Hen House Ridge Campground

We stayed here in January, and think this is a great place for Winter camping in Texas. There were no crowds, no bugs, and no humidity. Weather was moderate during our stay, with lows around 40 F.

This is a beautiful and well-run park. Our site was a pull-through with water and 30 amp electric; it was one of many sites that are right on the water, with a wonderful view. Our site as level, but the sites in this section were fairly close together. There were other pull-though sites that were a little more spread out (328-334).

We pulled in this spot for one night only and, unfortunately, it was after dark. There were no lights at the park entrance or in the park itself so all was done with flashlights. We missed the turn into the park off the highway and had to find a spot to turn around our 43 ft. motorhome with a toad. Missed our turn in the park and had to unhook the toad in order to get backed up and turned into the right road. We thought it was a 50 amp hookup but evidently only in selected sites (not ours).

That being said, the next day we saw it was a beautiful park and would like to go back sometime when we have time to explore. The site was a bit tight for our 63' total, but was workable.

The only reason I didn't give it a 5 was due to the lighting.

Martin Dies is a beautiful East Texas park with all new asphalt pads and approach roads. No chip-seal yet applied, so made for smoooth bike riding. Numerous hiking trails (my fav: Wildlife Trail, because of the variety of large mature specimen trees - insect repellent is required.) Don't miss the nightly star show in the dark, dark sky. We made reservations for our stay about a week in advance, by phone. There were no sites for Friday & Saturday night, no surprise, but we were happy to book Site #215 for Sunday through Thursday in the Hen House Ridge unit of the park. Staff informed me that #215 is THE most popular site in the unit. Believe it. It's on a quiet cul de sac (with 216-220) and backs up right on the water. Our business forced us to extend our stay through the week-end. We were able to grab Walk-in site #218 on Friday morning and so extend our stay on a day-by-day basis. Fortunate because on Fri/Sat the park is full. (There are a number of tent camp walk-in sites, but as far as I could determine, #218 is the only such RV site in the Hen House Ridge unit.)

My wife’s family is from a town about an hour away, and the only thing we can say is why haven’t we visited this place before! We love to kayak and this lake offers plenty of options. The park also rents canoes and kayaks. There are several boat ramps in the park, but not many motorized boats on the lake. The campsites we were in are well maintained and very spread out. Lots of room! Highly recommended! The noise off the highway carries well across the water and that is the only negative. But have certainly experienced much worse!

Stayed two weeks in mid November and enjoyed quiet week days, bike riding, hiking, kayak rental @ $15 for 3 hours, warm & comfortable weather, and the friendly people associated with the park, and I mean everyone that represented the park in any way, genuinely nice folks & nice conversations. Stayed in the Henhouse Ridge unit on the south side of SH 190 which had virtually no road noise from 190 vs the Walnut Ridge unit on the north side of 190 which had only a little. Resort like facilities with genuinely hot water kept very clean. The entire park was very clean, scenic, and a pleasure to be in. FYI, I purchased the Texas State Park Pass while here, a little late I know, but this showed a cost of $22/night before and $13/night after purchase. First camped in site 309 for one week then moved to 312 due to someone reserving 309, this is when I made the Pass purchase. Both of these sites were level for my 21' TT and the way in which the area is designed with pull-through loops were roomy. Jasper TX is a short drive for the Post Office, grocery, dining, and laundry, (the Jasper Wash Tub Laundromat gets 5 stars).

We were the only ones in the park due to the pervious Hurricane Harvey damage and certain closures in the park. We stayed here for three days. The bathrooms are very clean. The park is beautiful, I was watching the leaves fall getting ready for winter time, ahhhhh!.....With awesome sunrise shadows, and lots of birds chirping. Very peaceful being that we were the only one in the park for the whole three days. You can canoe the lake which looks like a marsh.

There is nothing not to love about this gem of a campground. The sites are large, the views are magnificent, and the kayaking is top notch. We stayed in site 108 which is located in a small cul du sac with great sunset views and easy water access. We were able to put our kayaks in right from our site and enjoyed many hours paddling through the cypress swamps and scenic canals. We also hiked and biked the trails around the campground.

Great spot, and that we hope to visit again someday.