Not all state parks are created equal. We haven’t stayed in many so far, but by our estimation our state parks are in better shape than we thought. Of course, we say this well aware that budget cuts threaten our state parks and their cleanliness / livelihood all the time. It’s sad to talk with locals who say their parks are dwindling or recall a time when there were twice as many parks as there are today. So we say this all knowing that it’s tough times out there for nature lovers. And that’s a fact that makes us pretty angry / sad / and baffled.

However, what’s left out there are some great parks. So while we don’t have the greatest things to say about a few of these, go into this post knowing this: we’d stay at ANY of these parks again. The stuff we complain about pales in comparison to these parks NOT being around. And not every place can have a Connie and Bruce (see our Arizona post), but we sure wish they could.

Dead Horse Ranch State Park – Cottonwood, AZ

Cost: $25/night though we hear it’s going up to $30/night starting in 2016.
Hookups: Water, electric. Firewood available for sale.
Amenities: Bath houses with INCREDIBLE showers.
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: Yes, and yes. There are more than a dozen miles of trails ranging from easy to moderate.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi, but great cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 5/5

Bruce and Connie, our campground hosts, really cleaned up our loop. The bathrooms and showers were impeccably clean; the sites are all paved with picnic tables and room to put up your awning; the park has several miles of trails, including some around pretty cool lagoons; you’re centrally located to all the coolest places in the Verde Valley. Oh, and did we mention Bruce and Connie? THEY ARE LOVELY. Go have coffee with them. Tell them we say hello.

Patagonia Lake State Park – Patagonia, AZ

Cost: $25/night
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: Bath houses with great showers.
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: Yes, plus a great lake to look at (as the name suggests). And there’s hiking in the nearby Sonoita Creek Preserve, which we highly recommend.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi. Cell service was spotty (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 4/5

We knew Dead Horse Ranch State Park would be hard to beat. So we were pleasantly surprised with Patagonia Lake was nice, clean and accommodating. Being right next to the lake was gorgeous and you’ve got a brilliant view of the Santa Rita mountains. You’re also close to Sonoita Creek, which we encourage you to run, walk or hike. And there’s a cool bridge and plenty of vistas at the park. Carson thought his shower was pretty amazeballs.

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park – Alamogordo, NM

Cost: $14/night
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: Bath houses with showers (see Mel’s note about shower quality below)
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: The Dog Canyon Trail into Lincoln National Forest is a must-see.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi. Great cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 4/5

Oliver Lee was about 20 minutes from White Sands National Monument, which was the initial appeal of the place. We had a little trouble backing into the sites as they are laid out a little differently than most. But it was paved and when we woke in the a.m., the view was spectacular! You could see Lincoln National Forest in your backyard and gaze across to the Sacramentos from your front window. There were also cool little paths leading to the comfort station from all around and great hiking. We highly recommend the Dog Canyon Trail that takes you into Lincoln National Forest. The only downfall: while the bathrooms were nice, the showers were push button. And took a long time to warm up. Mel only did it once before retreating to the camper bathroom.

Brantley Lake State Park – Carlsbad, NM

Cost: $14/night
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: Bath houses with showers. (Mel thought they seemed very military-esque).
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: Technically, yes. (See below)
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi. Good cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 2/5

Brantley Lake was…less than desirable. First, it’s next to a nat gas refinery. And you could smell it. Second, the lake was in a pretty bad state. Signs all over the park warn of its toxicity and that you should definitely NOT eat the fish you catch there. It was also in a very strange location. Kind of just right in the middle of the desert. No trees. No foliage. And for two days there was a wind advisory at the park (remember the lack of foliage?). It made our stay pretty miserable. And the bath houses were okay, but the toilets did not have a toilet seat. And they were metal. It felt very strange.

