Best Cabin Camping near Afton, OK

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Nestled in the foothills of the Ozarks, Natural Falls State Park boasts a unique beauty which is unmatched through other state parks within Oklahoma. Perhaps best known for its beautiful waterfall, there are many other things to do here that make this a great place to visit during camping season. 

I visited during the summer months, it was hot and sticky outside, but slightly overcast making it a perfect day to visit and enjoy the park itself as well as some of the camping options. 

Exploring this park is fun as trails wind around and meander through some of the most beautiful areas of Oklahoma. If you are a person who likes mountains more than plains, this area of Oklahoma is one for you as lush tree coverage and rocky crags abound. 

The campsites themselves are pretty typical of an Oklahoma campground. 44 RV sites, also which can accommodate tent campers who are in need of power and 17 tent sites are available in addition to yurts they have on property. Yurts are pretty common in many Oklahoma State Parks in this region I have found. The sites are pretty standard with fire rings, picnic tables and some lantern hooks, just the basic ground work laid for you to set up your own unique adventures. 

When visiting I noticed that the Yurt section had no visitors during the week day and the campground itself was sparse as well. During the weekends I can imagine this fills up much more as it is a great place to visit. 

Visiting is fun with lots to do including the hiking trails however they also have playgrounds, volleyball and disc golf. The one downside for those visiting during the heat of summer however is, unlike many parks in Oklahoma which offer swimming beaches or pools, this park does not have any swimming resources. This was not a deal breaker for me personally but I would think for many it could be. 

A few things I noted that apply at the park that could be negatives to visitors passing through. They do currently have a reservation system, this can have both pros and cons. The reservation system is pretty easy to navigate but does state that on weekends you must book for the 2 days of the weekend no exceptions. When visiting the park in person I was told you can also get a site on the day of, however there is no guarantee of sites being available. Unlike many parks which hold a certain number for arrivals they are moving toward a fully online booking system like many other states.

Fairly small state park but they have a lot to do. They have 17 tent sites and about 45 RV sites. There are also nice looking yurts you can tent. Our tent site had a picnic table, lantern hook, charcoal grill and a fire ring. Bathrooms were clean and had flush toilets and a shower.

There are 4.5 miles of great hiking trails at the park. You can find some great hidden spots along the river and enjoy the quiet.

Of course, the best part of the park is the 77 foot tall waterfall. The hike to the bottom is fairly steep but there is a sidewalk that takes you to an overlook at the top.

The park has probably the longest disc golf course I’ve ever seen.

Overall, I highly recommend Natural Falls State Park.

We arrived at 3 O'clock(an hour before check in) at Carsons cabin and they told us they were working on the showers. We waited until 5:30 to finally get the keys just to find that the showers were ice cold and NO ONE had even showered yet around 8pm! Then Saturday for our float the clerks were lost and kept trying to over charge everyone that paid in our group, even when I already paid my float deposit of$100 and was to go towards my own 4(2 adults 2 kids), she kept saying I owed. Then Saturday night we kept feeling things crawl on us, just to wake up to bites all over my 8 year olds body and a squished bed bug on my pillow that was full of blood and had just fed before getting squished! The supervisor apologized over and over but the owner still has yet to call me and fix this! I had to take my son to Urgent care because he had a severe allergic reaction to the bites and now I'm out even more money due to their bed bug problem! On top of that, we had to throw everything away so that we didnt bring any of them home! PLEASE DO NOT STAY HERE AND WASTE YOUR MONEY! Vacations are suppose to be relaxing and this was not even close!

I should start by saying we went to the park on Mother’s Day weekend. This may have, and probably did impact the crowd. However, the number of people makes me think it is like this on most weekends. I asked a park ranger and they indicated it’s very busy on the weekend. Due to the parks proximity to AR and OKlahoma (literally almost on the border), it is a high day use park. The actual camping areas are really nice. I’d break it down like this: if I’m a tent, the sites are great all around. If you’ve got a camper like me, the rv sites are real close together. I shared a video explaining my top choice. I’d choose site 4 bc it backs up to the playground, lots of green space around, and short walking distance to bathhouse. If I were going with another family, as my brother and I often do, I’d go with sites 5&6. They are in a corner, also back up to playground, lots of green, and short walking distance from bathhouse. One draw back is there is only one bathhouse for all campers. This is a big drawback for me. With the number of sites and the number of people who visit, this sort of grossed me out just thinking about it. I took pics of the inside of the men’s showers. They looked ok, not great. If you’re counting on using the bathhouse, I don’t know about this park. The pros of the park are many. It’s beautiful. Lots of great trails with a good mix of easy-difficult. The signature water fall trail is beautiful. The park has a disc golf course that’s really nice and well maintained. Lots of picnic tables, grills, etc around. Nice playground, beach volleyball, and horse shoes, all near both the tent and rv sites. There’s also a huge green space/field of sorts for throwing a frisbee, soccer, etc which isn’t altogether common in parks. Overall, it’s a great little park, but I’m giving it 3 stars bc of the sheer volume of people you have to deal with and the bathhouse issue. These issues alone will keep me from ever camping there unless I go during the week.