Lake Casa Blanca State Park Campground

Had a great time on our first trip to Laredo! The park is in a very nice area with grocery, shopping, fuel close by. The 300’s loop was nicely spaced and big rig friendly. The 100’s loop does have a few full hookups, but the sites are shorter and closer together. However the 100’s are a bit closer to trails, boat ramp, and fishing pier. We saw javelina, jack rabbits, fox, road runners, and deer! The trails and park are great for a bike as it’s pretty spaced out. If coming from the north, you will need to pass the park and do a u turn, but we did it in a 42’ fifth wheel just fine. Also note this park is at the edge of a metro area, so we heard planes from the airport quite often, a train in the distance in early morning, and shots from the shooting range near by. Didn’t bother us, but some may have an issue with the noise.

We stayed here for two nights and enjoyed it. The sites are well spaced. It’s a park very close to the city of Laredo, which was bigger than we expected. Was a good place to pass through between South Padre Island and Big Bend NP. Price was 18 plus $4 per person per night. Kind of silly to have to pay for camping and the entrance fee.

Otherwise was fun and easy to explore the lake and area.

Quiet. Back of park away from main road.
There was a shooting range close by but we didn’t really notice it.

Another nice State Park in Texas!
PROs:
* In the 300 loop, the sites were well spaced from each other and had wonderful views of the lake and desert. Our site was level;
* full hook ups and lots of trash bins available;
* covered picnic table and fire ring available;
* With all the loops and boat launch areas, we had plenty of area to ride the bikes in or hike the trails;
* Staff was super helpful at check in, gave us lots of information about the park as well as Laredo.

CONs:
* Getting into this park is TRICKY, be sure to call and get directions, depending on which direction you are coming from.

Date of stay: Nov. 1-11, 2018

Access to the park entrance is tricky because you have to be traveling NB/WB to be able to pull into the park entrance due to the highway configuration. Other than that, the roads and sites are fine for rigs of all sizes.

Although we are not the pickiest when it comes to what we deem acceptable, we had been spoiled up until now with the quality of Texas State Parks. The park was less well-kept than the others. There are some hiking trails, some of which, however, were very overgrown and with the possibility of snakes, not really our cup of tea.

This park is mostly used by local fisher people, and if you're not into that, there isn't very much to do here. Swimming is permitted, and the rangers said there was no problem with the safety of the water, but it didn't look very appealing for a swim. I did get out on my kayak once, though the wind was a challenge. There is plenty of roadway in the park for a decent bike ride.

Being Texas in late fall, there were plenty of birds to see including green jays, caracara, and kiskadee. There are black witch moths, which are huge and interesting to see. We also saw deer, javelina, and a huge king snake.

We joined the ranger one evening for a guided nature walk, which was very informative, and she did a good job of generating interest in the park.

Shopping is convenient, phone and internet signals were strong, and the park's showers had plenty of hot water. We have the yearly Texas park pass to eliminate an extra per-day charge of $7 per person.

While this is not a park we would actively seek to stay at again, it was quiet, and the price was right, and it was a good place to relax and get caught up on a few things.

We camped here in March, 2015 in a 35 foot fifth wheel. Because we used our Texas State Park Pass the rate shown does not include the daily per person entry fee. We paid $70 for an annual park pass so our daily entry fee was waived at each state park where we camped.

Our site was a paved pull through with water and electric hookups, a picnic table under a covered shelter, and a fire ring. There were willows and other trees around our site and we could see the lake through the trees. There is a boat launch, fishing pier, and many picnic areas in the park. The park is located near the loop road and close to restaurants and shopping.

The rangers were very nice and helpful. I only gave the park three stars because of trash in the campground and around our campsite and because the grass around our site badly needed mowing.

We arrived on a busy Sunday afternoon and were surprised to see that picnicking was allowed in the campground. Several sites around us were filled with families enjoying an afternoon at the lake. They were quiet and caused no trouble. We have camped in many state parks in many different states and had never experienced that before.