Pace Bend Park — Attraction in Lakeway

We went this last weekend and stayed in primitive camping near Mud Cove (latrine #11 on your map there)- 2 adults and 1 three year old. We went there for the first time to camp and watch the meteor shower during the new moon and do some swimming. What I learned:

1. The cool thing about Pace Bend is you can pretty much just drive to wherever you can get your car and set up camp. There are campsites, but you are not limited to camping in them. I was under the impression you could just park it practically anywhere. You can get away with practically anything, too. The rangers don't seem to give a poop as long as you're not using glass containers.

2. The crappy thing is also the cool thing. You can get away with practically ANYTHING. There was a group of about 100 college kids on the other side of our loop and they partied all night. ALL. NIGHT. So loudly. SO LOUDLY until after 6:00a. I get it. It wasn't so long ago that I too camped and partied all night but this was ridiculous. And the rangers do not care. At around midnight, my hubs and I were quietly in the field next to our site watching the stars when a ranger came by to inform us that we needed to get our wine into a Solo cup since glass bottles were prohibited and then proceeded to give me the short, juvenile explanation about broken glass and blah blah blah- which I totally understand, I should not have had my wine bottle there etc. - I would have taken my reprimand more respectfully if he didn't have to use a raised voice to be heard over the mini-Burning Man expo happening down the way. It was complete crap to be bothering us about a wine bottle and not bat an eye at the BS happening down the way. ( for the record- we operate on the "cleaner than you found it" philosophy in our fam. Clean up all our trash and then each person has to find 5 more pieces of trash before we can check out of the campsite. STFU about my wine bottle.) Also: Cars driving by with their brights on and stereos blaring going by the campsite until 4a from people looking for said party.

3. Mud Cove lives up to it's name. It is muddy AF. And the beach was dirty. There was washed up lake trash debris from broken docks and there where trash piles from beach goers everywhere. Broken bottles, torn up floaties, dirty diapers- you name it. That was a disappointment.

Over all, it was a pretty area- the cliffs are nice and the lake scene from a distance is lovely. I doubt we ever will go back, but if we do, we will try the West side on the park. I don't think it was as populated. We camp as a family, but don't go into situations expecting everything to be some cushy, bubbled "family friendly" experience- but I do expect that the rangers dole out their wags of the finger equally and that there is a reasonable, mutual respect from...

We have camped here severall times in the improved camping area. The usual online reservation process was offline so we had to make our reservation via an email request. I was told over the phone that it aspirated that there were only 2 spots available for the weekend. This was Tuesday before arrival. I got a quick response and given a spot. No deposit is taken and they require cash payment at the gate. We arrived to find out that the dump stain was closed but they could recommend place down the street to dump for 20 bucks. I was told it should have been in the email, but it wasn't. No problem. Saturday morning, we woke to find that out of approx 15 spots, there was only a few in use. Saturday night was only us plus 2 other campers. We took our dogs for a walk and not once, but twice had other unleashed dogs run up to mine. Now they were friendly, but one of my dogs is a rescue. She is very slow to warm to other dogs. She panicked, slipped the leash and ran back a couple of sites to our camper. She was shaking like a leaf. Being that there weren't many people camping, this was not something we expected. Folks were friendly and apologized. I was just annoyed and greatful no one was bitten or hurt. We don't have this issue at most camp grounds. My family and I decided to walk the trails. We didn't realize that there would be a bike club there. There were so many racing around the curves and not all trails are wide. I don't mind sharing, but the high volume made it unpleasant as a hiker. I'm sure it was just a timing issue. An afternoon or Sunday hike many have been more relaxing. Oh and also had some guy walk up to my hubby dust thing when he stepped out of camper to ask if he would m could use the 110 at our site to charge his battery. Said his family's only had a plug for campers. Hubby said yes and guy walked off. Well, every electrical air has 110. Perhaps he wanted to leave unattended, but didn't want it to walk off. It was on the ground using our campers 110 outlet. He must have returned while we were out hiking to pick it up. Best to make yourself aware in park events. Lake levels are...

This is a county park in Travis County, Texas. We stayed one week in the middle of March 2019. We decided to stay outside the campground in the dispersed area. Technically, you can camp anywhere in the park; however, we believe there are only a few decent spots for RVs. Camping is limited to 7 days in a 30-day period. We stayed at Mudd Cove Mesquite Point and found a great spot right by the lake. We were able to get level without leveling blocks after some trial and error. There were several spots in that area that would be great for a RV of any size. As of April 1, 2019, they are closing the Tournament Point area to camping, so Mudd Cove Mesquite Point will have some of the only RV spots (IMO). Those spots are off Grisham Trail. The areas down Pace Bend Road were not RV friendly. Most were a tight squeeze, and many did not have turnaround spots. Great areas in there for tent camping, but not RVs. On Grisham Trail, you will find potable water. It is easy to miss and in a horrible spot on a curve and hill. It will be on left if you are coming from the park entrance. The dump station is outside of the park, right before the entrance on the right. Easy in and out when leaving. Since we were in the dispersed area, we relied on our solar for electricity. The area we found was perfect for that. We were able to find a nice open spot with no trees and the weather cooperated, so we had no trouble with electricity. The park was quiet and empty for most of the week. Things did pick up Thursday and over the weekend, but most people were respectful and quieted down after 11pm. We walked the trails a few times, but overall there is not a ton to do here unless you are swimming. The cost for us was $20/night. $15 for the truck and $5 for the travel trailer. Day use fees are $7 a person which is included in the camping costs. The employee working when we arrived was not friendly or helpful at all, but the other employees we encountered were very helpful and nice. Overall, we will likely not be back. The price seemed steep for no hookups and the park just didn’t offer enough for us to want...