Spring 2018 Central Texas Rally

[lonestarcamper]

Hey Puppers!
As designated "Wagonmaster" for this one, I need some park suggestions and comments.
Inks Lake SP and Palmetto SP mentioned so far. Others welcomed before we put it to a concensus. Timing of Spring Rally also up for discussion; after Spring Break to before Memorial Day.
I will be researching park and weather data while you all are pondering. Hoping this rally is more central and convenient to most who want to come.
Lonestarcamper (Robin Dearing)

 

[Sneezer]

Other than a few ACOE parks near Austin I am only familiar with state parks. I used to enjoy going to Buescher over by Bastrop back when I tent camped in college.

Rusk has the state railroad park. It is a former state park so the facilities are decent. Inks is always good.

 

[adrianpglover]

We've only been to Inks once - second weekend of January last year. Didn't go out into the camp much as it was still cold and we were just using it as a sort of hotel while we needed to be in the area.

We absolutely love Palmetto SP. We tend to go there every year towards the end of February. If memory serves, there are some 19 RV sites in a single loop, all back in and each has a good amount of space to itself. The center of the loop would be great for a rally. One of the sites is the camp host, another is labeled as "handicap accessible". These are the only two with sewer access. This is an old CCC park with a group hall, a lot of trails, an artesian well, and a river cutting through the park. On the other side of the river, accessed the long way by road or the short way by foot/bike over the low water bridge, is a small lake with rentals (either paddle boats, canoes, or both - can't remember), and the main office. Also, if you're a bit of a Texas history buff you can go in to Gonzales and see the Come and Take It cannon (or at least what they think may be the original cannon).

I know there are a lot of other great parks around the state, just haven't been to more than a dozen or so yet.

 

[Txbum]

Looking forward to the next rally. Hope to see you all there again. Txbum

 

[lonestarcamper]

At this time Palmetto is closed due to Harvey/. I would expect it to recover shortly. Inks has 160 sites so that's impressive but also popular. I'll talk on the phone with TPWD about how to switch a reservation made prior to Jan over to site specific when that opens up at the first of the year. I'll put what I find out on this thread.

 

[adrianpglover]

I'm not surprised about Palmetto. They have signs when entering the campground stating that they are on a part of the river upstream of any flood management so the park my flood.

I ran across this link yesterday which shows the current status of all the state parks with a little note and contact information for each of them.

 

[lonestarcamper]

Thanks Adrian! I have reservation ar Martin Dies SP next month. I hope it reopens the closed areas.

 

[Merlin14]

Stacy and I are watching.

Sam Houston NF website says Double Lake Rec Area has now opened.
Cagle Rec area and Stubbefield are still temporarily closed.

I did not see any FCFS sites and websites says reservations are required.
Still lots of ongoing repair work I suppose.

 

[shfd739]

If it's within 3 hours of San Antonio we're interested and with this much lead time can arrange our vacation requests. Only thing that may interfere for us is an Easter weekend family gathering in east Texas.

 

[lonestarcamper]

If it's within 3 hours of San Antonio we're interested and with this much lead time can arrange our vacation requests. Only thing that may interfere for us is an Easter weekend family gathering in east Texas.

Definitely will not be Easter or on a holiday. Palmetto SP or Inks Laje SP are the front runners. It's looking like Inks because it's bigger and Palmetto is closed for who knows how long. I prefer to wait for warmer weather in May and to have that much lead time for reservations. Let me know what y'all think.
Robin

 

[shfd739]

Palmetto is a fave of ours and just down the road. Never been to Inks Lake but we're up for trying a new place and it's closer than I realized. If this falls on a weekend off then we're in for sure. If it's a work weekend it will be a maybe depending on how much time off I use for the Easter thing if we go.

 

[lonestarcamper]

Ok Puppers, I had a reservation at Martin Dies SP in Oct. But they just put out an alert that they have no dump station in service and no sewer sites! So....
Change of plans. Called and reserved Inks Lake SP for 4 days Oct 16-20.
Still taking kayaks! Since I've never been and it's under consideration for the Spring Rally, this will be very beneficial for our information! I'll keep you posted with pics and info.

 

[Txbum]

Robin, contact SouthTexascamper, George has been to Inks lake in the past few years for family re-unions. He may be able to give some advice.

 

[lonestarcamper]

I could not find his info on the portal. I will be going up on a Monday midday, so I will probably have my pick of sites. Luckily, you can view them on website. While I'm there, I'll scout out the whole park. The site-specific reservations will not be available until Dec. of 2018. Therefore, a decision on the rally park will need to be made soon as the sites for end of May 2018 are booking fast.
The park is very central to Texas, and I'm thinking the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. School is not out yet, but still warm for water stuff.
I'm leaning towards this park. So much in the area too. What do you think?

 

[shfd739]

Weekend of May 18? If so we're like 90% in and I'm off that weekend

 

[lonestarcamper]

That's the weekend I was thinking of. Great that it works for ya'll. I'm good for that too. How about more comments?

 

[Sneezer]

At present I appear to be free that weekend.

Inks is a good park. Is anyone familiar with the ACOE parks on Belton Lake or Waco? I seem to recall that you could reserve individual sites with ACOE which might make planning a little easier. Being in May it might be a little difficult to get enough sites all together would be my concern.

 

[shfd739]

We did one a couple years ago at the ACOE park on Lake Whitney and the ACOE park on Lake Granger near Taylor. Seemed to work out well. Downside to anything north of Temple for some of us is the I35 road work.

 

[lonestarcamper]

I do remember those rallies. I'll know more when I get up that way in a couple of weeks.

 

[T-minusRetire]

The weekend of May 18 is a great weekend for us!