Lake Murray State Park — Attraction in Ardmore

Hi friends. I wanted to share what happened to us at Lake Murray State Park. Prior to this recent visit, this place was one of our absolute favorite places to camp. I booked our spot last April thinking this would be the perfect place to celebrate our wedding anniversary this weekend. We were SO excited for this specific camp site(#58 elephant rock). Yesterday while we were sitting outside, another truck pulls up with a camper and blocks our spot and just sits there. He leaves but returned shortly, just sitting there, never saying anything. We were very confused. Not long after the truck came for the second time, the park Ranger pulls up and asks us to provide our email confirmation, which we did. We were informed that this company double booked our spot. The Park Ranger left but again comes back requesting to see the email confirmation. The Park Ranger then says the other couple is on their honeymoon and is very upset. Mind you, we had already been there & hooked up since Friday afternoon. THREE more times the Ranger asks to see our confirmation. He said we were good, they were putting the other campers in another spot and went on his way. The management decided put these very upset people two spots away from us. The guy was obviously still mad as he continued revving his engine, peeling out his tires, throwing rocks in our direction. All the nearby campers could see what was going on. I was so upset that I just wanted to go home (2.5 hours away). Because of the that camper’s aggressive behaviors, I was concerned he may take out his anger on us as we slept so we started packing up to leave. As we were attempting to get our things together, the guy just stands there, glaring at my husband. My husband looks his way and the man begins cursing and yelling. The Park Ranger came again, obviously to check in the situation. At no time did the owners of this campsite come by or call us to try and deal with this situation. I understand the other party being upset, but WE did not double book the site. This was our anniversary and a much needed time away. It was all a very uncomfortable and unnecessary experience and I will never return due to the way this situation was handled. We left and drove home, arriving at 9 last night (Saturday) on our anniversary. I am disappointed but I will continue to camp in Texas, where there are...

Day tripping would be fine, MAYBE..but we will not be back to overnight camp.

We stayed at Martin’s Landing 53. While the nature was beautiful, the experience with the site in general was horrendous. Not only is it not clear what your reservation pays for, but the sites are basically on top of one another which causes additional issues.

First issue, our email said a premium parking space was included in the reservation. Awesome, right? However, it didn’t specify how that was handled. Do we have a code for the app? Is there something for your car like other state parks? No clue. I ended up on the phone with the app customer service trying to ensure we weren't towed when the camp host finally came up and explained. Clarity in the reservation confirmation would be nice, especially for first-time visitors.

Second, our campsite was right on the water which you might think meant beautiful views.. think again. Instead, it meant we had boats and day passers basically on top of us all day though it wasn’t a public beach for day passers. The public swimming area was across the site by the boat ramp. Additionally, this site is up against a tree line and water, and yet, we had people walking through our camp, using our garbage bags, etc. multiple boats parked at the shoreline playing loud music, people smoking, and drinking, throwing the cans and cigarette butts in the water all afternoon. You may be thinking, “maybe they were your camping neighbors?”… they weren’t. We knew exactly who our neighbors were…

The third, and worst part, was our neighbors who LITERALLY drank, sang, and had loud music playing from 8PM until 5:30AM. I’m not even kidding. Literally, all night. Want to know how I know? Because I DIDN'T SLEEP. Headphones couldn’t drown them out because they were so loud and obnoxious. We asked them around 1AM (quiet hours are after 11PM) if they could at least lower the volume, which they didn’t do. No park ranger or camp host came by to enforce basic courtesy, obviously. We packed up as soon as the sun came up and left the park completely. We would have left in the middle of the night… no seriously, we thought about it…but the parking is such trash in this area, we couldn’t get to our car without causing more disturbance in the neighbors campsite.

We will not be camping here again.

Restrooms in the area are...

I am sharing this for awareness, especially for those of you with undocumented family or Hispanic roots.

This past weekend, my family and I went to Lake Murray. We’ve gone plenty of times before, rented a boat, enjoyed the peaceful lake, and never had an issue.

This time was different. While we were swimming, a state trooper boat slowly pulled up about 150–200 feet from us and just stared. There were about 6–8 officers, some in face masks, just watching us in silence for several minutes. It was unsettling, uncomfortable, and I kept asking is there an issue and no one would speak.

Eventually, they approached our boat and started questioning me, asking who owned the boat, how many people were on board, the number of kids, weight capacity, etc. I told them I was just the renter and that the owner ensures all rules are followed. After what seemed to be question after question, one of the men tapped the lead and said “They’re good. Let’s move.” And they left.

About 30 minutes later, the owner of the boat company rushed over to check on us. He was visibly upset. He told us it wasn’t just a routine inspection, it was ICE, working with state troopers.

He said he couldn’t believe this was happening at his business and he verbally said, they are only asking my Hispanic renters questions. He had seen two of his other boats being pulled aside and when he tried to step in, troopers told him to back off. He explained he was the owner, but they only let him help after some pushing. Then things got worse.

He said he saw people jumping into the lake and swimming to shore to escape, while the others on the boat were forced onto the dock to show proof of citizenship.

My family could have easily been targeted. I don’t know if it was because we spoke English confidently, didn’t appear nervous, or just got lucky. But it was clear that Hispanic families were being profiled.

I am from Dallas and I know there are plenty of Hispanic families who visit the lake, turner falls, and help these businesses make money in these areas. Regardless of your politics, please understand, our community is being targeted. Be mindful. Stay safe. Look out for your families. And just know, someone brought in ICE specifically to...