Searching for a place to camp with your dog near Amorita? Find the best information on pet-friendly campsites and dispersed camping near Amorita, including sites, reviews, and tips for getting the most out of your camping experience. Each pet-friendly spot offers quick access to one or more of Amorita's most popular destinations.
Salt Plains State Park is one of Oklahoma's most unique state parks. The barren landscape of the nearby Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is comprised of salt leftover from an ocean that covered Oklahoma in prehistoric times, and the saltwater lake in the park, Great Salt Plains Lake, is about half as salty as the ocean.
Visitors can take their pick of activities in the park, such as swimming in Great Salt Plains Lake or trekking along bike trails. Equestrians can bring their horses to ride designated trails, and there are nature trails to enjoy while taking in the scenery. Fishing at the lake is fun for the entire family, whether in a boat or onshore. Varieties of fish such as catfish, saugeye, sand bass and hybrid striper can be found in these salty, shallow waters. You can also bring your canoe or kayak and enjoy a trip around the lake viewing the many migratory birds that pass through the area.
The selenite crystal dig area is located southwest of the lake in the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, and access roads are available six miles west of Jet or three miles south of Cherokee. The crystal digging area is open from April 1 to October 15 from sunrise to sunset. Located just under the surface of the salt plains, these crystals usually form into an hourglass shape. Oklahoma is the only place in the world where the hourglass-shaped selenite crystal can be found. While searching for crystals, look for some of the over 300 species of protected birds that live in and can be seen in the refuge.
Enjoy a multi-day stay at Salt Plains State Park in one of the renovated, eco-friendly cabins. Each of the six cabins has its own bed, refrigerator and stove, among other amenities. Pets are allowed in select units for a small nightly fee. Also, overnight camping is available in an RV or tent site. One full hookup site is available. Online reservations must be made for all RV and tent campsites. Comfort stations with showers are located near the sites and throughout the park for the convenience of visitors. Great Salt Plains State Park also offers picnic pavilions and outdoor grills.
$25 / night
This recreation area is part of Great Salt Plains Lake
A prime example of Oklahoma's diverse terrain, Little Sahara State Park boasts over 1,600 acres of sand dunes, ranging in height from 25 to 75 feet. The vast dunes have formed over time from terrace deposits, remnants of prehistoric times when the Cimarron River flowed over the entire area. Located south of Waynoka in northwest Oklahoma, the park offers RV sites with water, electric and sewer hookups, tent sites, picnic areas and comfort stations. All campsites must be reserved online.
The main attraction at Little Sahara State Park is dune buggy and ATV riding across the sand dunes. Visitors can either bring their own ATV or rent one off-site by a private vendor. Either way, visitors will have a blast in this mini-desert atmosphere, known as one of the best riding spots for ATVs in the Midwest. The cost is $10 a day for all drivers and passengers to get on the sand. Passengers under 10 years old are free. The park also offers an annual family pass for frequent visitors. Cost for the pass is $200 for the first and $125 for each additional family member in the same household.
Please note: Pedestrian foot traffic is prohibited in the dune riding area. Please visit the observation deck located in the Buttercup Campground to view the dunes.
Groceries and fuel are available to purchase in nearby Waynoka. Concessions are not offered in the park.
A permit is required to take professional photos in the dune riding area. Please contact the park office for more information.
All vehicles at Little Sahara State Park are required to follow park rules and regulations.
PARK SAFETY RULES AND REGULATIONS:
All vehicles must have a whip attached to the ORV that extends 10 feet from the ground to the top of the whip.
All vehicles must have a 6" x 12" flag attached within 10" of the whip's tip. It must be bright solid orange in color.
All vehicles must have a bright white front and red rear lights powered by the vehicle for night use.
Dune buggies and 4x4 vehicles must have a roll bar sufficient to support the weight of the vehicle and must have a seat belt for each passenger.
Oklahoma law requires every child under 8 years of age to be properly secured in a child passenger restraint system.
Full coverage helmets are strongly suggested. Riding is at your own risk. Please stay within the posted park boundaries.
Any person under the age of 18 who is not in a vehicle with a structured roll cage is required to wear a helmet.
Double riding is not allowed on ATVs unless the vehicle is specifically manufactured for a passenger.
