Arkansas Bend Park — Attraction in Texas

I have visited Arkansas Bend Park for over 25 years and was a big fan until my most recent visit. My wife and I were visiting the Lago Vista area for a romantic getaway. When we entered the park we noticed that there was no gate attendant at the entrance nor a pay slot. This is not unusual in that there has been times that we visited the park and there was no attendant working the entrance gate. We parked our car and walked to a picnic area overlooking the lake. We saw several individuals near the shoreline visiting and talking under a portable shade canopy. One of the individuals got into a non-government vehicle and headed up to our area. The individual rolled his car window down and asked where we were parked. I just figured he was a visitor and wanted to know where he could park his car. I pointed to the area where we had parked. He said, "I'm going to need $10". He never I identified himself as a park official nor did he ever get out of his personal vehicle. When I approached his vehicle, I noticed he was wearing a park attendant shirt. I explained that we had slowed down at the gate when we entered and noticed that there was no one working. His response to me was, "You can't expect me to be at the gate 24 hours a day", all the while giving us major attitude like we inconvenienced him by visiting the park. This is the same individual we saw socializing by the lake 5 minutes ago. We paid the $10 and gave him a description of our vehicle. After this jerk drove off and ruined our visit, we decided to walk about 25 yards down the walking path. We saw another visitor parked in his truck with his window down. I asked if he got a visit from the "park warden" asking for $10. He said no and immediately started his truck up and left the area. We tried to forget the exchange with this park official and enjoy the scenery, but couldn't help feeling like we paid $10 to be insulted. On our way back to our vehicle we saw another park official who was actually driving an official park vehicle. This park attendant greeted us nicely and waved. Unfortunately, we still had the taste of crap in our mouths from our exchange with the other park official and left totally bummed. Smh. How can you work at a place of such nature beauty and have a piss...

1/30/24 UPDATE: Yep. We're still loving the place. We stayed at site 6 this time for more shade.

We also walked to where the cabins are to get a sneak peek. They're very simple cabins with a Murphy bed and 2 bunks, and heat and A/C. Cooking will need to be done on appliances you bring or on the grill. There's also a pergola on each site. You can fit a tent or 2 on the site also. Everything seems to be done and ready to go. Speaking with a frequent visitor there, the park is awaiting approval to rent the cabins out.

I'm adding pics of site six and pics of the restroom facilities. They all look the same regardless of which restroom you're closest to.

That's all folks! Love it. Know that when you come out here, the sites are cheap, but you have to pay a fee per person per day (which we aren't used to). So instead of $20/ night it came out to $100 for 3 nights,2 adults, 2 children.

We'll definitely come back though. There's a camping pad, electricity, water (although brown upon arrival),a fire pit, a fire ring, nice restrooms with a shower, walking trails and dare i say...wifi.

None of the sites appear to be super shaded, only partially shaded... although i did see someone hang their hammock on the trees around the pad. So there's shade that way. No matter what site you're at, you're close to a restroom with a shower. With that said, our nearest restroom was closed. There was another one not too far, though.

You do have to hike down steep and rocky hills to access the lake. Fine for us, but not our 14-year-old fur baby.

Visit #2 was another fantastic trip! We had site 5, which was RIGHT next to the restroom, which is great for those 2am/4am potty trips. 😑

I ran into the maintenance man and the site hosts, who are all fantastic and friendly. I saw the maintenance man having to clean the pits each morning. It would be a nice gesture, for anyone staying, to clean the pits after their use. If you're up to the task, take a small shovel. I'd recommend the park provide a shovel (since we didn't think of it) for anyone inclined to clean the pit.

We had friends join us on night 2 and they LOVED the park. They camp about 3x per year and said it's the nicest park they'd ever been to. They'll be...

I Had a horrible experience with this place this morning. First i must give some backround so you better understand how terrible we were treated. I am a 90% Disabled Combat Veteran. It is hard for me to relax and do what i enjoy. I enjoy being near water and fishing. We drove over an hour to get there early befor sunup. My wife was good enough to go with me to help facilitate me being able to get on my inflatable paddle board which i sit on to be more stable, it is the onlh thing i can fit in the car. NOW TO THE TERRIBLE HORRIBLE TREATMENT. My wife parked to the side of the boat ramp because we both have trouble lifting things and she was waiting on the shore for me. A WORKER in a mule or golf cart came by with a Sheriff blaring their Sirens and lights. I was paddling in as fast as i could but my back has degenerated disks with bone spurs and my vertebrae in my kneck are partially collapsed. So i was in pain and got there in 10 min. The SHERIFF was telling my wife we had to pack up and leave now. I have a day pass and the only thing i might have done wrong was park too long to the side of one of the two unused ramps. I told him i dont understand why i cant just move the car and stay. He said diddnt move the car fast enough. He also perceeded to accuse us of sleeping there because my wife was waiting on the shore in a lounge chair. WE PAINSTAKINGLY loaded everything up under the watchful eyes of the park employees and 3 Sheriff cars. The park was empty by the way. We were bothering no one. This is my only accesss to water since their terrible MILLIONS were spent for garbage renovations which block our ability to be near the water with our vehicle. This is a huge problem when we have heavy things. In the end they had no right to treat us like this. I have destroyed my health in service of my country I Love. The only thing that gives me piece is this place at night, on the water. I just feel hopeless and...