Up next in 10
Campground Review of Beavers Bend State Park on Broken Bow Lake
6K views
May 22, 2024
This is a video about Beaver's Bend State Park in Oklahoma. Simon has been to this park both camping and day-tripping to fish, and knows it inside and out. If you're looking to get away for some mountain lake and river time, this is a fantastic campground with tons of amenities. Start planning your trip: https://www.brokenbowlake.net/ In this video: 0:00 - History of Beavers Bend 0:56 - Sections of the Park 1:33 - Ways to Stay Here 2:25 - When to Visit Beavers Bend 2:43 - Fishing Beavers Bend 3:59 - How to Enjoy the River 5:30 - Campground Areas 7:11 - Restrooms & Infrastructure 7:57 - Kids Activities
View Video Transcript
0:00
What's up everybody, it's Simon from LakeHub. Today we're doing a campground review of Beavers Bend State Park in southeastern Oklahoma on Broken Bow Lake and the Lower Mountain Fork River
0:10
So Beavers Bend State Park is one of the original Oklahoma State Parks. It was built in the 1930s, part of the Civilian Conservation Corps projects
0:20
And let me tell you what, as far as natural beauty, as far as variety, as far as stuff to do, it's hard to beat this place
0:28
This is an awesome, awesome campground. I can't tell you how much I love this place
0:34
Interestingly enough, Beavers Bend State Park is not named for the animal
0:40
I just learned this. It's named for a guy named John Beavers. Isn't that funny
0:46
I just assumed it was the animal. I mean, I think everybody assumes it's the animal
0:51
It was a guy named John Beavers. I just thought that was weird
0:55
There's two parts of the state park. There's the lake part and then the river part
1:00
The river part is below the dam and the spillway on the Lower Mountain Fork River
1:05
That's where I'm at right now. You see it right behind me. It is a gorgeous river
1:10
It's a fairly slow moving, very fishable, kayakable, canoeable river. There are sections where there are rocks and rapids and all that kind of stuff and you can't float and it's dangerous to wade
1:25
Once it gets down into the camping area, it's big loopy bends like this, real wide and just awesome
1:33
So there are several hundred campsites in total. Just within the state park on the riverside downstream from the lake, there are four dozen places you can rent
1:45
Like cabins, small cabins, big cabins, right on the river, off the river and on the mountainside
1:51
Yurts for if you're into glamping, that sort of thing. So there are dozens of places to stay within the state park if you don't have a camper
2:03
And if you do, there are places with 50 amp hookups, 30 amp hookups and then a lot of dry camping
2:13
In fact, if you want the best spots in the park, both on the lake and on the river
2:19
if you want the waterfront spots, the scenic spots, the really cool spots, you gotta tent camp
2:25
That's the way to go. Right now we're out here in the fall and this is the best time to camp here
2:30
It is just gorgeous. It's like 70 degrees during the day. Leaves are starting to turn
2:36
So it's pretty. The water's cool and it is just an absolute gorgeous time to camp down here
2:43
If you like fishing, there is no shortage of fishing in the state park
2:48
On the lake, you have largemouth, smallmouth. If you're going to get out on a boat, you can even catch some walleye, pike
2:56
If you're on the river, it's stocked with rainbow trout. There are native brown trout and there are kind of semi-native rainbows that have started reproducing over the years
3:07
So they were stockers originally, but now they're breeders. So there's kind of a mix of everything and fly fishermen love fishing the state park in the river
3:21
It's really one of the closest places to the prairie land that you can get a true trout fly fishing kind of mountain river experience
3:32
So there's a lot of people that come in from the prairie land, Oklahoma and Texas, even Arkansas, Louisiana
3:39
There's even a fly shop in the state park. Right over there
3:45
Right on the water. So if you need to gear up, if you want to stop in and kind of, you know, shoot the breeze, get a little intel before you hit the water
3:55
Gotta love a good fly shop, right? So each section of the park and each section of the river has its own kind of character
4:03
There's these kind of rapids and pools and stuff up by the spillway
4:07
There's no camping up there. But once we get into the camping, you know, this section right here, there's a there's a canoe rental service that will trailer you up
4:16
And then you put in and you float all the way around this whole bend
4:20
And then you end at the at the kind of canoe area down here right behind me
4:27
There's also a designated swimming area. Now this you can wade. You know, you can wade in most of this river
4:35
Most of this river upstream from the hydro dam because there is a hydroelectric plant in the in the main dam and it'll suck water up from the river and then put water back in the river. So
4:49
So where that where that puts in and then downstream from there can be actually really dangerous to swim
4:56
Swimming is not allowed. Boating, kayaking and all that kind of stuff. Wading is not allowed downstream of there
5:02
And there will actually be like a siren that goes off when the hydro plants about to release
5:06
Sounds like a tornado siren. That's the only I would say that's the only funky part about staying here is that sometimes you hear siren throughout the day
5:14
You know, it's just kind of part of the park. It's part of it's part of enjoying recreation
5:19
It's also right next to a power plant. But there is the spillway that bypasses that whole area
5:25
And that's where most of the water recreation. In fact, that's where all the water recreation takes place
5:30
There are in the riverside. There are eight distinct campground areas. They're named alphabetically and they're all very different
5:38
They have different amenities. They have a different different views. They have, you know, different waterfront access and and, you know, different camping styles
5:51
I mean, there's the ones that are further to the south are going to be for your bigger rigs or more like kind of flat level pull in type type spots
6:00
Rather than, you know, this this tent camping area that's right behind me, which is kind of wild and wooly, you know
6:07
So if you're more the adventurous type, you like to tent camp, then go to the north end of the park
6:13
And if you've got a big rig, I mean, you'll you'll know pretty quickly when you're going to book it
6:18
Book your campsite that you're limited to the south end of the park
6:23
And in the middle is kind of where all the the cabins and yurts and all that kind of stuff are
6:29
Now, on the lakeside, closer to town is going to be where your your RV pads and, you know, big hookups, 50 amp service, 30 amp service are going to be
6:42
And then all the tent camping is all around all the points that are basically all around the marina
6:48
So kind of in in and around the marina where all the boat ramps are, where all the public boat ramps are
6:54
That's where all of your tent camping is. And I mean, you're just shorefront, like almost every spot is just shorefront, which is really, really cool
7:02
I mean, just to have just to be able to have that on a lake, you know, especially a beautiful lake like Broken Bow Lake is really, really great
7:12
As far as restrooms and amenities, I would say they're what you'd expect from a state park
7:18
And also they're improving. I mean, every time we come out here, there's something new
7:23
There's a new bridge. There's new access. There's new beach area, new parking area
7:28
There's a new just right up the hill here. There's a new restroom building
7:32
So there's definitely, you know, state funds going into this place and making it better every single year
7:39
Every year that we've come out here. And I mean, I've been to the park probably a dozen times
7:45
I really, really like this park. Every time I come out here, there's something new
7:50
And there's even there's even like a restaurant that used to be used to be a little convenience store
7:55
Now it's actually a restaurant right on the water. There's stuff for the kids
7:59
There's like a train ride, a little mini train, right? And it goes through the woods
8:03
It's really cool. So if you're itching for a little outside adventure, come and visit Beavers Bend State Park on Broken Bow Lake and the Lower Mountain Fork River in southeastern Oklahoma
8:14
You will not be disappointed. I promise you. Start your planning at brokenbowlake.net
8:21
I'll put the link down below. I'm Simon from Lake Ebb. We'll see you on the water
#Fishing
#Hiking & Camping
#Regional Parks & Gardens