Ray Roberts Lake State Park

Apparently others who posted here encountered the same «power-​trip» ranger we did at the Isle du Bois area at Ray Roberts (see review below):
We have had our little family-​reunion campouts at various Texas State Parks for more than 20 years, and were shocked by the treatment we received from a ranger at Isle du Bois in Ray Roberts Lake State Park.
We always book five campsites for our group of about 20 people, so we have a lot of room to spread out and not bother neighboring sites. On our first night in, we were talking and laughing and some people had just arrived. It was about 11 p.m., which is of course past the «quiet hour» of 10 p.m. A ranger approached my husband on the way back from the bathroom and said our group was too loud. My husband said he would tell everyone, but the ranger said, «No, that’s not good enough– I need to talk to them.»
The ranger came into the site where we were all sitting, shined his flashlight on us and said «I am an officer» as if we didn’t know that and were supposed to be scared. He then proceeded to lecture our educated group of taxpaying campers, ages 25 to 68, like we were either children or drunken rednecks.
Instead of politely reminding us to quiet down, he lectured us for at least five minutes, using the same words and phrases over and over. We stared in disbelief as he said «congratulations, you are the loudest group here, ««it’s not all about you,» and «we will give you one warning and then ‘something else’ will happen.» It was almost like he was trying to pick a fight.
We of course apologized and did tell him we had five sites, and he took the name of the person who made the reservations as if he was already planning his ‘something else’ threat.
The experience was an insult to us and an embarrassment to the Texas State Park system.
Checking this park off the list.

We went camping at the Isle Du Bois area this weekend.
Entry was a hassle. There was a line of 20 people when I got there at 6:30 on Friday with only 2 cashiers assisting the line. I don’t know what they were doing, because it took nearly 20 minutes of waiting to get to the window to pay. By that time, they’d added a third cashier and she had me out of there in just a minute. The other 2 seemed to have been taking 5 minutes with each person.
The camp sites are nice, but many are not properly set up for tents. We had a block of several sites and could only setup on 2 of the sites.
The bathrooms are actually some of the best I’ve seen in a state park. They were clean and actually had soap and hot water.
Most of the rangers were friendly except for the night ranger that verbally berated my group for talking too loudly for his liking after 10pm on Friday. There were literally no other campers near us since we had reserved a block of sites (to not violate the number of cars per site rules). We apilogized and promised to lower our voices, but the ranger decided to blather on repetitively about us being much too loud for the late hour, tell we were being disrespectful of the rest of the campers and tell us «it’s not all about you» and threaten us with unspecified consequences if we didn’t comply with his edict. He just came off to everyone as a condescending, rude, and combative jerk. He acted like he was trying to start a fight.
We won’t be coming back to this park.

Easily the best state park in North Texas. There is everything here, camping, paved and unpaved walking trails, biking trails, swimming and playgrounds for the kids. I like the Isle du Bois branch much better than Johnson for two reasons… access to Johnson is a problem. You basically have to go 15 miles northwest to come right back down to the entry point. The other reason is that Isle du Bois has the Elm Fork trail right across from it.

Best lake I have been to in a while. Never even knew about it until coming across it on the map, randomly decided to spend a day on the boat out here.
There is a $ 7 per person entrance fee, lots of picnic and barbecue areas, clean beach, and easy access boat ramps with piers to pickup and unload people.
The lake itself is big enough to get lost in, great water temperature for swimming or just floating blissfully. Definitely my new favorite lake in the Dallas area.

The Randy Bell scenic trail is a paved path through a wooded area just East of the beach/​picnic area. It is a simple, 2.2 mile loop for a brief walk. The beach area has several covered and uncovered picnic areas and a sand volleyball pit.

We stayed at the ‘top’ of the lake.
The good: Beautiful park. Nice trails. Good for bikes. Friendly staff. Affordable to camp. Clean showers. Some sites have electricity. Handy food hooks at camp site as well as firepits. Wasn’t just packed full of college kids. Was family friendly.
The bad: No ‘store’ anymore. (shut) Marina is far away. Beach swim area is small. Water was freezing, but it’s early in the season. No firewood gathering, and nearby firewood sales are marked up. Due to size, limited park provided activities. Was crowded.
Will come again.

This place is a bit pricey but a nice hangout. For two people, it is $ 10. However you get a sandy beach and access to bathrooms. The downside is it gets crowded on Saturdays and $ 10 per day starts to add up. Considering our state tax dollars fund this state park, it seems like it should either be free or at least a bit cheaper. It is slowly becoming necessary to pay at all the lakes to swim when they used to be free to the public. But alas, this is the times we live in. We likely will only occasionally go. For the same price and just a bit further away from us is Lake Meridian which is not near as crowded and definitely more beautiful.

Great place to take the family! We brought the kiddo here with her friend and spent the whole day here! They have a nice little sandy beach area that is VERY clean. The water is nice and clean. its such a great family place. Pets are not allowed on the beach and neither is booze. You can rent boats or grill out under a pavillion. We brought our dog but its really not ideal for a dog. There are better places to take your dog but for a state park it was excepionally clean and I like that!

When I visit this lake, I’m usually in the Isle du Bois unit where there is plenty of areas to swim, bike, and run around a bit. My triathlon team often holds practices out here and we usually don’t have any issues setting up and getting in our workouts. We do try to carpool though, since there is a $ 5 entry fee, which isn’t too bad considering it’s an all-​day pass.
I especially like the swimming spot because it is kept nice & clean and even has a fairly sizeable beach area. The water can be a bit chilly early in the year, so beware of that. The roads are smooth and make for good riding paths, though you have to mind the cars coming around the corners and such. There are plenty of concrete paths and trails to be explored as well.
Oh, and don’t forget your picnic gear — there are tons of spaces for cookouts and gatherings!

So i went camping at the «Mexican plum» site at Ray Roberts lake. We found the perfect spot large and near the lake affording the 4 of us who went a beautiful view of the dam, lake, and surrounding forest. There was a short walk from the car to the location which made it feel a bit more secluded and more like camping than day tripping. I also liked the fact that not many people were in the surrounding sites but there was enough distance between the site locations to feel on your own if there were someone around. The whole trip was super fun even though it monsooned over us to the point that it felt like it was raining inside our tent. Can’t blame the park for the rain though but I can blame it for it’s beautiful scenery. I only wish i could of hit some of the trails before the storms rolled in.

I was told by someone that every single lake in Texas, save for one located somewhere near Ft. Worth, is man made. Not sure if that is an accurate statement, but I like it, so I’m going to use it without doing any research about it.
Dad and I had some time to kill so we took a drive over here. It was another warm day, but unfortunately I left my bathing suit back in Oregon. A bit too far to go retrieve it. I stuck my feet in the water and the temp was perfect. If I ever make it back here, I will be sure to bring my suit.

Definitely like Ray Roberts and the State Park.
Not much further from Dallas than other lakes but it feels more like you have gotten out of the city.