We absolutely LOVE LBSSP and think it’s beautiful. However, when we went camping here in April 2025, it was INFESTED with ticks.
My husband set up our campsite and I arrived later on. Within one hour of my arrival, (I did not go into the woods or brush, etc) as I was just sitting in a camp chair next to the fire, I had one tick crawling on my arm and another one under my shirt on my abdomen.
We both showered that night and did a tick check. The next day, my husband found two ticks crawling on him and I found several crawling on our tarp toward our tent. Later on, I found two more crawling on me. We again showered and did tick checks that night. The next day, my husband found one attached to his leg and I found two attached to his back.
My daughter had briefly been at the campsite on Friday to help set up and then had been with grandparents the rest of the weekend. I immediately checked her one we got home and she had a tick attached behind her ear which had been attached all weekend. I had asked them to check her, but they missed it.
Listen, I camp all of the time and we live in east Texas on wooded acreage, surrounded by dense woods on three sides of our property. I am used to dealing with ticks and my daughter and I have also battled Lyme disease. I understand ticks are a part of nature, but the sheer number and frequency of the ticks we dealt with while camping at LBSSP over ONE WEEKEND is beyond EXCESSIVE.
I asked our campsite neighbors if they had had the same issues. They said when they first arrived that weekend, they were camped on the other side of the park in a completely different camping area and had to leave their spot within the first hour because the campsite was infested with ticks. They told the front office who moved them to another campsite… next to us, which was also apparently infested with ticks.
It was unfortunate because it caused my husband and I to be anxious about ticks the whole weekend and not really relax. Snakes, spiders, none of that bothers me BUT ticks are another story— as they carry viruses, bacteria, and parasites that can make adults and children very, very ill.
As we were headed out, we made a point to stop by the front office and speak to a park ranger about our experience. I shared everything above with him and asked what measures are being taken to lessen the tick population at LBSSP. He said next time they can move us and spray the campsite with pesticides which I said would be helpful…but the infestation is all over the park. At a minimum, every campsite should be sprayed (saying this as someone who detests chemicals and pesticides, but we have to weigh out the risks/ benefits compared with tick borne illnesses in these cases). All brush should be picked up and cleared out from all campsites because ticks thrive where there are downed trees and leaves…. Our campsite was FULL of broken limbs, downed trees, and thick piles of leaves were everywhere, making it a haven for ticks. There are also other common tick control measures state parks often use such as pesticide bait stations for the deer population, setting out tick tubes, and putting signs at the front office and other public areas, such as restrooms, etc warning of the dangers of ticks and telling families to check themselves and their children regularly since there is such a heavy infestation. The park ranger just sort of shrugged his shoulders and said “it’s normal. It’s just a part of being out in the woods.” No sir, the amount of ticks we encountered was not normal. And I pray it won’t take children or families getting ill with tick borne illnesses for them to actually do something about it. I now have 4 total ticks in my freezer that were attached to my husband and daughter in my freezer in case they need to be tested later on from one...
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