Love
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:03 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Love Park is on the southeastern shore of Bardwell Lake, less than an hour south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area in north-central Texas. The lake has favorable fish and wildlife habitats, providing plenty of opportunities for fishing and hunting, and great locations for camping, boating and hiking. Deer, armadillo, rabbit, squirrel and a variety of bird species inhabit the area. Keep reading
Recreation
Many local fishermen consider Bardwell Lake one of the best kept secrets in the state. Bass fishermen seldom leave empty-handed. Crappie fishing is moderate, and catfish are usually excellent. The lake has a marina with fishing piers, two of which are enclosed (a small fee is charged for the use of these facilities), and there are several designated hunting areas around the lake, including those for duck hunting.
Facilities
Love Park offers one reservable group picnic pavilion that can accommodate up to 200 people. The facility also provides vault toilets and a four-lane boat ramp.
Natural Features
The park is grassy and partially forested. The lake's blue water provides a refreshing break from the Texas heat, while bright bluebonnets and other wildflowers surround the lakeshore each spring.
Nearby Attractions
Numerous amenities, as well as cultural and historical attractions, lie in the nearby cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.
What the agency tells you
This is a day use area; no overnight camping allowed.
The park is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; entrance stations close at 9 p.m.; a night exit is available for boaters.
Ground fires are not permitted.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
A permit is required for special events or activities occurring in the park; applications must be submitted 10 days prior to the event; contact Bardwell Lake Office at 972-875-5711 for more information from Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Swimming pools are not allowed.
Nothing may be nailed to trees or other plants.
All vehicle passes must be returned to the gate house upon final departure and check-out.
Boats are subject to inspection for Zebra mussels, an invasive aquatic species; Click Here to learn more.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally or burning wood from the parks on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…200 people. The facility also provides vault toilets and a four-lane boat ramp. Natural Features The…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Night sky · 128th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 5
Fully booked this Friday and Saturday, all 1 site-nights takenread 16:03 UTC
The agency files 21 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:03 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
21 records · the site map
All 21 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 21 of the 21 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| LOVE PARK | 1 | day use | 507 ftBardwell Lake | 289 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 10 | day use | 148 ftBardwell Lake | 756 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 11 | day use | 201 ftBardwell Lake | 692 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 12 | day use | 266 ftBardwell Lake | 604 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 13 | day use | 271 ftBardwell Lake | 544 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 14 | day use | 277 ftBardwell Lake | 466 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 15 | day use | 263 ftBardwell Lake | 389 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 16 | day use | 315 ftBardwell Lake | 219 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 17 | day use | 278 ftBardwell Lake | 192 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 18 | day use | 333 ftBardwell Lake | 136 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 19 | day use | 259 ftBardwell Lake | 273 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 2 | day use | 430 ftBardwell Lake | 265 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 20 | day use | 274 ftBardwell Lake | 319 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 3 | day use | 396 ftBardwell Lake | 255 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 4 | day use | 399 ftBardwell Lake | 202 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 5 | day use | 436 ftBardwell Lake | 283 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 6 | day use | 412 ftBardwell Lake | 356 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 7 | day use | 368 ftBardwell Lake | 545 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 8 | day use | 344 ftBardwell Lake | 645 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | 9 | day use | 167 ftBardwell Lake | 798 ft | $33.97 | ||
| LOVE PARK | GRP1 | day use | 60 ft | 30 amp | 658 ftBardwell Lake | 983 ft | $100 |
The agency files 21 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
High View1.3 mi
Mott1.8 mi
Waxahachie Ck3.2 mi
WOLF CREEK (Navarro Mills Lake)21 mi
OAK (Navarro Mills Lake)21 mi
PECAN POINT PARK (Navarro Mills Lake)22 miFrom Ennis, Texas: From Interstate 45, exit onto U.S. Highway 287 Bypass (exit #247). Travel 4.5 miles and exit at the Bardwell Lake exit sign. Turn left onto Highway 34 and go 0.2 miles. Turn left onto Lakeview Road. Travel 2.0 miles to the intersection of Beach Road. Make a slight turn to the right then proceed straight on Beach Road 0.4 miles to the park entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ennis, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 55°F, day 79°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 36°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Love is in Texas’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, Jake Ellzey (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyJake EllzeyU.S. Representative · Texas’s 6th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn CornynU.S. Senator · Texas
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTed CruzU.S. Senator · Texas
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Love has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jake Ellzey, I’m a constituent in Texas’s 6th district. Love, Texas carries 21 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Love (Texas) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Love has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear John Cornyn, I’m a constituent in Texas. Love, Texas carries 21 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Love (Texas) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Love has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Ted Cruz, I’m a constituent in Texas. Love, Texas carries 21 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Love (Texas) via campanac.com