There’s nothing like East Texas camping in the Piney Woods and looking up at the clear night skies. In fact, Mount Pleasant KOA is the perfect day trip from Dallas, Texas, Longview, Paris and Tyler.
Journey KOA is a quick stop on your Interstate 30 journey. But even though it is a journey style KOA, the Mount Pleasant KOA campgrounds can be a restful stop for your family with its impressive list of family friendly amenities.
Mt. Pleasant, Texas, not South Carolina
Mt. Pleasant, Texas is in the northeast part of Texas, off Interstate 30. It is 133 miles from Dallas and an easy Interstate drive, perfect for an overnight trip. In less than 2 hours you can be East Texas camping, cooking s’mores and hotdogs around a campfire. Mt. Pleasant is over 5 hours from Austin, Texas and a 4 and a half hour drive from Houston, Texas.
East Texas Camping
I arrived in Mount Pleasant after about a 2 hour drive from Dallas and checked into the camping cabin. The Mt. Pleasant KOA is a quiet and secure campground for families. I was greeted immediately by one of the Kamp Workers, an employee of the campground franchise, who gave me my paperwork, a map of the KOA campgrounds, and my cabin key and even drove me to my site.
Once I arrived at my cabin just a few short steps away from the main office drove around the sites to familiarize myself with the surroundings. The small cabin was home for the night.
This location is a smaller KOA campground, those are called Journey KOAs. It has well-spaced campsites and two camping cabins. They have 75 RV hookups for RVs with a max pull-thru of 80 feet. A few tent sites sprinkled in between. They have two cabins available and I was lucky to get one on Labor Day weekend.
I circled back to my camping cabin which is a simple set up with a full-size bed and two bunk beds, a TV and a small fridge inside. Outside on the porch was porch swing, a fire pit and my own picnic table. This camping cabin is very similar to the Texarkana KOA campgrounds.
I settled in and brought all my items in my bunk and headed straight to the pool which conveniently was right across the from the cabin. The pine trees were beautiful and overlooked the pool providing ample shade. The swimming pool was very clean and only got about 4 feet deep. Perfect for the kids to cool off in and relax. The water was super cold even on an early September summer day (about 95 degrees) in Texas.
Do KOA cabins have kitchens?
Not every KOA cabin has a kitchen but they do have a grill or firepit on the patio. The deluxe cabin includes a kitchen and a bathroom and sometimes a coffee maker. The camping cabin is a little more rustic. It has a mini-fridge and sometimes a microwave.
Since Mt. Pleasant doesn’t have any deluxe cabins that include a kitchen and bathroom, I used the outdoor grill to make my hearty meal.
My stomach was grumbling so I googled directions to the nearest Walmart which was just a few minutes away. Fun trivia fact: the Mt. Pleasant Walmart is the very first Walmart location in Texas.
I decided on a fat juicy piece of Filet Mignon and corn on the cob which turned out perfectly. The barbecue grill was detailed to almost like new condition and after a slow cooked juicy dinner I caught up on a little reading on the comfortable porch swing.
Family friendly amenities
- Cable TV
- Free WI-FI
- Catch and release fishing pond
- Pool open May-Sept.
- Dog Park
- On-site laundry
- horseshoe pit
- playground
- General Store
What to do in Mt. Pleasant, Texas?
Mt. Pleasant is a rural Texas town of about 15,000 residents. This quiet small town has a public golf course at the Mount Pleasant Country Club. Shopping and restaurants are also within walking distance if you want to experience the town.
Is Mt. Pleasant KOA family friendly?
Mount Pleasant KOA is a northeast Texas family camping getaway that rivals the more populated camping areas of Texas. I recommend this quiet and family-friendly escape from the hustle and bustle. Yes, this place is family-friendly for both kids and parents to make some lasting outdoor memories.