills up on weekends. Watch for loose dogs. There isn't apparent enforcement of the dogs-must-be-on-a-leash rule. In fact, we never saw the park police officer patrolling the campground during our 8 days here. Saw many dogs off leash. Also they apparently don't enforce the no-fishing-from-dock rule. We saw several people fishing from the dock at different times and one guy was net-fishing. (as in casting a net) from the dock. Probably fishing for minnows, but still ... there is a rule and he ignored it.

We don't go to a state park to watch tv, but sometimes at night, we want to catch a show or a game. We couldn't pull in any ota channels on our powered antenna. So, missed the NCAA semis and finals. Thought we were close enough to Dallas, but we were not.

The ant problem is worse in some sites than others, so try and take a look at sites before selecting one. If you enjoy fishing and boating, you will love it here. If you are a camper, we find other state parks that have cleaner, more private sites.

I would give this park a higher overall rating if sites and fire rings were cleaned and if bathroom was in better shape.

We stayed in a water / electric site only and did not have to pay the daily fee since we have a state park pass so the price may be different. Overall I have no complaints about this park. The trails were well maintained and beautiful. The spots were far enough apart and with enough foliage that our dogs didn’t notice then neighbors. As with all state parks, the quiet hours were respected and it was a family friendly place. Staff was very friendly and effecient. The bathrooms could have used a scrub down, but the place was booked and we have a bathroom in our rig so it didn’t bother us to much. Easy drive from DFW for a weekend trip, I would definitely visit again.

My boyfriend and I stayed here because his cousin was getting married at the White Sparrow in Quinlan, which is about 30 minutes away.

Our campground was easy to back into, and it was fairly private and quiet considering a giant kids club camp out happening that weekend. The lake is beautifu!

We were very impressed by this state park.

We stayed in the White Deer Reach Loop which is all back-in spots but there's a lot more privacy between sites. Many trees.

Our site backed up to the water which was nice and was very close to the bathrooms. All sites and roads are paved which is excellent. The sites aren't the most level in the world, but they are pretty close. Some are probably dead level. We had to use one block at ours.

The bathrooms were very good. Four bathrooms in this loop. Each is a private room with toilet, sink, and shower. There are heaters in the bathrooms which was very nice since we were there in January and it was cold. My only complaint is that the showers didn't really get hot - they were luke warm at best and with the showerhead being one of those misting types, it wasn't very warm for January. Still usable, though.

There were only 3 other campers in our loop while we were there and maybe 3-4 in the other loop. So very few people there in January which we enjoyed. It was nice and quiet. I imagine in summer this place gets packed.

We saw some deer in the park and the place was just very pretty, peaceful, and quiet while we were there. Would definitely stay again in the off-season.

We stayed here for only one night. I wish it was springtime as I'm sure it is absolutely beautiful! They have a nice swimming area, and small hiking trails (that anyone could walk). We took a couple of walks and saw deer and many birds. The parking spots are numerous and varied, with some even having a dump! Our rig is long (50 +) and it was a little difficult to fit into the curved drive through. But, there are so many good spots for long rigs that you can find one. The staff is friendly and helpful! There were only a couple other campers besides us, but, it's a little chilly this time of year. We have the Texas State Parks pass, and saved!

Overall good experience. Stayed at site with Full hookups. Nightly Fees were discounted due to our state park pass. Grounds keeping could improve.

We really enjoyed our stay at Lake Tawakoni and our pup loved it even more. It is quite expansive and has everything from full hook ups to tent camping. Our site (#51) was right next to the lake and having a pull thru site made it all the more easy. The staff was friendly and the only trouble we had was getting cellular internet service and no matter how much we moved within the site we also couldn't get an signal for our TV. Regardless we had a wonderful time and would definitely recommend it, especially in the spring and summer months.

With Texas parks just now reopening we were lucky to get a spot to camp as all of our other favorites were booked up. Tawakoni state park is pretty well isolated and mainly utilized for fishing, water sports and swimming. They have a really nice boat ramp and many of the camp sites even have room to park a boat as well as trailer and vehicles. The sandy swim beach is nice and perfect for kids. I consider this a hidden gem of the Texas state parks.