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Submission
From 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 3.5 miles southwest. Turn left onto FM 985 and go 1.6 miles southeast to the entrance. The park is located on the left side of the road.
I read several negative reviews on this park before visiting and after staying for the night I really don't understand why. I would give it a true 3.5 rating. It is not as nice as a state park, yet not as bad as some of the KOA parks we have stayed. The park is nice for local boaters and has a swimming area. The restrooms were clean and had hot water. (The shower pressure could be a little stronger, but definitely met our needs). The park was pretty quiet after 10 p.m. and we slept well. We saw local police patroling throughout the park several times, which is a plus for safety. Our site was: level, had a covered picnic table, a grill, a fire pit, electrical hook up, and water spicket. We would definitely stay again if we were passing through.
My family and I absolutely love this park. It's beautiful and peaceful. The staff are sweet and kind and the lake views that I wake up to are amazing. I give this place 10 stars 🌟 🤩.
We reserved the group pavilion for the family to celebrate Easter. We get there and it looks like the place hasn't been touched in a VERY long time. Spider webs everywhere! The grass was up to my knees in some areas around the pavilion. Ant piles everywhere! It was horrible. Luckily my cousin was late in leaving her house and we asked if she could bring her lawnmower. It was that bad! We hosed the whole place down. The website says it fits 100 people.....it doesn't. I'll fit/seat maybe 36-40 people. That's it. It's small. We were expecting something WAY bigger since it said 100. Also, there are no trash cans in or near the restrooms. Not female or baby friendly since there is no where to throw away female sanitary pads or baby diapers. There was enough toilet paper at least. Also, there is no hand soap available either. The restrooms do have showers though. We still had fun, but will never come back here.
Park is not maintained at all. No sites have been mowed or treated for ants - my site had no safe place to put a tent and an ant mound bigger than my dog! Huge potholes in the pavement of each site as well, good luck leveling if you have a trailer. There are 4 bathroom/shower rooms in the loop my site was in. On my visit 2 were locked, one had 2 inches of water covering the entire floor, and the last had a snake. The boyscout troup there for the weekend brought their own mower. I recently got an email that Mott is raising its price to be comparable to other parks, but there's no way to justify that unless money is put back into the park. I paid $12/night which I thought was fair for just a lakeside spot with water/electric hookups, but don't pay more than that!
Nice park but the bathroom/showers are in serious need of pest control. A lot of spiders in there and even saw a scorpion crawling on the wall in one of the rooms. They do keep the grass mowed though. The water level of Bardwell lake is still a few feet low as of June 2023.
