Fort Parker State Park is a park I never thought I would find myself, but it brought me so much joy to experience it. With just a couple overnight stays under our belt with our new pop-up camper, we quickly realized we wanted to take a longer, multi-night, stay. With the kiddos having a 4 day weekend we made the decision last minute to book a campground. What we were not expecting was that in the entire state of Texas there were 2 state parks with availability. Cedar Hill State Park and Fort Parker State Park.  We were still nervous about the road worthiness of this new camper so we chose the site which was about an hour closer to Austin.  

Camping Atmosphere at Fort Parker State Park

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The lake is deceiving in a lot of ways and the more you learn about it the more it seems like a simulation. First of all, the state park owns the entirety of the lake and the property surrounding it. As one of the first state parks in Texas and built by the Civilian Conservation Core (CCC) it is more or less a manufactured experience as was typical during that time. Planted along the Navasota River and sharing the property of an old townsite known as Springfield the CCC was gifted the land by the county and neighboring cities who somehow had rights to the property. In the 1930s the CCC began damming the river and formed what is known as Fort Parker State Park Lake.  It’s a very sizable lake at over 700 acres and provides the opportunity for activities such as swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding. However, as flood events have impacted the lake, the silt and dirt have flown down the river and have filled the lake which has resulted in a very shallow lake. In fact, the lake is recorded as being only 6 feet deep at its maximum. And people take advantage of that with the ability to walk over 100 yards out into the Lake and still can remain standing.

Overnight Facilities at Fort Parker State Park

The camping and day-use part of the park was more or less confined to a long cul-de-sac with a couple of spurs shooting off for various access points. One of those spurs featured tent sites and day-use cabins and another adjacent spur featured the RV sites with an older bath house in the middle.  Fort Parker seems to be one of the few state parks receiving renovation investment at this point from the legislature.  While the facilities are old they don’t feel run down like other parks such as Cedar Hill State Park.

The tent camping and day-use cabins on the first spur had a great view of the impounded Navasota River and were probably 20 feet higher than the RV camping spur closer to the lake. It would be a great place to have a picnic and watch the sunset across the far side of the lake while also providing easy access to the bathhouse and day-use facilities.

Our campsite was site number 001. Yes. The very first campsite on a one-way in, one-way out RV spur. However, it wasn’t bad. People were respectful, they drove slowly, and waved as they passed by. It was one more aspect of the nostalgia I mentioned earlier that brought me so much joy.  Features a varying array of sites, from double wide, to pull through and extra long sites there was a wide variety of options available for RVs on the spur.  However, buyers be warned, these sites are NOT level. I know this will bother some with longer campers and I definitely saw some campers with hitches 5 feet or more in the air after they were leveled.  This mainly happened on the side of the loop away from the lake as the sites go uphill. All of the RV sites featured 30 amp and 15 amp plugs with water hookups, but no sewer or 50 amp connections were available. And this makes sense with the limited site size and age of the facilities.

Fort Parker State Park does have Cabins and Group Facilities in another section of the park and while we briefly walked past them on a hike, we didn’t pay much attention to them.

Overall Impressions of Fort Parker State Park

I went into this park with low expectations, but I was quickly impacted by the serene environment and a walk back into simpler times that helped defined camping culture in America. There are definitely conveniences I wished I had at the park, but I can’t wait to plan a return visit, and perhaps we’ll be able to get one of the lakeside sites next time!