Boca Chica Beach Dispersed Camping

We arrived 12/21/22 hoping to stay through to the New Year, but with the tide at its year high point, there was too little room to park the trailer perpendicular to the ocean. Also, a storm had washed up a whole bunch of trash along the dunes. I walked alone the dunes for about a mile (no trailer), and I didn't see enough room to turn-around without getting into soft sand, so we decided not to stay after all. Also, while walking I was bit in a bunch of places by sand fleas, so walked back close to the water to avoid them. I did not look for cellular service levels. Any other time things may have been fine, but not at this time. We headed to Padre Island National Seashore (south shore) after staying at the Walmart in Brownsville.

Free beach camping in Texas doesn’t get much better than the free camping available on Boca Chica Beach in south Texas. Boca Chica Beach is cooperatively administered by Cameron County in Texas and provides free beach camping with no amenities directly on the Gulf of Mexico. A video is uploaded here on Campendium for your immediate reference. No ATVs or Off-Road Vehicles (ORV) are allowed on the beaches or dunes. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 1.83 Mbps download speed and 0.30 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 53.3 Mbps download speed and 19.5 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 9.47 Mbps download speed and 0.11 Mbps upload speed.

The beach is fantastic, and the proximity to the starship launch facility truly exciting. As remarked by others, there are parts with much more trash than on other beaches. Park your vehicle high enough, way away from the water! We had a windstorm one night and our awning of the RV got ripped to shreds, the metal arms bent and blown onto the roof! Worse though was the tide - it came in one day unexpectedly high, without any warning of the local tide watch website. We had to flee and literally drove through the waves... the photo is just a few minutes before all wheels went under water. Boards under the wheels saved us! Otherwise we would never have made it out. So we just made it back, but it was a close call!

Just had to see the southern tip of Texas for myself, and this spot is overdue for a review.
Not sure if this is typical or not, but I arrived to find the water practically lapping at the end of the road, so that's where I stopped and camped. A Border Patrol truck came by while I was setting up, but left without comment so I guess that's okay. Some trucks drove onto the beach to fish during the day but I wouldn't risk hauling my trailer out there. I was nervous enough trying to get turned back around.

There was strong wind down from the North. I was the only camper. One group came in at sunset, built a fire and hung out til around 9 or 10 but otherwise, no action at night. Plenty of daytime traffic. Mostly people jumping out, taking selfies and leaving.

I hiked 2-3 miles from where the road ends to take a look at Mexico. I encountered nobody on the walk there. As has been commented, the Rio Grande border is basically a stream. There was one guy standing outside his truck on the Mexican side. I waved. He didn't. There was also somebody who looked like they were collecting trash on the Texas side. They both looked a little curious at seeing me, but I never felt in any danger. There is some trash on the beach washed up from the shore, but nothing unusual for a public beach. The previous horrified reviewer may not get out much.

Verizon cell service was flaky. About a half mile from Mexico, it's gone.

FYI we were really looking forward to camping here, but in the end we didn't stay. First off, there is more trash washed up on this beach than we've ever seen anywhere. It's really most unfortunate, but I suspect that much of it washes down the adjacent Rio Grande River, for none of the other beaches we've seen in this area of South Texas seem to have that much rubbish.

The other big concern that arose was for our personal safety. At the southern end of Boca Chica Beach, the only thing that separates it from the Matamoros, Mexico side is about 50 feet of waist deep, placid water. Walking across the border here would be a trivial exercise. See the photo that we're attaching to this review, and then check out this article from 8/2019 in USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/08/27/playa-bagdad-us-mexico-border-town-occupied-drugs-crime-cartel/2131161001/ If the article is to be believed, the drug cartels maintain complete control of this exact corner of beach adjacent to Boca Chica Beach, and at the time I took the photo I was wholly ignorant of just how dangerous taking that photo was.

Boca Chica Beach would be an absolutely spectacular place to boondock, were it not for the prodigious trash and the drug running immediately adjacent to it. It's a shame, but it wasn't for us, and we moved to Isla Blanca County Park on South Padre Island instead.

We have stayed here twice during our annual winter trips to south Texas and camped on the beach for 7 days both times. There are NO services and no dump station in this state park and shopping is 25 minutes away, so pack everything you will need for your stay. On both of our stays we were virtually the only ones camping on the beach. The few people that drove the beach there to either fish, site see or picnic. The beach was well patrolled by US Boarder Patrol and so we felt safe the entire time, even when we were the only ones camping. This is one of our favourite spots in south Texas to free beach camp.