COE Waurika Lake Kiowa Park

This campground on paper is a great idea, plenty of sites and right by the lake. That seems like a great idea, but on a recent trip to Lawton I stopped to check it out for future camping and found that paper was a bit deceiving. I was greeted by a park attendant which let me drive in and check it out. I noticed this person was here most of the day so people could arrive late and still check in accordingly.

Because of its location it is a popular spot for those wanting to launch onto the lake. I don’t have any issue with sharing space, but when people park in the road it becomes a little bit of an issue. I have a small car so if I can barely fit around these parked vehicles I know it would be near impossible for an RV or even a van.

With that being said, I looked around at the sites themselves. They are advertised for their amenities which include electrical hook ups (various types) and water. It appeared they did indeed have these, but they did have any primitive site options for tent campers. While I do like to stay in improved sites it is nice to have the more affordable option for those which do not need or require these services. Many times when I stay in a tent, I have no reason to hook up to any of these services. In addition, there were no pad sites for tents so while they do allow tents the do not make special concessions for them in any way.

I went to check out the facilities which include showers and it seemed to be heavily used though there were not any real campers there I could find nearby. I assume this was from the traffic of those using the ramps. I did not check other restrooms to see if their quality was better than the one by the ramp area.

The setting itself was relatedly flat and though there were some trees, it didn’t seem very shady at all. I can only imagine this makes for quite the hot summer camping.

TIPS:

• Make a reservation for a site away from the ramp if you want quiet and less traffic.
• Check out local burn bans then if there is not one in the area purchase your firewood locally very inexpensively.
• If you are coming for the Rattlesnake Roundup, book in advance. The attendant did let me know that it is pretty busy that weekend with people traveling from around the country for the event. It is their busiest weekend of the year with the 4th of July running second.