Nothing special. Still flooded with traffic noise. Feel like camping in people's backyard with view to houses and dyke. Convenient location though
Given its Dallas metroplex location, the park staff and volunteers do an amazing job of keeping it litter - free. If you go to enjoy the peace and quiet it can be hit or miss at the campgrounds. Wish some areas were designated as "TV & music-free zones" for those of us who enjoy listening to the birds and watching the wildlife. And the party people could enjoy each others company in another part of the park.
I visited this park for birding and hiking. The park is very nice with views of Joe Pool Lake. The wild flowers were lovely. The Penn Farm area is the best for birding with the original buildings and equipment of a family farm from the 1800's. This area is very shaded with an abundance of birds and restroom and picnic tables. One warning....if you decide to hike the DORBA trail (biking and hiking) on the other side of the park, please read the signs at the trailhead and get a map from the park headquarters. I got stuck on an 8 mile trail in the Texas summer heat.
Great park close to Dallas. The lake, like every lake in Texas, is low but that doesn't stop the fun. Boating, swimming, and kayaking were in full swing. We camped on a 3 day vacation and had an excellent time. Big park with trails, both biking and hiking. Restrooms clean staff friendly - and plenty of them to handle the day campers.
My children and I have been to this park several times over several years. It's an easy getaway with shopping close enough, should you find you've forgotten something critical. This last time, the park rangers went above-and-beyond as they came to jump my car after my children, deciding it was too cold to sleep in their tents, chose to use the battery without turning over the engine for heat...Pluses: historical farm on premises to investigate; nice trails for walking; many sites close to water (morning birds); nice lakeMinuses: sloped campsites; fire ants (we had to move from our first site, as they had built their nest in the camp fire ring!)
This campground had terrible camping sights. we stayed two nights. the pavement was gone over with some rocky substance. there were not level sights. Also the chiggers were so bad, we spent the whole time we were there in the camper. Would not stay there again.
We had a great view of the lake from our site, really liked they had nice tables and ground fire pits with grill grates. Pretty roomy site for our 40' motorhome, a little tight for our Toyota Tacoma to park in front of it - but we made it. I took some really nice pictures, a great place for that. Very close to town, but yet you feel like you are away from it. Lake is really nice, great fishing lake! Can't wait to go back, hope we can get the same site!
I enjoy the bike trails, it is clean and lots of patrol around so it feels safe. The swimming beach is on the small side though so on busy days it gets crowded.
I always enjoy a visit to the CH State Park. The trees, trails and water in a comfortable setting close to home.
We stayed in the park during the weekend of Nov 1, 2014. Our party was two adults and two 9 year old children. The park staff was friendly and knowledgeable and the park rangers showed a presence a couple of times a day. There are a number of conditions with this park that may be a big problem for you (as they were for us). First, most of the sites appear to have a slope which makes tent camping difficult. Second, since this park is very close to town and a main highway it is noisy. Third, several of the other campers were carrying on until the wee hours (guess the park rangers were home in bed then). Fourth, there was virtually no place for kids to safely ride the bikes that we brought (curvy hilly roads and most of the folks that we saw were driving too fast.). If you have camped at Cleburne for example, this park is (to us) pretty inferior. Again, I want to emphasize that the staff was a positive piece of the experience but the park and some of the other campers....not so much.