Traveling with the Longdogs: 2025-8-13 Garner State Park TX

Garner is the most popular of all of the Texas State Parks. RV sites are snapped up quickly almost all year round. Day passes are also very popular. We decided on taking a chance to get in since it was Thursday. It was also the first week that Texas kids go back to school.

You can tell how busy it is on weekends especially when you see that they have three rows of sites to park your RV in while you head inside the building to check in. You would think that we were still back in the scary covid days because they only let one or two people from a single site into the room with rangers for check-in at a time.

They are doing construction on the main road leading in from the ranger station. They have a manned stop light just into the area past the ranger station. You sit there until it turns green before proceeding on. There is one at the other end of the construction area too. It does a pretty good job of keeping the traffic in check while they are doing the work on the road. Once you make it down the road into the area where the store and dance pavilion are located, you can see the sweet shop with the miniature golf area behind it.

Lots of things going on in the park so lots of signs telling you where things are located.

The Civilian Conservation Corps did many amazing things around the country back in the 1930s and we are still benefiting from those projects today.

Summer dances have been held on the huge patio area of the dance pavilion since the 1940s. Generations of families have been coming for the Juke box dance since it opened and the parking lots and gates close as early as 8:30pm

There is lots to do at Garner at any time. The river flows through it. In addition to RV and tent sites in several different areas, they also have both screened shelters and cabins.