Dune riding area is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If gate attendant is not on duty, it is your responsibility to go to the park office or kiosk to pay for your riding fees. Kiosks are located at Competition and Buttercup Campgrounds.
Alcohol is strictly prohibited in the dune riding area.
Forest Oaks RV Park offers 52 RV lots for rent. Contractor discounts are available to agricultural workers and workers working at the Flat Ridge Wind and Solar project in Harper and Kingman Counties. Our site has a full-time, onsite caretaker who maintains the grounds and addresses guest concerns. The park is 1 minute away from laundry, 1 minute away from wi-fi, and 3-5 minutes away from stores and restaurants. Located right on the edge of Anthony, KS, we are also across the street from a city park that hosts playground equipment for children. The park has numerous, beautiful trees for shade and features 20, 30, and 50 amp hookups, along with water and sewer hookups in every lot. Gravel roads and gravel pads facilitate rapid evaporation of rain water.
$500 - $600 / night
ScoutIt was a little tough getting into the park, road construction on US 160. Got here, the only RV here, Electric and water are BOTH available and there is a city maintained dump station in town! They ask for donations, which I will gladly give. Making a cross country trip home on smaller US highways. The drive here from the West is very pleasant. I look forward to exploring the area tomorrow.
ScoutNo cell service around the park at all. No over the air tv. Great place to bring your kids if you want them to put the phones down and spend quality time with you.
Guide
This was our first time staying in an Oklahoma State park. We had a great site (#1). Very level, near the bathhouse and cave entrance. I could only get cold water in the shower. That was invigorating! I asked at the ranger station and they told me how to work the shower handle. I went back the next day and same thing, no hot water! Other than that it’s a great campground.
Guide
We will stay here 5 nights. Shower/bathrooms are clean and near the RV spots.. The beach/access to the lake is very near the RV sites. Park very big and lots of different areas to explore. Out of the way but well worth the drive.
TravelerI love this campground because it’s close to home. The new bathrooms and showers are WONDERFUL, especially compared to what they were before. And the park itself is super clean and well kept. The tent sites have the most wonderful views and and right on the lakefront. If you need hookups though, your view - and possibly your cell signal - is completely lost. (I was using T-Mobile. It doesn’t work here hardly at all. Verizon and AT&T work best.)
Bathrooms nearby both tent and hookup sites.
My only complaint is that the stickers in the hookup sites were BAD - like full bottoms of my shoes bad and inside my campervan bad. #OUCH 😭😭😭
GuideThis park had the most amazing view, clean showers, great park, and not to far from the crystal digging. The dump station on the other hand... Just weird. The hole was huge and awkward. Thank goodness we only had to dump once. Other than that this was a perfect little spot.
GuideWe stayed at the Sand Beach Campground. It was hard to find since it's not past the main enternace it is further along 84 past the equestrian campsite and behind the rv park. But we were right on the water which was awesome. But then the winds increased from 16mph to 27 to 40 in a day and didn't die down the rest of our stay.
GuideWe had a great time, and we’re super fortunate the park staff were all so friendly and helpful as we did need a little help finding our spot. The kids had a great time digging at the salt flats - don’t forget sunscreen!! Great temps all around. We flew kites, fished and relaxed.
TravelerVery friendly owner. Worked with us on our arrival. We fit in a super C (Semi truck) 41ft long x 13.6 height with flat tow. Verizon cell service excellent. Quiet. Trash available. No tables. Would stay here again.
GuideNice park but awful showers some don’t spray at all and no hot water, park has lots to offer for entertainment!
ScoutI am so glad we found this spot on Dyrt. We stopped here on a loooong drive from Southern California to Missouri. Sadly we could only stay for about an hour but I would love to spend much more time here.
We were at the Sandy Beach campground. It was a Friday afternoon and there was barely anyone there. The dogs were able to play in the water and I had a nice lunch in the shade at a picnic table. It was warm but not terribly so, and it’s OK at the end of summer, so no complaints.
Definitely worth going a bit off the beaten path for.
ScoutWas a spacious, shady camp along the river, fished, some short hikes and visited the great salt plains state park and dug crystals that can only find there. Clean bathrooms, showers, and water and elec. Would stay there again..
