Sam Houston Jones State Park Campground

One of my favorite places to visit. I love that it's only a few miles from my house, too. :)

It is very hot and humid in July and August, 98 degrees with a heat index of 115 while we were there. That being said you really can't complain about humidity when you decide to camp in south Louisiana in the peak of summer, you know what you are getting into. The park once had a fenced in population of whitetail deer, the fence was destroyed by hurricane Sandy and now the rangers let the deer roam free around the park. They are very use to humans, and have no problem walking up to your campsite to investigate, and possibly steal a chip or two. The park has a few short to moderate length trails that are good for hiking and fast, flat, muddy, and rooty on a mountain bike. One of the big draws for us to this park was canoeing through the bald cypress trees, unfortunately the lakes were drained, and according to the web site they will not be operating for quite some time. Showers and bathrooms were decently clean and it was a treat to have FREE laundry provided on site.

This was a quick overnighter. It was about 7 or so miles from I10 but worth the trip. We took a nice walk in the morning before we left. We saw a ton of turtle and a small alligator. They have a short nature trail with signs explaining the wildlife and trees. I would come back again.
The site we were at had water and electric.

We opted to stay in the "old section," Camping Area 1 where sites are dirt, some a bit wonky and honestly, both our electric and water were on the wrong side and wouldn't reach the trailer. Then what's with the 4 star review?

Well, this place is really pretty and the campground and park have a great feel. There are a number of nature trails and bridges that get you easily out into the swamp filled with turtles, frogs and (I'm told) gators. The evening sounds coming from that water was amazingly prehistoric. So cool to be camped backed right up onto it. And that's why we went with the older section of the CG, to get a site right on the water. We were still able to fill our water tanks and use the dump station on the way out which was all we needed.

So Verizon was a bit spotty but generally got the job done, particularly boosted. AT&T had enough for calls and a bit of data. Not really the spot to hang and get a ton of work done, but enough cvg to upload pics to make people jealous of where you are.

We wish we had a few more days to stay and enjoy he swamp and check everything else out.

We camped here in 2012 and had good memories of the place. There are nice trails around the bayous and a fun disc golf course (they lend discs for free!). There is free laundry and as far as we remembered, nice FHU sites. We arrived late and all the FHU sites in the Camping Area 2 (the newer, nicer area, close to the laundry and newer shower/toilet building and park area) were taken, so we were sent in the old section (Area 1) which is pretty much abandonned... The site was not leveled and the shower building is an old musty trailer... The park staff told us that they are not receiving money from the state and that there should be 20 to 25 workers on site to take care of the park (they were currently 7). He said his boss goes to Bâton Rouge every week to try and get heard, but that if the situation does not improve, the park situation will only get worst... It's too bad because it is a nice place... So, my advice is to choose a campsite in the Area 2 (50 or 51 if you need FHU) or 33 if you don't.

Overall rating is 3 stars with the Park 5 and the camp sites about a zero. Remind me not to stay here again, please. Sites in old loop where we were at are a mishmash of angles and tightly packed on the sides, behind and in front, too. Trees are there but mostly interfered with getting into our space. Didn't appreciate the noisy crowd around us but did like the fact they went quiet at the designated hour.

That's more than I can say for the jerks who overstayed a few hours and required the state park personnel to stand there while they broke camp at 3 pm with the new tenant waiting on the road. The jerk's wife dumped her two bags of garbage in the laundry room bin where a large sign politely asked people not to do that. I asked her to go get it because the garbage stunk ip the laundry and was attracting flies. Her lame "I didn't know" made me want to throw up (on her).

Meanwhile back in the otherwise already filthy but free laundry I just wanted to get out of there. I'd gladly pay to wash and dry if I can have working machines AND hot water. Hear that LA state parks?

This park has nice trails worth seeing and the weekend we were there was a free cast iron kettle lunch club that made pure deliciousness in a variety of items served to anyone for free. I did check out the newer loop which was a bit nicer but still crowded on top of one another.

One other gripe are the pigs who throw their garbage in top of the dumpster instead of in it. I watched a park employee don rubber gloves to clean up the mess that fell in the ground when the animals got into it. More jerkiness! Really, are their fingers too precious to touch the dumpster lid?

Bath house is OK, wirnbutclean. Shower has hot water set at moderate temperature.

Camped in campground II for 2 weekday nights. Both mornings woke up to very very loud leaf blowing machines operated by park staff. Continued on and off through the day. So annoying considering we are in an out of the way state park where we should enjoy peacefulness and serenity. Not so here. When we spoke to park attendant about it, our comments were sort of brushed off and we were told it was probably not going to occur on the second day. Not so. Workers with loud equipment started up just after 8 am and continued on. Otherwise, we enjoyed the nice trails, clean washrooms and campground II site layouts.

Ive grown up going to this park. Over the years I have watched it start to get neglected. Fortunately, funds have finally been allocated for improvements. With that being said, 2 years ago the park was in terrible shape. Grass up to your knees, so for those that have complained about the leaf blower, get over it! I for one am thankful that they are cutting the grass and blowing the sites. (by the way, when should they do the maintenance?)
There are deer (Maggie is friendly if you get the chance to see her) and other wildlife.
The hiking/biking trails are very good.
Overall a great park with friendly staff and campers.

This park is old and needs some work, but we enjoyed the stay. We were there mid-February 2019 and stayed for a week. It rained almost the entire time we were there so didn’t get to explore as much as we would have liked. However, one day we were able to walk the trail beside the river which was very nice and well-maintained. The campground is small and for the weekend it was full. During the week there were very few campers. We were in spot #53 and I would highly recommend that spot. We only had one neighbor to one side, and it felt a bit more isolated than the others. When things are full on the weekends, it can seem a bit crowded with spots being close together. It never felt like to cramped for us because we had (IMO) one of the best spots in the campground. Some spots have full hook-up, while others are electricity and water only. Ours was electricity and water only. The dump station is nearby and if you need to dump with a tote you could easily do so. Most of the campground is not level, but nothing bad enough that you can’t get level with blocks. There is a very nice laundry room that is free. That was a great perk. There are 3 washers and 3 dryers. Several of the units seemed brand new. We took advantage of that and did some laundry during our stay. Like I said, it rained the entire time, so the site was muddy, but not as bad as we thought it would get. Internet access was good. We had 3-4 bars of AT&T and Verizon. Lake Charles and Sulphur are not far away and have anything you need while visiting. The park has some nice scenery and the trail provided some good wildlife. The main things they need to do to improve it would be fix some of the roads/camping spots that have significant potholes. Also, the camping spots could benefit from some grading to make them a bit more level. It is my understanding that the park has made vast improvements recently and it shows. Give it a bit more time and it will be a great place to stay. Overall, we would probably camp there again. Cost is $20/night during the week and $28/night on the weekend. These price are for off-peak season.

Jan 10-14, 2020
Lots of rain and interior sites flooded. Our site was very uneven, but doable. Lots of places to walk the dogs. Set up for lots of day picnicking. We would stay again if passing through the Lake Charles area, but wouldn’t make it a destination. Bathrooms were very nice and free laundry.