We arrived to find the staff very rude. No ice, no cable, no WI-FI. Along with our $20.00 nightly fee additional $5.00 per person per day for entrance fee. Roads under construction. Once at campsite electrical box continued to shut off. When we arrived it was 103 and inside camper 95. After running all night with fans and re setting air conditioner we went to 85 in camper. Bathrooms had no fans or soap. Toilets over flowing. Ants outside and ended up in our camper. DON'T CAMP HERE! We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Campsites very well maintained, located on Joe Pool lake. There is something for everyone. You'd need days to hike all the trails in the surrounding hills. Only downside is the city noise and how busy the park is almost year round. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Let me start with the good. Lots of trees but also open sites for those of us with rooftop satellite systems. 30 amp and water only but easily accessible dump stations. Roads are in pretty rough condition but are accessible to even the largest rigs and set ups. Our Verizon air card and cell phones worked here. It's also convenient to Dallas and Fort Worth attractions. And, the lake is beautiful with fishing and swimming as well as rental boats. The negative. We are fulltime RV'ers and have run across a lot of rules in our travels. The most frustrating is the charging of a day use fee along with a camping fee. We are of the opinion that if you are paying a camping fee it should include any additional 'day use' fee. If that means you have to raise your rates do it. Charging a secondary fee, in this case $5 per person, per day: is maddening and will probably keep us away in the future. We camped here in a Motorhome.

This is a huge park. It is within Dallas County and is very convenient to both Dallas, Arlington, Grand Prairie, and Ft. Worth. Most sites are shaded and have covered picnic tables on a slab. One of the camping loops has been re-paved and is very nice. There are some nice lake-front sites although they are very hard to get since it is first come first served. Try to get there when the office opens on an Thursday or Friday morning to get a waterfront site for the weekend. Since this is one of the busiest parks in Texas, the lines can get very long in the peak season so be prepared to wait at least 30 minutes if you get there after 5 PM on a Friday. There are several kiosks but the check-in process is very slow. The shower/restrooms facilities are plentiful in each loop and are usually well maintained/clean. Watch out for scorpions in the summer as well as chiggers. Both are abundant at this park. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Been here about 6 times prior to this, usually aim for same site -- shaded. Registration is always friendly, but time consuming. A Texas State Park membership saves daily gate admission; but camping rate is very reasonable. The bathroom/shower is my biggest and only complaint (though I wish they had full-hookups and pull-though sites). This is a State Park (how many have completely level sites or the other things on my wish list?), so there you are. Outdoor temp was in the 100+ range and the humidity not far behind. I used the shower my first night and felt like Alec Guiness in that hot box in the Bridge on the River Kwai. I suppose working in a commercial laundry runs a close second. The shower stalls were very spacious, the 'aim' and 'stream' required some adjustments. Few campgrounds have enough hooks, etc. for the toiletry bag, etc. The entire park (lake, beach, marina) is very nice and I'd certainly stay there again. It is a bit rustic...but we're supposed to be camping, after all. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We arrived on a Friday, and spent 30 minutes in line to get checked in (with reservations). However, the staff was courteous. The campground is nice, and sites are spaced well for privacy, typical for Texas State Parks. It's very green this time of year. The description says lighted fishing piers, but the one in the back wasn't lit at all. Not sure about the one near the arena. The wireless Internet is only available at the the office, so don't plan on any access from your camper. The bathrooms are very clean, and there are some nice lake views. It was convenient to Arlington, and we drove over for a Rangers game. We would stay here again. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

This park is really close to Dallas making it a quick place to go to get close to nature. Overall this is a very nice park. I enjoy a bike ride or a walk and you can do that here. A couple of the main roads are a little rough. Some spots in the area I was in you could see the lake but for the most part it seemed to be only wilderness. I'll be back again sometime. We camped here in a Motorhome.

This is a really nice park; a quick get-away close to city life but yet it seems like a lifetime away from the hustle and bustle. Wi-fi is only available in the parking lot of the main entrance, but there are wonderful bike trails, a great swimming spot on the lake and a quaint little farm. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

While we loved the park overall, there were a few things that they neglected to tell us. Like when you have a moped on the back of your motorhome you have to pay $4 even if you don't take it off. They also said that if i bought a Texas state park pass ($60)so that all of us (wife and two kids)can get in the park without having to pay the $5 entry fee every day. I found out later that they wouldn't let my wife back into the park unless i walked out to the gate and drove her in myself, seeing that I was the park pass holder. We aren't staying there anymore! too expensive! We camped here in a Motorhome.

