Union Grove Park Campground

This is an Army Corp of Engineers Campground
On Lake Stillhouse Hollow
Date visited: 11/6/23-11/10/23
Nearest City or Town: Salado Texas, , Brookshire Grocery store is 11 miles away
Temple is only 20 miles north
Cell Service: Verizon 2 bar 5G, signal speed 20-280 mbps (the latter was noted once when we first arrived)
Cost: $13 (w America the Beautiful Senior Pass)Full Price $30, day passes are also available
Our Site was 12, right on the lake, this site has a significant slope toward the lake making leveling of our truck camper a bit difficult. Several surrounding sites look more level
Size of site: large pad made of asphalt with extra parking space, picnic shelter and fire pit
This site was overlocking the water but was quite always from the water with vegetation barriers to carry our tandem kayak.
Grounds Amenities: Electric sites, water at sight, several dump stations, boat ramps, fishing, Bath house w flushing toilets and large accessible and very clean showers, fires allowed (at least currently). Good aquatic bird viewing.
Parking: extra spot for additional vehicle
Noise: Very Quiet on weekdays. We unfortunately were not able to get a weekend spot so this campground can get very busy
Safety: Gate closure requiring passcode from your reservation. We did have some difficulty making it work at first. Pushing the number keys very firmly seemed to help.
Overall, really good experience here.

This is our second time here and it was wonderful again. Park is full on weekends, but most sites are spread enough that it doesn't matter. Did not experience the crowd noise on the weekends as earlier poster stated. Camp hosts and maintenance do come around. They mowed even though it didn't need it and checked the sites after people left. Many deer in the park, be careful driving in and out. Each site has a nice covered picnic table.

Con: It is windy here most days, not much to break the wind. Had gusts to 30 mph.

AT&T cell service was good, 4-5 bars of 5G. No booster needed to stream.

Price reflects National Senior Pass. We had site 28 on the lake. Site was fairly level and had water and electric. We had Verizon cell and hot spot service while here in March. The crowd here was noisy with loud music playing and large groups having parties. We never saw anyone actually work here. One couple road around once in an ORV but never picked up any of the trash that was all around nor clean sites after people checked out. I didn't use the bathrooms but looking at them, they were dirty. One party had a fire (burn ban in effect) and burned the whole field around the sites. We personally would not stay here again. Not sure why we never saw any employees or volunteers, but they are needed.

Make sure you have the gate codes sent in the reservation confirmation email. Most sites are lake-side and spaced out. Many deer in the park, be carefully driving at dawn and dusk. Mostly empty on weekdays but filled up on weekends. Power and water hookups were adequate. You can catch bass and crappie from your campsite. Overall a good experience made great by being close to a beautiful lake. 30 channels on HDTV and 4-5 bars of AT&T coverage, 12 miles from Killeen and the same from Salado, TX

Nice clean park to getaway to. Campsites are well maintained with covered picnic tables, light hooks, fire rings, and grills. I found the bathrooms in my campsite area to be in great shape with a spacious shower. The park isn't for hiking, but for lake access with boats, kayaks and shoreline fishing. A very small beach area is available for the kids to get wet. A lot of dining and shopping available within 15-20 minutes of the park in Harker Heights, Belton, and Salado.

The rate reflects the Senior price, standard nightly rate is $24. Each spacious site includes a picnic table with cover, fire ring, lantern pole, asphalt pad and in many cases an asphalt parking space separate from the camper pad. There are some pull throughs but most are back in. Most sites are right on the lake with nice views. The lake is very clear blue and clean looking. Most sites don't have shade.

At this time of year (Jan), this is a quiet park, though most sites are full. The bathroom is very clean. Two stalls and one shower. The shower is clean, large, has a bench, hooks, a place to put your shampoo and soap, drains well and has plenty of hot water. Can't ask for more.

If you stay here it's worth the 20 minute drive to Belton to go to Miller's Smokehouse which was #11 in Texas Monthly 50 Best BBQ places. Delicious!