Shaffer Bend Recreation Area

"Highly recommend this park/camp ground. Bring your bikes, pets, tents and all. If you can, book campsite 16 or 17, you will not be disappointed, it's right next to the lake shore. This place is sooooo beautiful! Plus, the owners rock, literally some of the nicest people on the planet. This is one place around the Austin area that you should have on your list to check out."

"Nice trails, nice river. Decent views. Very quiet as we were the only group there but it was 30 degrees at night."

"We stayed for one night of camping. The husband and wife at the front gate are super friendly and helpful. The only disappoinment was that we tried to get in the day before for one extra day of camping and the main office didn't call us back or forward the call to the camp hosts."

"A nice little park to get away for a day or so. Shaffer Bend has about 5 miles worth of trails that are hiking and horse approved. The campsites are nice. There's three main clusters and then a few sites that are kinda off on their own. Most of the sites have bbq pits and close access to a portapotty, but very little privacy. Sites 10 and 11 are much more secluded, but only have a fire ring (no bbq pit) and are a much further walk from the toilets. None of the sites have water spigots or electricity, some have places to keep a horse, all have views of the river."

"Park is still recovering from the flood but overall it's a great place to day trip or weekend camp. Trails allow for hike, dogs on leash, mountain bikes and horses. There's a Sandy Beach for swimming or fishing from shore. Primitive camping (but no dump station) so you need to be fully self contained if you bring your RV. Porta John's were clean and recently serviced. Camp sites were large and a couple had small corrals for the horses. You'll likely see some wildlife. We saw deer tracks and what looked like a bobcat?"