South Llano River State Park Campground

The South Llano River State Park located in Junction, TX is a wonderful place to unwind just a few miles off I-10. We have visited in the summer when swimming & kayaking were the top activities and in the fall when hiking, fishing & observing the change in season were top on the list. This is a beautiful, well used park year round. Reservations are advised. IF you are unable to get into this park, there is FREE camping by the river in town.

We arrived after hours and had no problem finding our campsite. The campground has two hosts, the area was very clean and, even though it was almost full it was quiet. Bathrooms clean, we did not try the showers. We enjoyed a hike up to an overlook- there are many other trails in the park and it is clearly a magnet for birdwatchers. There are also many turkeys in this park.

Beautiful landscape here as the wooded Texas hill country fades into short grass prairie, trees are smaller but vegetation is thick. Stayed one night here on our way west and would like to have stayed longer. Lots of short un-level spaces but we were able to make ours work. Major renovations being made to the entrance road and the visitor's center. Very quiet place with lots of wildlife and lots of trails - long walk to the Llano River from campsite but worth seeing it. No over the air TV and very weak cell signal... only had ourselves to entertain. Had a good walk with the cats who were extremely sensitive to the abundant wildlife around. Would love to come back here and stay longer.

This is a small park with one camping loop. The sites were small and closer together than most other state parks we have visited. Overall, the park was clean and well maintained. There were some nice trails...not too challenging. Very friendly staff who were eager to help.

Site 42 was very unlevel. We were never able to get our rig level front to back. They did not all appear to be so unlevel.

Also, it is important to note that a large portion of the park is only available for use from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM from October to April.

The river was a blast on an 85 degree day in February! We had such a good time splashing, playing, and fishing for trout and bass!

There was construction going on, but we never heard it. It didn't cause a problem for access. Love to see them making improvements on our state parks!

Verizon service was very spotty, but AT&T was fine.

Junction, TX is very nearby, but there is not a lot there. If you are looking for propane, gas, or a few groceries, you're golden, but if you're looking for a Walmart, you're going to be out of luck.

We did not make a reservation ahead of time but they had a list of open sites on the board by the office when we got there. I did check the reservation site to see if any were available the next night and picked one of those. Went to the office next morning and settled up. Staff was very nice and the camp host checked on us to make sure we were all good. Took a nice little hike. Saw some deer, wild turkeys, osprey and evidence of lots of armadillos. This park is a dark sky park and they had a sky party the 2nd night we were there, which was very cool. Park was very quiet. We enjoyed our stay and would have stayed another night but have to have moved sites.

The park itself was very nice, well maintained and beautiful hiking trails. However we had a bad experience with the local park ranger. We were never given a set of rules and the rules are not easily found. Myself and other fellow campers were continually reprimanded for breaking their rules. Rules were much too stringent and we could not relax because of the fear of getting a citation. Will not be back.

South Llano River State Park sits just outside of Junction, Texas near I-10. In this video, we give a walking tour of South Llano River State Park and show the best campsites. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 4.38 Mbps download speed and 0.18 Mbps download speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 8.55 Mbps download speed and 1.27 Mbps upload speed. Verizon cellular service was 3G and a speed test failed.

-Stayed at campsite 57, which is the last site in the loop (right near entrance after taking the one-way road all the way around).
-While spot parking pad was level, the pad itself was small. The entire space only had enough room for the trailer itself and the tow vehicle. Most spaces could only contain tow vehicle + trailer, no extra vehicle parking at the site and parking on anything other than the paved pad was prohibited. There is some extra parking spread throughout the campground, but not immediately close to the space we were in.
-Mostly full on a Friday night, but quiet and easy to view stars at night.
-Observed deer and armadillo at campsites and throughout the campground (at 9:30+ P.M.).
-Challenging to view posted site numbers (it would be helpful if they used a glow in the dark paint or placed the numbered posts closer to the one-way drive so they can be read easier in the dark). Also- left side parking space on the one-way seem impossible to read, as they seem to be facing the opposite direction they need to be.
-Limited privacy at these sites.