MALAQUITE CG, Padre Island NP, TX

Malaquite CG, Padre Island, TX

RUN BY:   Nat’l Park Service

LOCATION:  27.431719   -97.295382

UTILITIES:  None

COST:  $14

DISCOUNTS:  50% with Senior card 

OUR RATING (1-5):  Category I.  Score 2+

NOTES:  We were going to camp on the beach but when we pulled up and the water almost to the truck we chickened out and went to this campground. It is protected by dunes.  Met a lot of nice people.

Environment:  Beach

Amenities:  None

Dump:  Yes

Public Water: Yes 

Toilets: Yes

Showers:  Yes (cold)

Laundry:  No

Phone Service: No 

Nearest Propane:  South Texas Trolling Motors, 9705 S Padre Island Dr, Corpus Christi, TX 

Location:  Pick up Texas-358 in Corpus Christi.  Follow 358 east. It becomes John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway which becomes Park-22 when you get on the island.  When you see the Visitor Center approaching watch to your left (east, ocean side). The turn is marked.

Proximity to shopping:  Padre Island has everything you might need.

Camping Population:  very mixed.  People from everywhere.

Sites:  Like a parking lot.

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RATING KEY:    category - score 

Categories:  I - established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days

                    II -  boondocking, dry camping where there are no designated sites and no amenities but

                               one might choose to stay for more than a night.

                    III - over-night areas 

You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities, location, safety, camping population, site, phone service 

* There are people who are not full-timers and van-dwellers by choice. We try hard not to be demeaning or assume that they are bad people but sadly, as you find in the poorer parts of a city, there seems to be more crime. Many call these people van-dwellers. That isn’t really accurate even though they do often live in vans. We know quite a few van-dwellers who have good incomes, are full-timers by choice and prefer a van to other types of vehicles. To try to show some respect for people who have a difficult lot in life, I’m calling them ‘residential campers’.  It is only when you get a high proportion of residential campers in an area that you find an increase in petty theft, etc.