Who knew the third weekend in October was the second most popular camping weekend at Cedar Hill State park. Not M and I, that's for sure. We showed up Friday night about 8:30pm ready for a nice weekend of camping to find that since we didn't have a reservation we weren't likely to get in. The park ranger gave us the opportunity to wait until 10pm to see if any of the reservations went unclaimed, but that didn't sound like much fun. The line waiting to get a spot was out the door.
M suggested Loyd Park located on the opposite side of Joe Pool Lake. We'd never been there, but thought it was worth a shot so I let my fingers do the walking and we found out they has two spots left. Nothing was easy that night. There were two wrecks on I-20 and traffic was backed up for miles. Time was critical at this point. We remembered the back roads and wound our way around the dam to Loyd park gate. There were still two spots available when we pulled up.
This is my comparison of Cedar Hill SP and Loyd Park
We didn't even have to get out of the car to register for our spot at LP. Not even to give them our tag number. With two dogs, not having to get out of the car is a plus. The park employees assigned us to the shadest of the two remaining spots.
I'm not certain, but it may go faster because in most cases campers at LP have a reservation and they already know which spot is their's. CHSP is first come, first served. The reason I like the option to have a reservation is the reason I hate it. You can make a reservation at LP up to a year in advance, therefore all the goods spots go quickly.
But the good spots are really good. LP has a number of spots on the water. The waters edge is easy to reach and grassy. Very picturesque. It would be worth trying to find an open weekend for one of those spots. Our experience with the water edge spots at CHSP has been very natural. Which means high grass, stick tights and spiders.
The roads within the campsites at Loyd Park are narrow and one-way. We might have wanted to pull in head first because it was late and dark, like we've done at the SP, but we couldn't, we had to back the trailer in in the dark. That made for a cranky husband. Especially after someone pulled up behind us on the road and they can't pass or turn around and go back. That makes for a lot of pressure when you are backing the trailer in the dark.
Every spot in LP has a cover picnic table and the cover is nicely designed. LP picnic tables are wooded. CHSP picnic tables are metal. I guess metal is a bigger issue in extreme temps, but they don't warp.
I think the bathrooms are generally about the same for cleanliness, but I DID NOT get to choose the water temperature for my shower at LP. I took a tepid, at best, shower on Saturday. It was OK because I took a shower in the afternoon, but had I done when it was cooler, I would have been miserable. There was also no bench anywhere in the LP bathroom. No place to put your stuff, except on a hook in the shower stall. The LP showers have locking doors, the SP has a shower curtain. I later found a "heated bathroom," but I don't know if there was more hot water. I will check it out next time. As far as I know, every bathroom at CHSP is heated and has hot water.
In general I found the sites at LP less private. I found a couple that I would really like, but most were very communal. Not bad if you know your neighbors, but we didn't. Admittedly it's a great way to meet people. I prefer a little privacy though. Granted on a busy weekend at CHSP the chance of getting a private diminishes. Especially since you can't reserve a specific spot.
A plus for LP is trash pick-up. Park personnel make frequent rounds and they pick up the trash at your site. No more hauling it to the stinky dumpster.
Speaking of dumping, the dump site, at least this weekend, at LP was yucky. I don't know that it's a park issue, but I seemed like someone missed the hole. I reserve judgement in this area.
Cost wise, it's my perception that LP is more expensive. SP pass is $75 for both M and I and its good for one year from the date of purchase. And it's good at every SP in TX. And it's for me, not my car. The LP pass is $100 from March to September and $50 if you buy in October and it's good until March. It's only good for the truck, not the person, so unless we are in that specific vehicle, it's no good to us.
If you fish, you have to have a license at LP. No license is required in the SPs.
Overall, we will go back to both. It may be difficult to choose which one. I think if we can get a reservation for the specific spot we want, we might go to LP. Otherwise, we might check in at CHSP early Friday morning to get our pick of locations.
CHSP boasts 300 campsites many with 50 amp hook-ups. LP has 221 sites with 30 amp hook-ups.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Family Campout - Joe Pool Lake 15, 66, 68
And when I say family, I mean family, like the whole clan. I think at one point we had 32 people. One family left in the middle of the night because of a sick kid, but on Saturday night, we were maxing out the three spots.
These 3 spots are in the area where M and I have camped before. Just down the row from 73. We had hoped to have 64, 66, 68, but 64 was taken. Then we hoped for 19, 17, 15, but 19 was taken. Somehow we ended up with 15, 66, 68. They were perfect. 15 is close to the restrooms and we cut through the "woods" to get from our spots to 15 and then walked down the road to the restrooms. Super easy.
We were also close to the overflow parking and we used it.
The other great thing about the location were the trails in the woods.The kids ran those trails playing games all day Saturday and Sunday. They made weapons out of sticks and ran and ran and ran. It reminded me so much of when we were kids.
M went out on Thursday and got things set up. M strung colored Christmas lights around site 68. Belinda decorated 66. You could spot our fairy tale camp from the road. It was amazing.
Feeding 32 people was a challenge on a grill. By Sunday morning they figured it out. At one point they had the grill going, one propane burner, one electric skillet and an electric burner. We ate like kings.
The weather was amazing. Cool at night and in the morning for coffee, warm in the afternoon and cool for the campfire when the sun went down. We could not have picked a better weekend.
When we packed and said good-bye, everyone was already talking about next year's campout. I truly hope we make this a family tradition.
These 3 spots are in the area where M and I have camped before. Just down the row from 73. We had hoped to have 64, 66, 68, but 64 was taken. Then we hoped for 19, 17, 15, but 19 was taken. Somehow we ended up with 15, 66, 68. They were perfect. 15 is close to the restrooms and we cut through the "woods" to get from our spots to 15 and then walked down the road to the restrooms. Super easy.
We were also close to the overflow parking and we used it.
The other great thing about the location were the trails in the woods.The kids ran those trails playing games all day Saturday and Sunday. They made weapons out of sticks and ran and ran and ran. It reminded me so much of when we were kids.
M went out on Thursday and got things set up. M strung colored Christmas lights around site 68. Belinda decorated 66. You could spot our fairy tale camp from the road. It was amazing.
Feeding 32 people was a challenge on a grill. By Sunday morning they figured it out. At one point they had the grill going, one propane burner, one electric skillet and an electric burner. We ate like kings.
The weather was amazing. Cool at night and in the morning for coffee, warm in the afternoon and cool for the campfire when the sun went down. We could not have picked a better weekend.
When we packed and said good-bye, everyone was already talking about next year's campout. I truly hope we make this a family tradition.
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