Lake El Reno Campground

We just needed a one night stop on I-40. This one fills the bill. Very pretty city-owned campground; sits on a lake. Very reasonable price of $20 for full hookups, $15 for water/electric. Our site was gravel and fairly level. If you stay on site 44 keep to left side, as there is a decline on the right side -- not significant, but enough to affect your ability to get level. Camp host was very friendly. Be advised -- if you are traveling eastbound don't get off at exit 119 as Google and iMaps advise. Go down one exit further to 123. Otherwise you'll be traveling too many narrow streets with low hanging trees -- ask me how I know. Cell service was not fabulous, but with our booster we were just fine with Verizon.

We were en route to AZ. Stopped in for night. Sites are small but our 37' and tow fit. They do have picnic tables. Maybe they were working on them from a previous review. The interstate is visible from the campground. Not much highway noise. BUT. The open field that surrounds the park is going to be a subdivision. It;'s under construction NOW. THey've got a lot of earth moving equipment on site. They were digging culverts, drains, I'm assuming by this summer. It's going to be near completion and then the building begins. So, it's going to be a noisy site for the next year or so...nice place. Ice was on lake. It was clean.

Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful. We only spent one night while heading north to visit family. And it mostly served its purpose. But I'd definitely look for other options before staying here again.

We stayed in the West Side to get the 50A power. Campsites are very basic, including no tables, and close together. But they are pull-thrus. Neighbors reported that they'd had power issues earlier in the day. I guess we got lucky. But then I realized that there was not water atour site - of course this was after all the slides were out and the jacks down. I could tell where it had been, but someone had obviously driven over it, and the city had just capped it rather than fix it.

The good: Payment is at an iron ranger. Bathhouse was OK. Gravel drive. Sits on a nice looking lake. Park was not crowded on a Friday night (that might have been a sign).

The bad: The place is pretty dirty. Apparently dumping trash on the ground is OK in OK. There was a sign that the lake wasn't safe for swimming. Interstate noise was pretty high and there's a ton of ambient light at night. It looks like the city has leased some adjacent land to the oil companies for roughneck housing. These guys used the same road to get in that we did. And they were coming and going all night, with quite a few Brodozers making it even louder. And be aware that GPS instructions will probably not get you to the campground - both our dash and phone GPS had problems. Fortunately street signs show the way.

So yeah... we're over the place.

This is a very nice area and you can read what others have posted to get a good feel of things. Main Points I liked.

1.) Far enough away from the interstate that you don't hear it but easy access
2.) Parking spots are narrow but sites are adequate
3.) Bathrooms were ok but not great
4.) Near the water

Cell Coverage:
1.) Verizon wins with 5 Mbps up/down
2.) AT&T was ok with 5 Mbps down but 1 Mbps up
3.) T-Mobile No service

Pros: Clean; Lots of shade trees; Easy ingress and egress; Easy to find from the Highway; Paved roads in; Quiet; Good power (see note below); Good water pressure; Good biking, golfing.

Cons: Sites are not very level and a little tight; unsure why, but private vehicles came in and out of the park all night long. Only one way in, and only one way out.

Note: Power through-out the park went off without notice in the middle of the night for two hours. Damaged our batteries. Local Power Company was unaware of any power outage.

El Reno is a few miles west of Oklahoma City, and the city park at Lake El Reno offers the usual amenities - fishing, canoeing, picnicking. It also offers a pretty nice place to camp.

There are two camping loops - East is smaller of the two and has sites, including a few pull-throughs, with water, and 20/30 amp service. These sites are $15 per night

West is all pull-through full-hookups with 20/30/50 amp service. These large, level, sites are $20 per night.

All sites are first-come, first-served. Payment is by Iron Ranger and is checked daily. The park is patrolled by El Reno Police on a regular basis, and, in spite of being a half-mile from I-40, is pretty quiet.

This park was a nice surprise. We had planned on going farther west, but after a long day of driving, this popped up on our list of possible stops. We're glad we stayed here.

There is nothing special about this particular campground except that it is an excellent place to stop when traveling on the I-40 corridor through Oklahoma. About half the sites offer water/electric hookups (@ $15 night) and the other half offer full hookups for $20/night.

This city campground is fairly quiet (about one mile north of I-40,) the sites are level, easy to get into, and reasonably sized. The town has a Walmart and a laundromat near the CG so you can take care of those needs as well.

We had excellent TV reception (Oklahoma City is about 25 miles east) and excellent Verizon service which allowed us to stream HD video.