🛶🚐 Dude RV Returns to Ratcliff Lake | First Drop Box Trip + Kayak Adventure!

Welcome to Dude RV. I appreciate you stopping by and of course, say it with me, you got here just in time. That's right, just in time for another interesting video from the Dude RV production crew. Actually, it's just me. We're at Ratcliffe Lake, one of my favorite East Texas Forest Service campgrounds. We're here to add Ratcliffe Lake to the Kayak Chronicles, and this is the inaugural trip for the new RV, the new Dude RV air-conditioned bed. I don't have a name for it yet. We need to give her a name. I did not bring the scooter. We won't be doing any scooter activity. I did bring the e-bike. Probably won't be because we're just here for one night. I'm not going to be doing the typical, but we are going to go see some stuff and we're going to make sure the bathrooms are still clean. But most importantly, we're going to put the kayak on the water and get that video done. I'm very excited that I can park. This is a non-electric site. There's water somewhere nearby. I'll be doing an overview of the new box, the new RV, this trip if I get some sunshine. But as you can see, it's still a work in progress. We need some paint and some hardware. This is the primitive loop. There are, I don't know, there's like four RVs here today. I selected this site so I can just drag the kayak right down here and get in the water. Let's check out the campsite real quick. So you got this big, huge tent pad, great big timber table on a concrete pad that is kind of away from there. They are very adamant about you not parking on the grass. I got a big fire pit and the ubiquitous lantern hook. We are camping in style. The site is not anywhere close to being level, but fortunately, thanks to the little rig, I was able to shift it on the site and get her relatively level. This only weighs 1300 pounds and it is that weighs less than 100 pounds. The tongue weighs less than 100 pounds. It rattles. It's so well balanced. All right, and I just threw a bunch of camping stuff in here. So let me get an e-bike out. We'll go see some stuff and then we'll get on the water. These are ping campers only. It's just your typical government run campground. It's your typical government operated campground restroom. Big cement block with stainless steel fixtures. It is clean though. All right, let's go see what else. Let's go see some more Ratcliffe Lake stuff. We're camping over here too. We're going to go visit the Sawmill Loop. I'm in the Loblolly Loop. Access to the dam. I'm not sure if it's a day use. I think so. I don't know. You got a lantern, maybe a tent site. Anyway, we're going to go over there now. I'm over in the RV camping loop. This is where all power sites are. So site number 34. It's actually really, really flat. And then over here we have cement table, the Yalbecua's lantern hook, water on site, power on site, and that is most likely a 50 amp service. That is a 50 amp service. Big burn barrel, place to pitch a tent, and of course you've got your lantern hook. You're camping in style. The last time I was here, a tree had fallen on this and it was about 15 degrees. Anyway, we're headed to the day use area. The day use area is quite extensive. I just love these old CCC constructors. I just love these old CCC structures. A big open truss. I just think those are so cool. You do have to have a fishing license to fish Ratcliffe Lake as this is a federal campground, not a state park. The lake is not huge. Originally it was a mill pond. All right, let's go see some more stuff. Day use. No showers. I would have thought there would be showers. No showers in there either. Okay, well we're still touring the day use area. I guess that's where you shower. No dogs in the beach. They do have handicap access over there. Not very accessible though. Somebody needs to clean it out. Okay, I know my boat ramp fans are saying, where's the boat ramp? We'll go see the boat ramp. My boat ramp fans, y'all will be happy to know where there's actually water at the end of the boat ramp so you can go get in the water. All right, we are moving right along. If you're interested in camping at Ratcliffe Lake or even just visiting Ratcliffe Lake, you don't have to camp. You can go to Lufkin 30 miles away and get a hotel room. But if you want to visit, you can go to recreation.gov and find it or you can just show up. They do have sites that are non-reservable. So there's first come first serve. For power, electricity is going to be $20 per night. If you want to get a lakeside tent site, they're $15 and there's no power and no water. There's community water. Group site is $30. You can reserve the shelter for $35. And here's your trail map. We're going to kayak the whole way and then if we have time and I have energy, then we're going to maybe explore a trail. Welcome to Dude RV. Hey, I appreciate you stopping by. And of course, say it with me, you got here just in time. That's right. Just in time to kayak Ratcliffe Lake. Newest addition to the Kayak Chronicles playlist on the Dude RV channel. So I just put in back there in the grass, tall grass. One inch equals 20 feet. We are here. I need to update the images there. They're kind of faded out. It all goes back to the ground eventually. Everything returns to Mother Earth. We're still in the ruins. The first time I visited Ratcliffe Lake was during the pandemic. And they had, anyway, during COVID, these ruins were closed off. They were afraid we were going to contaminate or infect the buildings, I guess, the ruins. I don't know. But this was all closed off. Still no trail. The spillway. All right. Moving right along. Apparently the fish are still not biting. We're still, we have found the Lakeshore Trail. Nice little bench to sit there. All right. We'll continue on the Lakeshore Trail. The Lakeshore Trail is not ADA friendly. At least not this part of it. Back in its heyday, I bet this was a beautiful place. I bet this was a fun park. The people that are, I talked to some folks that were fishing and he said they used to have paddle boat rentals and all kinds of other activities, but no more. All right. We are moving right along. The Lakeside Trail is very well used on this side of the lake. It was not very used going across the dam. I'm done with all this stuff at Ratcliffe Lake. I'm done for today. I just lit the fire. You know what that means? Relaxation time. I'm digging my rig. I am so excited that I have finally built what I had in my head and it turned out better than what I was expecting. Yeah. All right. I'll check back in the morning. We're going off grid tomorrow. We're off grid now, but I paid for a site. We're boondocking for real in Texas tomorrow. Good morning from Ratcliffe Lake. Almost left without the fire poker. We are done. We are done with this brief visit to Ratcliffe Lake. I really like this park. One of my favorite in East Texas. The little box is working out great. I've got a few more tweaks and adjustments, but I'll get her dialed in pretty quick. If you've not visited Ratcliffe Lake, you should. It is definitely an RVer's dream kind of campsite, especially during the week. There's only like three people here now. It's been so quiet, but there's nothing here that I dislike. The bathrooms, they can use some renovation, but for the most part, this is a really cool park. Next week, we're going to visit the Caddo Mounds State Historical Site that has been renovated since the tornado blew it away. We're also going to explore around that area. It's not too far from here. Not even an hour's drive. It's the Neches River bottom, I guess. We're going to go see what we can find over there. Click subscribe. Follow the channel so that you don't miss those. I'm going to be working on an updated video progress for the drop box build. She's got a name. We'll leave it at that. We're done. Thank you for watching. For those of you who have been following along, thank you. For our patrons, your generosity truly helps keep the show on the road. Thank you. You guys rock. All right, y'all come back now. We'll see you next week.