Yarborough Pass (Padre Island National Seashore)

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

Padre Island National Seashore (NPS). Camping page https://www.nps.gov/pais/planyourvisit/camping.htm and Fees & Passes page https://www.nps.gov/pais/planyourvisit/fees.htm, both read 2026-08-16. FEE, verbatim from the fees page: "The fee for dispersed beach camping is included with your valid 7-Day, Annual, or Lifetime park entrance pass." There is no separate camping charge for the beach areas, but you must hold a park entrance pass -- and the fees page states "Park entrance fees are required year-round, for all areas of the park." So this is FREE CAMPING BEHIND A PAID GATE, not free camping. The fee flag on this row is set to 1 for that reason. STAY LIMIT, verbatim from the camping page: campers may stay "a maximun of 14 consecutive nights" [sic] and "not stay for more than a total of 28 calendar nights per year"; the place pages add that after 14 nights you "must vacate their site and leave the national seashore for at least 14 days". NO HOOKUPS ANYWHERE: "No electric or water hook-ups are available in the park." Quiet hours 10pm-6am, generators prohibited during quiet hours, pets must be leashed. Coordinates from the NPS official GIS layer NPS_Public_POIs_Geographic (https://mapservices.nps.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NationalDatasets/NPS_Public_POIs_Geographic/FeatureServer/0, queried 2026-08-16 by UNITCODE). Coordinates published by NPS on https://www.nps.gov/places/yarborough-pass.htm (read 2026-08-16), verbatim: "Decimal Degrees: 27.20434, -97.38929". NPS: "Yarborough Pass is a primitive camping area located along the Laguna Madre" and is "the only down-island access to the Laguna Madre". ACCESS IS SERIOUS: you drive South Beach roughly 15 miles of soft sand and then 1.6 miles of sand and caliche road; NPS says high-clearance 4WD is mandatory and that "Traveling on the beach and dirt road beyond the paved road is done so at your own risk". The road can close after heavy rain. NO CAMPFIRES ALLOWED HERE (unlike the gulf beaches). Facilities NPS lists: small-boat/kayak launch, primitive and tent campsites. There is no water, no toilet listed and no help within 15 miles. Nearest incorporated town: Petronila, 35.5 mi (US Census TIGERweb Incorporated Places, straight-line to the place's internal point). | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.

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.

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.