Lavonia Park Campground

We were coming to visit relatives and wanted a safe, quiet, affordable place to stay.

-We have a 10X14 tent and camped in the tent site section of the campground. The ground was sloped so we set up our tent in an area we believed no rain would gather since there was a chance of thunderstorms. It did storm and our site did not hold any standing water. Tent sites are all non electric.
- Fires: The site has both a grill and fire ring provided. The picnic table is concrete and is covered. We were able to find good wood just outside of the campground on Highway 78. The campground does not sell or provide any firewood.
- View: The view is great! The lake is easy to look at and watching the sunset over it was amazing. There is a path down to the waters edge. We did not go down to the waters edge.
- Bathroom/Shower: The bathroom is very old and smelly. One end is the showers and the other end the bathrooms. We never did get the shower to run hot water which was disappointing and irritating. One toilet did not have toilet paper for 3 days while we were there. Lighting is very poor inside the restroom areas. Overall it needs a good cleaning.
-Noise: The first night we were there every site in the campground section was filled. We got back to our site around 8:30PM and the people next to us had placed their tent in our tent site. They were walking through our site all night with flashlights. This was a Saturday night. They were sooooo loud. There were not any campground hosts or rangers that were monitoring so it went on until 3-4AM when the storms came through and everyone packed up and left. It was quiet Sunday - Thursday nights after that. Only 2 tent sites were used at that time.
-Fishing: I was hoping to fish but that was not possible from this location. They did have a dock but it was closed for some reason.
-Cleanliness: The trash dumpsters were full most of the time we were there. When the trash man came he only took the trash inside the dumpster and left everything tossed all around. The campground rangers picked up most of the rest a few days later but still left trash bags laying there. There was trash strewn all around the campsites. We found a saw blade, a vile of something or other, clothes strewn about and other trash around. They did have someone cleaning the sites but most was left behind. Dirtiest campground I have ever been to.
-Overall: We will be back since it's $15 a night but we will stay at sites #1 or #3 and not take showers at the campground. We also will only stay Sunday - Thursday nights since it seems to be a party place over the weekends. We visit family so will take showers at their house because of cleanliness.

We stayed here one night shortly after the Texas freeze of 2021 in order to make sure that we had no problems with anything in the RV from the freeze. This could be a really nice park, but there appears to have been very little maintenance done to this park in years. We were in site #7 and the entire site sloped down hill and was a really challenge to get even close to level. Just looking around there were several sites that appeared to be a little better than the one we had, but we didn't really investigate them. One thing about this park is the spaces are far apart and there is plenty of room. There were large ditches on each side of the drive so you needed to take care in backing in. If you don't have a America the Beautiful Pass where you can get a 50% discount, be prepared to pay $30.00 a night which seem to be high for the amount of disrepair of this place. Grill was unusable and there is a table next to it that was nearly rotted completely away. We camped at Lavonia in a Travel Trailer.

We recently stayed here to visit with friends in the area as we have stayed here in the past about 2 years ago. The rate is reasonable at 1/2 off the mentioned cost with our Senior Pass making the stay $15/night. I believe I am correct in saying there are no level sites. All of the sites seem to be on either an incline or a decline making the front to back leveling strenuous. The gate is locked at night until 10am. Therefore, if one needs to leave for an emergency of any kind there is no access to return until that time. This is very unusual for an Army Corps of Engineers campground. The views of the lake from each campsite are nice and the sunsets are lovely ~ these are the best I can mention.

We chose Lavonia Park because it is within 30 minutes (towing trailer) from our house. We'd driven through the park before looking at tent sites. This was our first time out with our 22FT Winnebago. I chose site 13 for its close proximity to the water. The site is not level, we and probably most of the sites are on inclines. The whole park sits on the side of a hill. Site 13 does NOT have sewer hookup and their dump station was not working so we were approved to find an open site with sewer for dumping on our way out. We did.

So pros - site 13 is no the water within 30 feet is a small shell/gravel "beach" where we set up our chairs, drank some adult beverages and watched the sun go down. It's quiet (if you don't have a kid birthday next door) but it was very serene and peaceful with the occasional fishing boat cruising the lake. Site access is good and spacious between sites.

Cons - on an incline, we had to really lower the front to get a vague level so water would drain in sink and shower instead of pooling. When we were ready to leave it was hard lining up with hitch with truck on incline (maybe it was my spotter ;-) Site 13 is in the flood plane so erosion was very evident on the site which didn't help the incline. Not a lot to do as far as hiking or even bike riding, its not a big site. It is next to a boat ramp though.

We didn't try the bathrooms or use water hookup, or picnic table, so can't comment on that. Electrical had no problem, it was a 30 amp connection.

We'd camp here again but not Site 13, we'd look for something more level and with sewer and give up the beach.

Now I understand why the reviews on this park are so polarizing!!! If you are fortunate enough to pick the right spot, your stay would be wonderful. Pick the wrong spot and your stay is horrible.

Pros:
Price is as low as $15 with national parks pass but even at regular price $30, not bad for Dallas area.

Many sites have great views of the lake, and the sunsets are gorgeous!

Cons:
There are electrical issues throughout the park. We only had 15 amp service because 30amp was down! Other sites were reportedly down too. The service techs said they are due for an upgrade in system, but hasn’t happened yet. Sites by the lake go under water and those poles get damaged. Ours is one of those (site 11)! I would also avoid 13, 15, 17 because they sit low near the water too.

Our site was shaded by beautiful pine trees but they drop nuts full of sap all over. Our shoes are covered, our dogs were covered. Those trees are only down near the water though so sites 11-17 odd.

Most sites have a significant slope. Some are severe. Some are completely unusable for longer RVs. Avoid sites 27-38. That loop is very sloped and the road is in worse shape. Site 35 had at least a 35 degree slope upward! Avoid sites 20-26 in the north loop. We saw a toy hauler in 22 on slope where the bottom step is more than a foot off the ground. The front jacks were sitting on at least 6 leveling blocks! We were in site 11 and the front jacks were all the way down, but we’ve been at way worse.

Take-aways:
We would return again at the $15/night per night rate. We would only take sites 2-12 evens which sit on the hill with a view of the lake and were somewhat level. You might also be okay at sites 19-25 as well but they are sloped backward (given that electric works!)

Lavonia Park, a Corps of Engineers park, is located on the east side of Lake Lavon. It is just outside of Dallas, Texas.

I had full hook-ups. At site #5, we were on a hill overlooking the lake. Most of the sites in the park are not level because the entire park is built on a hill that slopes down to the lake. It was not a problem for my little camper, but I can see that big rigs might have an issue with that. Sites #2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 had the most level sites.

There are practically no trees in this park; we had a clear view of the lake. With the strong wind, I enjoyed watching the white caps on the water.

The bath house is something you should plan to avoid. The building itself is greatly in need of repair as are the roads in the park. I guess this park is not getting any maintenance funds, and it shows. A crew of five men cut the grass while I was at the park.

During the week, the park was very quiet with only about 10 RVs enjoying the scenery.

The park is rundown and very few of the sites are level. sink faucets don't work but the toilets do flush. What makes up for the deferred maintenance is the fact the there is quite a bit of room between pads, the park is very quiet. I stayed 2 weeks in the last part of March 2019 and there might have only been 10 other RV's here. Camping so close to the lake makes for a wonderful experience. They do honor the "America The Beautiful" pass. As a result, I paid $15 per night for full hookups 30amps.