NORTH BEACH, Padre Island NP, TX

North Beach, 
Padre Island, TX 

RUN BY:   Nat’l Park Service

LOCATION:  27.478665   -97.273186

Last Visited:  12/10/2018

UTILITIES:  None

COST:  None

DISCOUNTS:  N/A 

OUR RATING (1-5):  Category II.  Score 5

NOTES:  This is the main things we came to Padre Island to do. It was worth the effort.  We didn’t know a thing about beach camping. Asked a Ranger about tides. He looked at where we were parked and said “You should be okay. Just keep watch.”  LOL. We were as close to the dunes as possible without getting stuck in soft sand. The water came within 50 feet at high tide.  If you are a beach lover, this place is for you. The area was quite clean and you can camp here without actually going through the park fee gate, even though you area technically inside the park.

Environment:  Seashore

Amenities:  None

Dump:  No

Public Water:  No

Toilets:  No

Showers:  No

Laundry:  No

Phone Service:  minimal Verizon

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.  Just after you pass the park sign, watch for the sign to the north beach camping to the left. If you get to the gate you’ve gone too far.

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

Camping Population:  very mixed.  People from everywhere. Lots of fisherers

Sites:   N/A  dispersed.  Just keep as close to the dunes as possible and watch the high tides.

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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.