Guadalupe River State Park Campground

We enjoyed our stay at Guadalupe River SP, so much so that we extended for an extra day. We would have preferred to stay in the 30amp section of the campground, but the reservation system says there is a 20' limit. Our 21' Class B van would likely have been fine in any of the spaces, but we followed the rules and stayed in the 50amp section. Site 49 was large and level, in easy walking distance to the very nice (and very clean) bathrooms. We really liked that the showers were separate and private. They had great pressure and hot water. The 50amp electric posts had 30amp outlet as well as 50.

My best memory here will be seeing my first armadillo, right in front of our campsite! Nights were very quiet. We did get weak (1 and 2 bar) signals for both AT&T and TMobile without a booster.

This was a decent location for both Lyndon Johnson National Historical Park and San Antonio Missions Historical Site.

Verizon speeds of 15 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. T-Mobile speeds of 25/15. AT&T was 18/2. Verizon and T-Mobile speeds taken with a roof mounted Pepwave antenna. AT&T via phone. Starlink is viable depending on the site since tree cover is moderate.

No issues with the access road getting into the park. There are some annoying speed bumps at regular intervals. They lock the park gate at 10pm but provide the code on checkin.

Our site was fairly large with privacy shrubs between us and the neighbors. It was reasonably level and in decent shape. No issues with the water or power hookups. There was no significant road noise though there were fighter jets a couple times a day.

Dumpsters are available in the loop and the bathroom/bathhouse is new and very nice. The river is accessible from the loop with a 15 minute or so walk.

It didn't appear that firewood was available for sale in the park as far as we could tell.

Stayed in space 77 Turkey Sink Campground - directions are a bit lacking since inside loop spaces need to be accessed clockwise, and outside loop spaces from a counter clockwise direction. Saw several new RV'ers try to back into space while traveling the wrong direction. Smaller spaces but lots of vegetation and lots of privacy between spaces. Our space had a small side yard that seemed to be our very own. We enjoyed how quiet and dark this park is while so close to shopping in San Antonio. Trees were small live oaks, Texas persimmon and Juniper Trees (we call "Red Cedar" in the south). Park land area is huge with lots of trails along the Guadalupe River and in upland areas adjacent to the campground, also numerous longer trails accessed by trailhead parking lots elsewhere in the park. Turkey Sink sits on a bluff overlooking the river, and there are numerous trails down the slope to a lower historic flood plain and tent camping area adjacent to the river. We noticed what seemed to be non-campers driving the campground road, and some of the traffic was driving pretty fast - watch your kids that may want to play in the road. Overall great campground we will come back often.

I wished that Idaho would use Texas as a model for how to manage State Parks. Idaho views their State Parks as just another hand out for money, and so they don't want to spend much on them. In fact, Idaho doesn't want to spend much money period! Whereas, Texas, see's their State Parks as opportunities for both locals and visitors to get out and enjoy camping experiences. While they are draws for tourism, most of the vehicle plates that I observed at this park were Texas plates...meaning the locals use their parks! Texas clearly views the monies they spend on their parks more as an investment, rather than just another expense. Guadalupe River State Park is a prime example of money well spent. My only complaint is the lack of recycling. Ok, off my soapbox.

This is a great park! It has river access for swimming, canoeing and kayaking as well as many miles of hiking trails. There are no sewage hookups, but other than that, this is a park that I could easily spend a week in if I had the time.

The HQ building is well staffed with friendly folks that really want to help you. They also have a gift shop in HQ that carries all sorts of park stuff.

Our site was level and quiet with a lot of privacy for such a short pad length. I will say that people drive too fast through the camping loop, and the weekends can be a little noisy, depending on if your neighbor wants to play their music too loud. It only takes one!

Site #008 was perfect for my first trip in my new-to-me pop up camper. The sites throughout Cedar Sage are all quite small in terms of what camper you can fit there. The limit is 20ft. Late that night, a rig well over 20ft pulled in and attempted to park across from us on Site 009. They had a very hard time getting parked and set up. Overall the campground is nice and quiet. Great Verizon cell signal. It’s very spread out from over campers and plenty of tree cover. The river is amazing, but you will have to drive down from this campsite. The bathrooms and showers were extremely clean and even air conditioned.