Paul Winter - SETX Camping

Best Camping Gear for Texas — The Complete Guide for SETX Campers

The best camping gear for Texas is not the same as the best camping gear for Colorado, Maine, or the Pacific Northwest. Every major outdoor gear publication writes their reviews for a median climate that doesn’t exist in Southeast Texas — a world where cold nights are the primary…

Camping at Brazos Bend State Park — The Complete Visitor’s Guide

Camping at Brazos Bend State Park puts you 45 miles southwest of Houston in one of the most genuinely wild settings anywhere in the Texas Gulf Coast region. Wildlife biologists estimate between 250 and 350 adult alligators live in the park’s 1,000-plus acres of water. Over 300 bird species…

Campfire Recipes for Families — Easy Meals Kids Will Actually Eat

Campfire recipes for families have one rule that nobody in the outdoor cooking world says out loud: the food has to be something your kids will actually eat at the end of a long day outside when everyone is tired, a little sunburned, and ready for bed. Fancy doesn't…

The Southeast Texas Campfire Cookbook Is Here — 40 Recipes for Gulf Coast Camping Families

For a long time I'd get messages from readers asking if I had a recipe book, and I kept saying not yet. Now it exists. The Southeast Texas Campfire Cookbook is 40 genuinely easy meals, snacks, and breakfasts written specifically for camping in Southeast Texas — in our heat,…

How to Feed Your Family Camping for Under $50

Feeding your family camping for under $50 is not only possible — it's how most SETX families camp when they're being honest about it. The image of elaborate camp cooking with expensive freeze-dried meals and specialty outdoor cookware is a gear industry fantasy. Real family camping food is cheap…

Free Beach Camping at Bolivar Peninsula — Everything You Need to Know

Twenty-seven miles of Gulf Coast beach where you can drive your vehicle right onto the sand, set up camp wherever you want, and wake up to the sound of the Gulf. No reservation. No campsite number. For most of the year, just a $10 annual parking sticker. Bolivar Peninsula…

How to Camp on a Budget in Texas — The Complete Guide

I didn't grow up with expensive gear. My first tent was a hand-me-down Coleman that smelled like mildew by the second night. My sleeping bag came from Walmart. My camp stove was a single-burner propane setup that cost less than a sit-down meal at a restaurant. And I had…

Sam Rayburn Reservoir Camping Guide — Every Campground, Fishing Tips & What to Know

Sam Rayburn Reservoir doesn't get the attention it deserves outside of the fishing world. At 114,000 acres it's the largest man-made lake located entirely within Texas — bigger than Lake Fork, bigger than Richland-Chambers, bigger than anything in the state that doesn't cross a border. It sits in the…

Best Camping Coolers for Texas Heat — Keep Food Cold in 100° Weather

A $30 cooler is a fine idea until the first afternoon of a Texas summer camping trip. By noon it's a warm soup container. By the second morning your food is flirting with temperatures that will make you miserable for three days. I've made that mistake. Most Southeast Texas…

Camping at Village Creek State Park — The Complete Visitor’s Guide

Camping at Village Creek is one of my favorite places in all of Southeast Texas — and I don't say that lightly. I've been coming out here since I was a kid, and it never gets old. Ten miles north of Beaumont, tucked into the Piney Woods just off…