Camping Blog - SETX Camping

Family pulling a crab trap full of blue crabs from a dock at Bolivar Peninsula on the Texas Gulf Coast

Crabbing at Bolivar Peninsula — How to Catch Blue Crabs in Texas

Crabbing at Bolivar Peninsula is one of those activities that shows up on every family camping trip out here eventually — usually because someone walks down to the North Jetty, watches another family pulling crabs off the rocks with a chicken neck on a string, and decides they need…

Campsite on the shore of Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Angelina National Forest in East Texas

Angelina National Forest Camping Guide — East Texas Complete Guide

Angelina National Forest camping covers 153,000 acres of East Texas Piney Woods wrapped around Sam Rayburn Reservoir — the same Sam Rayburn that holds more bass fishing tournaments than almost any other lake in the country. The forest itself is a mix of longleaf, loblolly, and shortleaf pine with…

Solo hiker on a pine forest trail at Huntsville State Park in the Sam Houston National Forest

Camping at Huntsville State Park — The Complete Guide

Camping at Huntsville State Park puts you in 2,083 acres of East Texas Pineywoods wrapped around a 210-acre lake, an hour north of Houston off I-45. It’s the closest true forest camping experience to the Houston metro — and it’s been drawing people out of the city since 1956,…

Kayaker paddling through marsh channels at Sea Rim State Park at sunrise on the Texas Gulf Coast

Sea Rim State Park — The Complete Guide

Camping at Sea Rim State Park puts you where the Gulf of Mexico meets 4,000 acres of coastal marsh at the far southeastern edge of Texas — 22 miles south of Port Arthur on TX-87, right on the edge of Sabine Pass. The park protects 5.2 miles of Gulf…

B.A. Steinhagen Lake at sunrise surrounded by cypress trees in East Texas

B.A. Steinhagen Lake — Complete Camping, Fishing & Recreation Guide

B.A. Steinhagen Lake sits between Jasper and Woodville on US 190, eight miles long and four miles wide, formed where the Neches and Angelina Rivers converge before flowing south toward the Gulf. Most people drive across it on US 190 without stopping. I've been coming here since I was…

Campsite at Galveston Island State Park with marsh views and Gulf Coast wildlife at golden hour

Camping at Galveston Island State Park — The Complete Guide

Camping at Galveston Island State Park means the Gulf of America on one side and Galveston Bay on the other — 2,000 acres of the last undeveloped land on Galveston Island, stretched across five distinct coastal ecosystems from Gulf beach and sand dunes to salt marsh, coastal prairie, lagoon,…

Campsite at Magnolia Ridge on B.A. Steinhagen Lake in East Texas Piney Woods

Camping at Magnolia Ridge — B.A. Steinhagen Lake Complete Guide

Camping at Magnolia Ridge puts you on the northwest shore of B.A. Steinhagen Lake, 12 miles east of Woodville, deep in the East Texas Piney Woods. It’s smaller than Sandy Creek across the lake — 41 sites against Sandy Creek’s 78 — but the tree cover is better, the…

Family camping and fishing at Sandy Creek Park on B.A. Steinhagen Lake in Southeast Texas

Camping at Sandy Creek Park — B.A. Steinhagen Lake Guide

Sandy Creek Park sits on the southeast shore of B.A. Steinhagen Lake about 12 miles west of Jasper — and camping here means camping at one of the most spacious, wildlife-rich Corps of Engineers campgrounds in Southeast Texas. At 78 sites spread across several loops with up to 100…

Family campsite on the Gulf Coast Texas beach at sunset with campfire and fishing rod

Gulf Coast Texas Camping — Complete Guide to Beach Camping Near SETX

Gulf Coast Texas camping covers everything from 27 miles of free drive-on beach at Bolivar Peninsula to a Texas state park perched on the edge of 4,000 acres of coastal marsh at Sea Rim, to a recently renovated beachside campground on Galveston Island where concrete pads face the Gulf…

Hiker on a boardwalk trail through Big Thicket National Preserve in Southeast Texas

Big Thicket National Preserve Camping — Backcountry Guide and Nearby Parks

Big Thicket National Preserve camping is unlike anywhere else in Southeast Texas — because there are no campgrounds. Not one developed site, not one hookup, not one reservation system. What Big Thicket has instead is 113,000 acres of the most biologically diverse landscape in North America, a free backcountry…