Davis Mountains State Park – Fort Davis, TX

Cost: $20/night.
Hookups: Water, electric + sewer (addtl fee).
Amenities: Bath houses with showers. Ice available for sale.
Additional Fees: $5/day per person entrance fee.
Hiking: Yes, many trails.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: Wifi available, but service is slow. NO cell service in the park (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 4/5

Davis Mountains State Park has javelinas. I think that says a lot right there. We’d never encountered them before and it was a great joy to watch them scamper about the park; especially the families with tiny javelina babies. Anywho, great hiking here. Several trails that run a mix of easy to moderate. There are luxury sites available with sewer hookups and just basic electric/water sites. The Indian Lodge is on park grounds and is very cool, too. The overall scenery, cleanliness of bath houses, activities, etc. made this campground very cool. The only bummer: absolutely NO cell service in the park. They try to make up for it with free Wifi, but it’s slow. So don’t count on any streaming.

Guadalupe River State Park – San Antonio, TX

Cost: $20/night.
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: Bath houses with showers. The grossest bath houses TD.
Additional Fees: $7/day per person entrance fee.
Hiking: Yes + river access.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: Wifi available in the interpretive center, but service is slow. Poor cell service in the park (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 2/5

Guadalupe River State Park had the worst bathrooms we’d encountered so far. Yes, it was rainy and cold while we were there. But there was mud and dirt all over the floors. There was a dirty half eaten apple in the sink of the ladies room. They were kind of smelly. All around, not so great. We did run down to the river, which was the saving grace of this park. The Guadalupe River was gorgeous, we saw a fly fisherman there one morning and it was very tranquil. We could imagine the extreme appeal in the summer. However, the rest of the park was kind of meh.

Sea Rim State Park – Port Arthur, TX

Cost: $20/night.
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: Outhouse style bathrooms.
Additional Fees: $3/day per person entrance fee.
Hiking: The Gambusia Trail was short, but amazing. There are also kayaking trails, but not much in the way of hiking.
Online Reservation: Yes, but their internet wasn’t working. So we had a few issues.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi and no/poor cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 2/5

We were very excited for Sea Rim State Park. Who doesn’t want to wake up to the ocean in your backyard? However, we ended up having the worst time here. There are only a dozen sites, most of which are pull through. So set up was easy. We woke up and walked out to the beach. So far, so good. But then trouble hit. The water lines had a leak, so right in the middle of Mel’s shower, the water was turned off and stayed off all day. Because of that, a bunch of mosquitos were kicked up and they invaded our camper. We tried without avail to keep them out, but they just kept on coming. We slept in our car. Then we went to check out – when we arrived their internet was down so they couldn’t process my reservation. Checking out was pretty miserable because no one had communicated that I’d made a down payment, when we’d arrived, etc. It was all kind of messy. So, this one gets a 2. We really wanted to like it. We did. We just had a bad experience. But do the Gambusia Trail. You might forget about everything else.

Saint Bernard State Park – New Orleans, LA

Cost: $18/night.
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: Bath houses with showers and laundry on-site.
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: No hiking at the park. But we ran around the different roads and park areas.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi. Okay cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 4/5

AMAZING park. We loved our stay here and felt very comfortable. First, we were greeted by the best park ranger, Ginger. She was friendly, helpful and awesome. Our site was paved, level and nice. The bathrooms, even though they were having a “wasps are dying in here problem” were nice. Toilets and showers were clean with good hot water. There aren’t any trails at this park, but we ran around the grounds several days and enjoyed it. This was our first park with laundy on site, and it was only $1 per load. That was a plus. We were also only 25 min. from New Orleans and it was a very easy drive. We loved it! We also saw armadillos for the first time (woo wildlife!) and the grounds were well maintained. All around great.

T.O. Fuller State Park – Memphis, TN

Cost: $20/night.
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: The NICEST bath houses and showers TD. Plus a great laundry room w/ books!
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: The T.O. Fuller Discovery Trail is about a 4.25 loop. It was beautiful, even in winter.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No Wifi. Cell service was surprisingly bad (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 4/5

The cleanest bathrooms we’ve met since Dead Horse! So great. These stalls have full size locking doors, benches, are newly painted, have great water temps and pressure. Truly a great shower – better than what we had at home. We hiked the T.O. Fuller Discovery Trail and found it lovely. Our park ranger, Tony, was super friendly and discounted us a night because the first site we picked had some frozen water lines (it was below freezing many nights!) and we had to move the next day. Brent, a fellow camper, had really improved the grounds and his dog Shadow was super nice. We just really loved this park. Oh, and it’s like 5 min. from Memphis, where we were visiting. One last thing: this park was the first open to African Americans East of the Mississippi. Very. Cool.

