Agency-listedUSACEFree
Jackson Creek Park
Drive-up · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX · 33.22468, -94.30281
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Free camping at a US Army Corps of Engineers park on Wright Patman Lake, Texas. The Corps states in writing that camping here is free: "Jackson Creek Park is a free primitive camping area." Wright Patman fee page also lists "Free camping areas - Jackson Creek." There is no camping fee, no day-use fee, no permit and no pass required -- you just show up, and sites are first-come, first-served. Picnic tables and a ground fire ring at each site, a boat ramp and a vault restroom. No drinking water and no electricity -- bring all your own water. Stay limit is 14 days in any 30-day period. This is primitive camping: plan on hauling out your own trash, and check current conditions with the lake office before a long drive, since the Corps closes parks for flooding and lake levels swing a lot in Texas.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Jackson Creek Park
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 236 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Jackson Creek ParkNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Jackson Creek Park · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- DDump38 mi
- WWater49 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 49-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Jackson Creek Park
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Elevation
236 ft
Ground slope
12.2% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~7.9 mi · passing siding
State
TX
Coordinates
33.22468, -94.30281
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Jackson Creek Park · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWright Patman Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townPoorboy Landing · ~0.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.9 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~9.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~10.2 mi
- PharmacyBrookshire's Pharmacy · ~17.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicCHRISTUS Saint Michael Hospital-Atlanta · ~11.5 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~19.4 mi
EV charging — from Jackson Creek Park · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.6 mi straight-line NE — Nash, TX - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 20 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 9 within 50 · 46 within 100 · 183 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS19.7 mi — MB OF TEXARKANA ABB SHOP, Texarkana
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO34.0 mi — TA EXPRESS 919 STATION 1, Hosston
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)19.7 mi — MB OF TEXARKANA CUSTOMER 1 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 329770 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Jackson Creek Park · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaTexarkana (WC) (3-12-A) · ~29.2 mi NE
Coming out here — Jackson Creek Park · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Wright Patman Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 12.2% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~7.9 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a passing siding. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Jackson Creek Park elsewhere
Other camps near Jackson Creek Park
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Thomas Lake Park~10.2 mi
- Crabtree Landing Camping Area~21.3 mi
- Lower Mound Camping Area~21.4 mi
Who holds the land at Jackson Creek Park
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Wright Patman Recreation Area, manager on record: Army Corps of Engineers (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Jackson Creek Park
Stay limit
14 nights (Stay limit is 14 days in any 30-day period)
Fee note
no fee AND no permit/pass required
Source
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
Source: USACE Fort Worth District official park page https://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/wrightpatman/Recreation/Parks/Corpsparks.shtml (retrieved 2026-07-20); free-camping wording quoted verbatim in field_note. Coordinates: SWF ArcGIS USACE_FortWorth_Hunting/1 boat_ramp_point 'Jackson Creek' (WP-28151). Verified free = no fee AND no permit/pass required, per Dave's Texas free-only rule. Ingested pending 2026-07-20 04:53:36.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Jackson Creek Park
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Jackson Creek Park
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Hot-weather camping →How to read this page →All field notes →