TX Gulf beach camping during summer

[justanothermaroon]

Has anyone stayed the summer along the TX coast? I was at Padre Island last winter and liked it, thought I might spend a summer moving along the coast, maybe all the way to the FL Panhandle. I'm just not sure what the weather is like. Looking online, it doesn't seem too bad. I have no problem, with highs around 90.

 

[Carla618]

Has anyone stayed the summer along the TX coast? I was at Padre Island last winter and liked it, thought I might spend a summer moving along the coast, maybe all the way to the FL Panhandle. I'm just not sure what the weather is like. Looking online, it doesn't seem too bad. I have no problem, with highs around 90.

I think the problems will be the humidity and the insects. At least from the Louisiana coast to the Florida panhandle. From what I have heard anyway.

 

[Morgana]

I don't have a lot, but here are a few scraps ...
I was at Aransas NWR one day in July a few years back and you almost couldn't get out of the car for the bugs. Don't know how representative that is.
You can't really hug the shoreline all the way up the Texas coast, there are places where the road dips quite a ways inland. (I drove Port Arthur to Corpus and beyond once just to avoid going through Houston. It was worth it, but after Galveston it wasn't the beachiest route in the world.)
At least one person here has spent a good chunk of time on the Bolivar Peninsula, I don't remember who though -- hopefully they will chime in.
If you do this, check out Walter Umphrey State Park on the Sabine Pass (border of TX and LA), it looked kind of fun, especially for ship watching.
If you like funky gritty places you might route your trip through Port Arthur -- weird old abandoned brick high rises, a Buddhist monastery, and an excellent small museum with rock and roll, oil industry history, and nature exhibits (it's been awhile, I hope it's still there), and a shrimp fleet. Janis Joplin's home town.
The Louisiana coast is special but most of it is not very beachy. The sand doesn't really start up again until Mississippi. I was actually reading up on this a few months ago and IIRC Mississippi's state parks are much cheaper than Alabama's. OTOH Foley, Alabama was just designated by [some random website lol I have no idea if it's any good] as the best place to retire if you don't have any savings. Florida has an awesome state park system, with quite a few parks on the Panhandle (which I haven't been to).
That's all I got. Good luck!

 

[Carla618]

Louisiana has Holly Beach and Rutherford Beach. At both you can park and camp on the beach, but the mosquitos are severe.

INTJohn can help you. He knows the entire coast. Eastern seaboard to Texas beaches.

 

[justanothermaroon]

Don't like skeeters and flies. Maybe I'll stick to N Padre. Think the wind would keep the bugs away?

 

[Carla618]

Don't like skeeters and flies. Maybe I'll stick to N Padre. Think the wind would keep the bugs away?

it does. in the reviews for Rutherford Beach, some say the mosquitos were so bad their RV's were covered and they got inside. While others had no issues with them. The difference was the wind.

 

[bullfrog !]

I don’t know if you are aware but if staying long term on beaches or close to the ocean rust on bare metal parts can be an issue you might want to research as well.

 

[maki2]

I don’t know if you are aware but if staying long term on beaches or close to the ocean rust on bare metal parts can be an issue you might want to research as well.

Undercoating and go to car washes where you can rinse off the undercarriage too.

 

[Morgana]

I don’t know if you are aware but if staying long term on beaches or close to the ocean rust on bare metal parts can be an issue you might want to research as well.

And salt.

 

[Morgana]

Carla 618 said

Louisiana has Holly Beach and Rutherford Beach.

Have you been there? They are very different from Padre Island.
Sand beaches are not the Louisiana coast's strong point.
IIRC, even finding roads that you can see the sea from is not easy.
It's a very special place, but beachy it's not.
Justanother's proposed route (all or part) sounds fabulous but I would recommend a lot of research (start with a detailed look on Google Earth or even Maps) and being very clear on what your expectations are.

 

[JohnnyM]

^^^^ Yeah, what Morgana said -- Louisiana is a fabulous place to visit, but they don't do beaches. Texas has lots of beaches, but they're maintained at considerable expense and effort for the tourists to enjoy. Tourists and weekenders go to the beaches because they love the gulf breezes and the mosquitos don't, and so the beaches are a major source of revenue for the communities. One result of that, however, is that camping (the free kind, that is) is generally not allowed on the beaches. There are plenty of state parks and motels and pay campgrounds available, but the days of just parking your rig or pitching a tent on the beach are OVER.

I'm trying to think of the nicest way possible here to say that Texas loves its tourists (the kind with money, that is), but does not love its homeless people. If the law thinks that you are part of that second type of folks, they will politely insist that you leave the beach immediately.
There -- that's not too harsh, I guess. Anyway, absolutely go to the beaches and enjoy the warm weather and don't worry about the skeeters. Oh, and bring money.