Wall Doxey State Park – Oxford, MS

Cost: $18/night via the honor box -- no attendant on duty.
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: There are bath houses w/ laundry, but beware...
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: The trail around Spring Lake is very pretty and only 2.5 mi. We hiked it 3x!
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No to free Wifi. Yes to cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 2/5

We really wanted to love this state park. Our site was nestled amongst crazy tall pines and heavily forested areas. The sites were paved and seemingly okay. The lake was gorgeous -- we hiked the 2.5 mile trail around it several times with Costello. However, the bath houses and facilities were quite terrible. They hadn't been cleaned for a very long time; according to the "cleaning log" in my bathroom, since April 2015. None of the showers at the bath house in our camping loop -- the new loop, mind you -- worked. The laundry facilities in the bath house were kind of gross and someone had left wet laundry in there for the entire week we were there. We do want to say that a little TLC will go a long way for this place, and again: views are stunning, and the reception hall where they have weddings/parties looked nice, too. But we also did not see a park ranger or park official the entire time we were there. And that was pretty creepy for us -- in fact, it made Mel extra paranoid and she made sure the camper was locked several times throughout the night. As we said in our note we left with final payment in the honor box: please clean up Wall Doxey. We think it could be a stellar place.

Oak Mountain State Park – Birmingham, AL

Cost: $34.98/night -- please note that this is a new price and they have not updated anything to reflect this! We were expecting $26/night per the website, but...
Hookups: Water, electric. Sewer is optional for an additional fee.
Amenities: Okay bath houses w/ laundry on-site.
Additional Fees: None.
Hiking: There are several trails around the park.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No to free Wifi. Yes to cell service (Verizon).
Overall Rating: 3/5

We got off on the wrong foot with Oak Mountain. First off, we were surprised when the fees were nearly $10 higher than we were expecting. Even on their own signage at the park they list it at $26 for water/electric. But it's clearly higher than that. The sites were nice, but it was kind of tricky to navigate in the dark. They have sites color coded by amenities: green = sewer/water/elec. Red = water/elec. Yellow = walk-in tent camping. Despite the bath houses looking kind of gross from wear and tear, they were regularly cleaned and water pressure was nice. So don't be fooled: you'll get a good, clean shower. However, the laundry facilities: only one. working. drier. in. the. entire. park. They had laundry facilities at two of the bath houses in our camping loop, but half of the machines didn't work. And the one working drier was a POS. And do not ask the attendants for quarters -- they won't give them to you. Finally: trash. The only trash site was crazy far away and there were no trash cans in the whole camping area. For those of you with dogs, you know what that means...not fun. Overall we felt that staff could have been a little friendlier. Facilities a little more up-to-date (there were TONS of winter campers) and the place just overall more maintained. Especially for the price.

Fort Yargo State Park – Winder, GA

Cost: $32/night.
Hookups: Water, electric.
Amenities: AMAZING bath houses with laundry.
Additional Fees: One-time $5 parking pass.
Hiking: Several mountain biking and hiking trails all over in this park. My mom and I hiked the 7.1 mile trail around the lake. It was stunning.
Online Reservation: Yes.
Wifi / Cell Service: No to free Wifi. Yes to cell service (Verizon). My mother is on U.S. Cellular and she had no service.
Overall Rating: 5/5

Fort Yargo is a dream of a state park. The camping sites / pads are THE NICEST we have seen with great landscaping and clearly defined spaces for camp fires, picnic tables and your equipment. The bath houses are seriously the nicest we've seen so far and the showers are better than any at the many apartments I've lived in. Laundry facilities were clean with nice machines. Our camping loop (loop 2) was right next to the Yurt Village they have. These yurts were amazing and seriously nice. Each had its own deck with adirondack chairs and grills/fire rings. The trail around the lake was easy to access and beautiful to hike. The cottages and cabins here are impeccable and look better than most hotel rooms. There is nice play equipment everywhere for the kiddos and outdoor activities abound -- we even saw the rowing team practicing here several times. In short: if you're in the ATL area, DO NOT miss Fort Yargo. It's beautiful and only about a 50 minute drive from MARTA and the city.