Twin Dikes Park Campground

Twin Dikes Park Campground in on the Sam Rayburn Reservior. We got to drive over a dam and it's earthen dikes to get to the park. The lake is very popular with fishermen and boaters. There is a lot of activity with jet-skies, tubers, and boats going back and forth in the lake. The fishermen fish mainly from boats. There are 2 boat ramps in the park, but only 1 was in service. The campgrounds have one crowded loop with water and electric which is where the dump station is, one not as crowded loop that is half water and electric, and half water only, which is were we stayed (in a water and electric site,) and one loop that is just water only with no one camping in that loop. It looked like the loop we stayed on had the easiest access to the lake. The shores were all hard rock and very steep. We found a less steep place to get to the shore with a tiny trail. The edge of the water is rocky with very little silt, so you don't have to wade in muck while you are swimming, you just have to be careful not to slip on rocks. The water was comfortably cool. Where the campground is on the lake, you get to see both sunsets and sunrises. They are beautiful over the water. There is a very rough trail through the woods in the park. The sign at the trailhead indicates both walking and biking, but it would be a tough trail to bike. There was a lot of brush, pine needles and roots, and a couple logs across the trail. The woods are lovely and peaceful with minimal signs of other people. One of the trail signs said there was a pitcher plant bog somewhere on the trail, but I couldn't find it. I was able to identify a few other plants from signs along the trail. The creek that ran across and along part of the trail was dry, but we did explore off trail and along the creek a bit. The woods were open enough to do so. I crossed the creek bed on a big log, Peanut followed in my footsteps, but Tippy went down through the gully. There were 2 benches, a bridge in poor repair, and a covered picnic table at various locations along the trail.  The easiest loop of the trail was about half a mile long. The rougher, hillier trail that ended at the lake was a bit over half a mile. We then went cross country to get to the boat ramp parking lot. Other people had done that also, so there was a little path. At our campsite, we got a nice breeze off the lake much of the time, but it was still hot (June in Texas). The evenings and early mornings were comfortable, the rest of the day, was spent in the shade, in the air conditioning, or in the water. The camp hosts were friendly, kept a good eye on the campground, but had to spend a lot of time picking up trash. Unfortunately, there was a lot of litter both in the woods and along the lake shore, beer cans, soda bottles, styrofoam cups, fishing line, oil jugs, shoes. Our neighbor was "fishing" with a magnet and found a $200 pocket knife.  During the heat of the day, we went exploring a little bit and visited a park by the dam. It was a nice park with benches to sit in the shade and enjoy the lake. There was no safe place to walk across the dam to see the water coming out the other side. Driving across, it looked like there would have been some really nice views if we could have stopped. We visited a fish hatchery. They gave tours, but were closed to the public because of COVID. We did see all the ponds where they raised millions of fingerlings to release into Texas lakes for the fishermen. We drove past the park and saw a cute little town where I got gas. There were restaurants, stores, and bait shops. Past town we found a bit of road construction and decided to turn back. As we turned around, I saw a sign to another dam, but we decided not to go explore that. I had been enjoying sitting by the picnic table listening to the birds and reading for hours and wanted to continue my book and take the dogs swimming. I did finish my book, and the dogs did not like swimming.  At night, after sunset and before full darkness, I saw fireflies (lightning bugs) and a couple bats. After full dark, the mosquitoes started coming out as the stars were becoming visible. 

Here are a lot of the photos I took. I actually took over 300, great practice, and reduced it down to 63. I have favorites among these, and I am sure you will too. Prints are available. $12 each for 8 by 10 matted and shipped. $10 if I can deliver to you.