Camping on the beach at Padre Island

Kidoo wrote:

bob_nestor wrote:

barmcd wrote:
I don't know that I'd take something that heavy out on that sand. I've never seen a class A out there at the National Seashore. It's a pretty expensive tow is you get stuck.

There are 18-wheelers that travel the first couple of miles down the beach every day servicing the oil wells out there.

Ok, so the road must be pretty hard, sounds good. I do not plan to stay very long so the salt would not be a problem. I would wash it out right after.

The main part of the beach is actually considered a Texas State Hiway and it can be easily driven with any street legal vehicle for the first 5 miles or so. In fact, being a State Hiway it is technically illegal to operate a non-street legal vehicle on it. The sides closest to the roadway are packed pretty solid, but the closer up to the dunes you get the softer the sand gets. But over the years that I've been going down there I've seen lots of RVs, trailers, tents, etc camped near the dunes. And if you do get stuck there's almost always someone coming by that will lend a hand to get you out. A lot of locals run down there to surf fish and many of them have 4wd vehicles and they're typical friendly Texans.

I'd suggest stopping at the end of the pavement (there's a parking lot there and restrooms), and walking down the beach a way first to get a lay of the land before venturing out on the beach hiway.