Camping in Texas State Parks is even more relaxing when you rent a screened shelter. For a minimal fee ($30- $35 nightly), you can create your own glamping cabin! All ages will appreciate the additional comfort of a shelter and the added amenities that you can create with the shelter. We’ve found that you can camp in a little colder weather and still be warm with the shelter. Not all of the Texas state parks have screened shelters, but the ones that have them allow a tent along with the shelter. (Just in case you would rather sleep in a tent!)
A Good Solution for Beginning Campers
I’ve only been camping a few times in my life: in a flood in Guadalupe State Park, during a major heat wave on the Texas Colorado river, and during a tornado in Palo Duro Canyon. So I wasn’t really planning on trying camping again. After a little persuasion on the low cost of a shelter camping adventure, I agreed to try our new version of Glamp Camping. I’m glad I did! This is a new fun way to see our state parks without spending too much money. Cabins are available in many of the Tx state parks, but they cost more and don’t offer significantly more than the shelter.
Texas State Park Shelter Camping Amenities
Camping in Texas State Parks can vary from park to park, as can the screened shelters. Most of the state parks provide a 10 X 10 shelter, which is enough space for 2 adults and 2 small children. The price of a shelter is much better than a state park cabin, and the shelter has that extra feeling of being out in the open. The shelters are all pretty similar at the different state parks, but can vary in age and size of the shelter. Most of the shelters have a screened area and a shuttered area, a table for eating, electric outlets, water, and fire pits (bring your own marshmallows!).
Less Bugs and Wind
Our shelter in Garner State Park had wood on the bottom half and screens on the top half The back part of the shelter also has shutters on the top half. When we went shelter-glamping in the summer, we stayed in the front half where we got a nice breeze. When we went in the winter, we stayed in the back half which was much warmer.
Picnic Table, Electricity, and Water
There is a nice large picnic table inside each shelter. We never really ate at the table as we preferred to be outside by the fire, but the table is a wonderful place to store your items for eating. We did take two dollar store table cloths to cover the table. The inside of the shelter has an electric outlet and there is a water faucet outside.
Fire Pit
Each shelter also has a nice fire pit. I noticed that the size/depth of the pits varied between the different shelters. We brought our wood with us, but you can buy bundles of wood in the state park stores. However, you can’t buy kindling to help you start the fire. The state parks don’t want you gathering wood, so if possible I recommend taking some small wood sticks to help start the fire. Of course, you can always use fire starter. And last, but not least you’ll need matches or a lighter!
I almost forgot the marshmallows. We did curbside pick-up for our groceries and ended up with the giant marshmallows, instead of a regular size marshmallow. I’ve never bought the big marshmallows because I thought they wouldn’t melt. These were fantastic for roasting over the fire pit. We’ll always buy big marshmallows for roasting in the future!
What else could you really need? Well… we decided to add a few more amenities.
Additional Amenities
Since we’re not 100 percent sold on camping, we added a few extra ‘resort (ha ha) amenities’ to our semi-glamping trip. We knew our semi-glamping trip needed coffee, a restroom without having to use the public restrooms in the middle of the night, a sleeping place other than the ground, and maybe a heater.
Coffee
Of course, our biggest need is hot coffee every morning. Since the shelter has an electrical outlet, we took an old fashioned coffee pot to make our morning fix. It was wonderful, everything taste better outdoors.
Restroom
The state park has public restrooms, but who wants to trudge outside in the middle of the night? We created our own glamorous restroom.
First, we created a toilet from a Lowes 5 gallon bucket, a lid for the bucket, toilet liners, black trash bags and cat litter. This worked really great. You could use a black trash bag instead of the liners, but we wanted to be certain of no leaks! We put a black trash bag in the toilet and then put the liner in, this allowed for very easy removal. We also added a little cat litter to the bag.
Next, we wanted a little privacy for the toilet. Did you know that they actually make little tents for toilets? They come in lots of sizes and colors, we wanted one that was tall enough to stand in. We found one on sale at Amazon. It worked great!!!
Sleeping
The screened shelters have a cement floor. Ouch, that’s hard to sleep on! We decided to get two twin sized air-mattresses. We bought these $29 beds at Walmart and they were wonderful (better than my bed at home!). We have a pump that plugs into the car lighter. The pump is excellent, but the cord on our pump isn’t long enough to reach the shelter. So we aired the mattresses up in the back of the SUV and carried them to the shelter. If we continue to enjoy shelter camping, we’ll spring for an electric pump.
The first time we camped in a shelter, it was warm. Then next time it was cold, so we started taking a small heater. Since there is electricity, this works well!
Choosing a Shelter for Camping in Texas State Parks
At this time there are 24 Texas State Park Camping areas with screened shelters. Click here to see a complete list of Texas State Parks with shelters.
To choose the best shelter within a park, we click on the link for our chosen park. Then follow the links until you have entered a date and requested to book sites within the park. When you click on a link to book sites within a park, you can pull up a map of the shelter locations within the park. We prefer a shelter that is not close to the restrooms (since we have our own!) as there is usually a bright light on the facility that keeps your shelter too light all night. Of course, a shelter on the edge where you only have one neighbor is nice.
Reservations
Here is the link to make a reservation. The shelters cost $30-$35 and the reservations include entrance to the park.
When is best time to go
Much like camping, you’ll need to watch the weather for screened shelter camping. Since you have the shelter, you can go when it is a little colder and when there is some rain.
Conclusion
Is shelter camping in Texas State parks, glamping? Well, not exactly glamping but camping in Texas State Parks is SO much more relaxing with a screened shelter. That little electrical plug makes are the difference (Heaters, fans, coffee, electric pump for air mattresses). The screens also help with bugs & weather (our toilet didn’t blow over!) . Let us know if you’ve tried shelter camping and if you have additional tricks that we have missed!