We decided to go Lake Corpus Christi State Park in late November. This would be our very first “Thanksgiving Holiday” camping trip. When we lived in Wisconsin this would not have been possible. Our travel trailer would have been winterized long ago; but this is Texas. The temperatures here in November are great for camping.
The original inhabitants of this area now known as Lake Corpus Christi State Park were the Karankawa and Lipan Apache Indians. The Karankawa typically lived off the sea and typically traveled between Galveston and Corpus Christi. The Lipan Apaches dominated almost all of the western part of Texas and ranged across the state following the buffalo. They also farmed corn, beans, pumpkins and watermelon. There is a lot of information on-line about both of these native American’s cultures.
The area officially became part of Texas in 1848.
In January of 1929, construction began on the La Fruita Dam which stretched across the Neuces River. There it formed a water reservoir called Lake Lovenskiold. The La Fruita Dam fails in November of that same year. So in 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal paid to rebuild the dam as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps(the CCC).
The CCC provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands; owned by federal, state and local governments. The program is designed to put Americans back to work due to the great depression.
The new reservoir is named Lake Corpus Christi. The La Fruita Dam is replaced once again in 1958 due to silt filling the lake and reducing its storage capacity. Lake Corpus Christi is now one of the largest artificial bodies of water in Texas. It comprises over 21,000 acres of waterway. As you can see from the picture below, it is a beautiful lake.
Hannah at Lake Corus Christie State Park
Given how many roads exist in and around the campground, if you like to bike, this would be a great place to ride.
We decided to visit the park over the Thanksgiving Holiday, and see if it is a place we might want to visit over the New Years Holiday. We live in the Dallas area so it is about a five and a half hour drive for us to the Park. On the bright side, the temperatures are quite a bit warmer in Corpus Christi than Dallas in November.
Our first impression of the park is that the campground loops are not as private as the other State Parks we have visited in Texas. There are two loops for campers; One loop is full hook up and the other is only Water and Electric. The full hook up loop provides a nicer setting that the electric and water loop, but they are still quite close together.
In addition it seems like there are quite a few full timers here, but their sites are very well maintained. After walking through the electric and water camping loop we decided that there would be no way we would camp there. The travel trailers are just too close together. So given that there are no spots available over the New Years holiday (with the exception of the electric and water only loop), we wont be staying. Instead we will be watching the weather as we approach late December. If it looks like the night time temperatures will be reasonable then we will head to Tyler State Park. We like Tyler State Park, so it is a good back up plan.
if I were to sum up Lake Corpus Christi State Park with one word it would be “deer”. White tail deer are everywhere in this park. It is not uncommon to see groups of a dozen or more grazing in the park fields. In addition, they seem quite used to people so you can get very close to them. Once they decide that you have come close enough they slowly walk into the woods. In fact when Hannah and I took an early morning walk, one of the deer in a large group started to come toward us; in what I interpreted to be a territorial move. After we moved a little closer it turned and walked back to the group. Even mid-day we saw some deer just 10 feet into the woods when walking Hannah on the main road.
The Deer are everywhere at Lake Corus Christie State Park
This is not what I would refer to as a dog-friendly park. The grassland in the park is loaded with thistles. In fact, I think there are more thistles than grass. This makes it extremely difficult to walk your dogs off of the paved road. We found one spot near the entrance to our campground that was somewhat thistle free. Here the dogs could do their business without incident. Many of the walks just slightly off the road resulted in pulling thistles from my dogs paws. This resulted in pulling thistles from my fingers. I would also say that the grass in the campground is very sparse. You will track a lot of dirt back to your travel trailer.
Early morning dog walks are even worse as the dew turns the dirt into a slightly muddy mix. You wont want this in your trailer; and that you will most certainly want to get off your dogs feet before they go back inside.
It was interesting to spend Thanksgiving in a campground. The folks camping across from us had constructed a large tent room and had a large number of people celebrate the holiday with them. It was a beautiful day, near 70 degrees, but it felt warmer. The balance of our stay was in the 80’s. So, if you live in the Dallas area, like we do; you can expect that you will have at least 10 degree warmer days and nights…maybe more.
The nights were in the 40s and 50s, so the furnace ran quite a bit at night. I’m sure a propane fill is in my future. This campground is like many of the others at night…pitch black. So if your plan is to use their bathrooms or walk your dog before sunrise make sure you’ve got a flashlight.
During the day it was not uncommon to see a lot of folks fishing at the lake on the long pier. I talked to one fisherman who told me that the fishing is great there. During the day we saw many cars come through with fishing gear.
If you want to take a short 30 minute excursion from the campground; we highly recommend heading to the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. You could spend the whole day touring this WWII Aircraft Carrier from the flight deck all the way to the crews quarters. The tours are self guided and there is a café to get something to eat on board. There are movies during your tour that will give you an appreciation for the role this ship played during the war along with the men that served aboard her.
Looking down the coast from the ship, you would almost feel that you are in Clearwater Florida. Hotels and businesses dot the shores almost as far as you can see. If you have the time this would be a great place to spend some time sightseeing and dining.
USS Lexington
In conclusion, we would not hesitate to stay at this campground again. However, our feeling is that it just isn’t quite as nice as the other state campgrounds we have stayed at. If you are looking to get a break from cooler temperatures in late November it is a good choice.
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