Juniper Point
We spent last weekend at the Juniper point, which is a campground administered by the US Amy Corps of Engineers on the southern shore of Lake Texoma. We went there for a quick getaway in early 2021, really liked it, and vowed to come back when it was warm enough to get in the water.
Logistics and Facilities
While it is administered by the US Army Corp of Engineers, they use the national park service reservation system.
Overall, I really like this place, but I’ll be honest that the facilities aren’t my favorite. It is divided up into an east and west side, with Highway 377 running between the two. It’s hard to feel too detached from the world when you can see and hear eighteen-wheelers driving through!
Also, I have been spoiled by the super nice Texas State Park bathrooms. Juniper Point’s are fine— on the west side, they have a men’s and women’s bathroom with one shower and one toilet each (although the women’s toilet was clogged this time). Maybe I’m being a prima donna complaining about the bathroom facilities while camping, but I want to give an honest review!
Last time, we stayed on the east side, but opted this time for the west side, since it has more trees and easier access to the hiking. The camping sites on the east side had picnic table coverings, but the west side did not, which was a little rough in the August heat. Next time, we’ll be trying to pick out a shadier spot.
What we really like about this place
Basically all of the camping spots have either direct access to the lake or a very short walk
The west side has a trail head to the outstanding and long (15 mile!) Cross Timbers hiking trail
It is next to the community of Sherwood shores and easy biking distance to the Pelican Point restaurant
View from campsite D3
Hiking
The Cross Timbers hiking trail is not super well known, and I don’t understand why, because it is outstanding! It stretches west from Juniper Point for about 15 miles. There are even places to camp along the trail— I used to have a coworker that would practice for long backpacking trips here.
Due to the extreme heat (this was one of the 100+ days in early August), we only got to explore the first couple of miles of it. Still, these two miles gave us a great variety of scenery, winding around the shore of the lake, up into the forest, and through some rocky areas.
The only downside was the biting flies, which made a meal of us. Still, it's hard to complain about bugs being in nature!
Rocks, in north Texas!
Pelican Point
We’re pretty great at cooking food to bring with us while camping (and the RV fridge/freezer makes that easy), but it’s still nice to go for a little outing. Located at Cedar Mills Marina, Pelican Point is a fried seafood and burgers kind of place. The food is nothing special (although I really enjoyed the boiled shrimp!), but it’s right on the lake and a perfect biking distance from Juniper Point (about 4 miles).
To get there we crossed 377 to get to the east side of the park, then took Old Castle Road to get to the neighborhood, then meandered our way through the restaurant. I will warn anyone wanting to duplicate this trip that Old Castle Road is more of a trail than a road and was VERY overgrown. We pressed through, but I got some bad scratches on my legs— I’ll wear high socks next time! It is also possible to avoid this if you’re brave enough to ride your bike down the shoulder of 377 for a few minutes.
Maps
As we were hiking, we noticed that the map posted near Juniper Point didn’t seem to have many of the trails— it represented the trail near the lake, but not the part that winded up into the woods.
So, we tried our hand at some map-making, using crowd-sourced data to determine the location of all the trails. If you're going to be on the trail, download the Outdoor Explorer: TX app and please give us feedback on it’s accuracy as well as any other landmarks that should be added!
Summary
It’s nearby (only about a 90 minute drive from Dallas), has water, great hiking, and a fun restaurant. This place is definitely on our warm-weather camping rotation!