Johnny

 

[WanderingRose]

camping (the free kind, that is) is generally not allowed on the beaches. There are plenty of state parks and motels and pay campgrounds available, but the days of just parking your rig or pitching a tent on the beach are OVER.

I believe you are wrong about this, JohnnyM, unless something has JUST changed.

One can camp for free on the beaches in Texas at Padre Island, Padre Island National Seashore, and off Port Bolivar just north of Galveston.

 

[WanderingRose]

If you have never been to Grand Isle State Park in Louisiana, it is not only a long but spectacular drive down there, but a beach.

 

[Carla618]

Louisiana beaches are supposed to have lots of shells. Rutherford, anyway. I'm taking my grandkids there in April. Hoping for a breeze

 

[bagabum]

I think the problems will be the humidity and the insects. At least from the Louisiana coast to the Florida panhandle. From what I have heard anyway.

South of Corpus Christy Tx is PINS, (Padre Island National Seashore) There is Malaquite Park you can stay at for a reduced fee with National Parks Pass (I have the Lifetime, it has paid for itself) Showers, restroom. (water, dump, garbage no power ). There is also Bird Island Park you can camp at across the road but on the bay side. (vault toilets) have to drive over to Malaquite for the rest of amenities, a mile away. Little cheaper also. You can also camp on the beach, 65 miles of stretch to camp on, all the way to the land cut. That is what I do, have to be totally self-sufficient as the bathroom is at the entrance to the beach. Totally free with a National Pass.

 

[Carla618]

South of Corpus Christy Tx is PINS, (Padre Island National Seashore) There is Malaquite Park you can stay at for a reduced fee with National Parks Pass (I have the Lifetime, it has paid for itself) Showers, restroom. (water, dump, garbage no power ). There is also Bird Island Park you can camp at across the road but on the bay side. (vault toilets) have to drive over to Malaquite for the rest of amenities, a mile away. Little cheaper also. You can also camp on the beach, 65 miles of stretch to camp on, all the way to the land cut. That is what I do, have to be totally self-sufficient as the bathroom is at the entrance to the beach. Totally free with a National Pass.

I'd like to go there, but my kids and grandchildren will be on spring break and won't have time to travel that far from Illinois.

Then there are the politics. Boycotting is best left for another thread, though.

 

[ChileVan]

Has anyone stayed the summer along the TX coast? I was at Padre Island last winter and liked it, thought I might spend a summer moving along the coast, maybe all the way to the FL Panhandle. I'm just not sure what the weather is like. Looking online, it doesn't seem too bad. I have no problem, with highs around 90.

Quick thought, and this is probably very obvious: be careful for hurricanes, tropical storms, etc. Although, maybe those types of storms are more common in the late summer/early fall?

 

[WanderingRose]

Last time I was at PINS, a couple of years ago, there was a private campground on the way down that offered use of their dump station and refill with fresh water at the bargain price of $4.

Any basic needs can be met within easy driving distance of the beaches, and locals not only seem to welcome tourists but to embrace them.

It is an amazing experience, camping directly on the beach, tho a very dirty way to camp, particularly if you have a dog going in and out.

Requires a thorough emptying out and cleaning once you leave, but so worth it.

 

[beachy]

The Gulf water is very warm, even hot in the summertime and it is very humid of course. What happens with the wind in summer is that the land heats up more than the ocean in the afternoon causing the “seabreeze”, a strong wind off of the ocean heading inland. Then at night the land cools more than the water and the wind reverses causing the “land breeze”. There are slack wind periods between these events where salt water mosquitoes arrive in huge numbers. These ‘salties’ are big and slow and easy to swat but they come in clouds. Horseflies (big biting flies) are sometimes a problem. For the public beaches, generally the more remote the beach the better they would be for camping. Near Galveston and Freeport I have noticed that retired law enforcement types often do informal patrols of the beaches out of boredom I guess. They may or may not be unfriendly. You must be aware of tides and weather because strong winds can push water up and completely flood the beach during high tide. If a tropical system is coming the whole coast can flood a day before without any obvious signs other than news reports. Getting stuck in the sand is a big problem in summer because the sand away from the water and near the beach access roads gets deep and very dry, called ‘sugar sand’. I used to fish all these areas when I was younger and did not notice many longer term campers.

 

[Morgana]

Beachy, that was a very informative and useful post.
It reminded me of one more thing -- I remember seeing warnings on the Padre Island website? actual signage? about using caution when remote-beach-camping because if you get stuck in the sand, it could cost hundreds of dollars to get back out. More of an issue there than some beaches, I guess, because you can beach-camp so far from the road. But something to keep in mind before you go too far if you're not used to driving on sand.