Love this Park. Very spacious, Clean restrooms, very friendly staff, They let me know up front what the prices where. $20.00 a night, $5.00 entry fee per person. If you have a Park pass it covers your entry fee. Penn Farm is awesome, loves the trails. Make sure you check about burn ban before you wanna make a fire. Lots of wildlife. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

The official rate of $20 per night is greatly misleading. This only applies if you are a Texas State Parks Pass holder. There is lots of traffic, boom boxes and speeding vehicles. This is a Saturday and it would probably be quieter if it was a week day, however this is speculation. All the sites are back-in. The tall grass prairie is beautiful but there is not enough of it. There is plenty of local shopping which is a plus. Not sure if we would camp here again. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

This is a wonderful state park close to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We camped in site #231 in the Hog Wallow area. What a great site, we will return and request the site once again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

There is construction going on in the parking lot where you enter so you need to be careful. Big park with plenty of sites but it is a older state park and sites must be chosen carefully. Only a few sections where 26 foot trailers and on up can camp. Just pick your site carefully. The park signs are non-existent so stay on your toes when trying to find it. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Bigger park than most state parks in Texas. Very spread out and if you are in one of the outer loops it is a LONG walk to the Marina or Penn Farm. Penn Farm is an original farm homestead within the park boundaries with many remaining buildings. As a whole the park was nice and reasonably maintained. Some of the sites were unlevel and there was a high percentage (to us) of people disregarding the rules as far as speed limit, number of vehicles at a site and quiet time. I would venture a guess this park might be just a bit on the rowdy side when warm weather gets here and the boating crowd takes over. It is a GREAT ESCAPE if you are just looking for something close to the Metroplex. It is only 5 mile south of I20. We camped here in a Motorhome.

If you could get past the complete ineptness of the people who work the front gate, the place could have definite potential. Okay, first the good. The sites come in small, medium and large, lake side, lake view and woodsy. There are clean, heated bathrooms with showers in every loop area. The sites are fairly spread out in areas so it's really not to bad for tenters and RVers alike. The hiking trails are not terrible and the birdwatching is very nice. Now for the bad. It took over 45 minutes to check in (and there were at least a half dozen volunteers and rangers wandering about and only 3 customers). They won't allow you to drive through and choose a site before paying, and to pay you have to choose a site unseen. Then they tell you to just come back and switch if you find something you like better. There were only about 80 sites open to choose from (even though other closed areas had RV's all over the place) Okay, to begin with I had come out 4 days prior to our stay to drive around and find a spot. I had to go through a huge deal to get a 30 minute pass. With that said I quickly found a spot in one of the areas the lady had circled as open on the map. I confirmed with the office (after another 30 minute wait) that new years weekend we'd be back and that we shouldn't have any problem getting the site I had chosen. Upon returning 4 days later they said that area was closed for the winter. I mentioned that there were other campers there just a few days ago and she said "oh well, they probably live there". I paid for a site based on her recommendation and went to look around. We eventually found another sufficiant spot and had to go through another 45 minute ritual to get the site switched. They had to keep re printing receipts and then proceeded to write all over them (covering the number to the front office). I paid $20 per night for 2 nights plus $5 per person for 2 nights for a total of $60. At 8:00 AM the second morning I had a ranger stop to tell me that we were supposed to have checked out the day before and that I needed to get to the front office and take care of that immediately. He never looked at the sticker displayed in my windshield. I couldn't call, because I couldn't read the number on the receipt, so we had to drive up AGAIN and straighten out a mistake they had made. It's a shame that all this ineptness has to interfere with an otherwise lovely camping weekend. I would return for a short backpacking trip or some mountain biking, but I don't think I could stomach that office experience again. We camped here in a Tent.

Truly a wonderful park! Lots of trees makes it a great place for hiking and biking even in a hot Texas summer. We live in North Dallas and have stayed in this park 3 times in the last 6 months. For us, it's a great way to feel like we are out of town without having to make the drive. The biggest downside is limited lakefront access. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Fee of $24 was $18 for site and $6 for 2 persons (Texas resident). Would be $5/Person out of state. First come first serve, reserving spot at check-in was no guarantee as someone else had parked there before we could get into the slot. Would be worthwhile to make daytrip there to scope out slots you want. Lots of roads and trails for bike riding. Fishing access was limited. Fair playground on southern end of park. We ended up in the Shady Ridge area. A fair share of sites are short/double wide and weren't long enough to drop 26' TT and park truck next to it. Almost everything is on hills, but only took about 4" of blocks to level TT at ours. Good roads to it, and very convenient to Dallas and Fort Worth. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Very nice state park close to Dallas. Very nice camp sites with shade and lake access. Many fun mountian bike trails that are well maintaned. Lots to do in the park with a family. Highly recommend!!! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Park is an older park and not all sites will accommodate newer models/lengths. Sites closest to the water are the smallest. Park has a marina and restaurant, hiking/birding trails and tour of an historic farm. It is a great location if you need to be in the south part of Dallas. December, 2002 We camped here in a Motorhome.