ScoutTent site bath house out of commission. Wal-Mart is 40miles away, get what ever you need before you get there.
RangerStayed a night here. It was nice and quiet and lots of space in between the camp spots. Showers are a little rudimentary with no real privacy. Big stalls, but doors are only half size so anyone can look in.
GuideWe had a large area that was great for tents and hammocks. Fire pits had cooking services, more than one picnic table, good restrooms.
TravelerExceeded expectations! The park and camp grounds were clean and quiet. We will absolutely be back. The salt flats are incredible!
TravelerIt was awesome!! Beautiful!! Quit!! Refreshing!! Just what I needed. Clean, Staff was great.
Scout
We’ve stayed there twice. Clean and relatively quiet depending on amount of campsites filled. Nice pool.
RangerVery pretty park with lots of trees in the campground, birdwatching and fishing! Family and group friendly. Sweet little wildwood chapel and nice trails. It's a popular park, well kept and friendly. Paved RV sites with water and electric, some a little too close together. Reservations must be made through Reserve America. The only distraction was the morning we left, when several small planes made practice landings and takeoffs at the nearby Jet Airport. They were so noisy when they flew over the campground and river that you couldn't hear anything but the engine noise. Not sure how often this happens. It was a Monday morning that day.
GuideStayed here for a couple of days while traveling to Colorado with friends. The caverns where very interesting as well as the trails around the campground. You could see alabaster everywhere, beautifully exposed. The area appears to be a Dark Sky Area with little artificial light, so the night sky was brilliant!
The campground hosts were very friendly and informative. I would stop here again if my route takes me that way.
RangerYou can’t camp at the actual Salt Plains. We spent the day here and had such an awesome time. I took kids ages 3-12 and they all had a blast. Make sure to bring metal shovels and metal hand shovels bc the plastic ones will break, you will want sand buckets, egg cartons to put the crystals in bc when they come out they are still soft and brittle, sunscreen, lots of water, towels, baby wipes, a umbrella if you have one (we didn’t need it but a lot of people prefer them). I can’t stand sand/salt on me (think nails on a chalk board feeling) so I needed to shower pronto afterwards and couldn’t so lots of water to rinse off with is a good thing to have. You will have sand and salt all over your car inside and out FYI lol.
GuideThe camping at Great Salt Plains State park is a fine place to park the camper and stay, but most of the adventure is elsewhere in the park/refuge. You'll need to drive to get to almost everything.
We stayed at the Sandy Beach Campground. This review is for that campground. If I had to do it again (I will) I would stay at the River Road Campground. It's much more shaded, more isolated and along the river. Not to mention the awesome Cliff Swallow flights from under the river bridge!
The campsite is clean and simple. The sites on the western edge have more shade than the rest, the sites in the center of the loop can feel strangely exposed with little in the way of natural boundaries between sites.
Noise level: Look... this is a OK stake park lake site. Yes it's attached to a national refuge. Yes there are awesome things to see and do. But it's still a lakeside park. So, expect lots of huge 5th wheels with big outdoor speakers. In the summer I would guess there will be at least one camper who wants to share his music with you. It's a shame... but it's true. There is also a fighter training base adjacent to the park run by the Air Force. It's not as obnoxious as bubba's music, but just know it's there. And most of the time they just fly during the day.
You can walk to the lake and the swimming area near the dam. It's a day use area, so there's some folks that like to leave some trash, but you know... pick it up for them and carry on.
Now... when you leave there and head into the national refuge, that's where things get great. What a beautiful, unexpected landscape. The north side of the refuge has great hiking trails that are full of wildlife. The southwest side of course has the crystal digging area. It's really a great place to spend a weekend. Word to the wise, in the fairer months, get on and off the salt plains early to avoid the heat and the day trippers.
Overall, this is a serviceable campsite that can serve for a great launching point for exploring/hiking/birding in the refuge. The wildlife present is outstanding.
FYI... no, you can't fly your drone here. There is a national refuge, a state park and an Air Force base. It took me a long time to arrange all the clearances required, but my flight was legal.
LegendThis really is a city park. One which boasts some really great park amenities- baseball diamonds, playgrounds, pool... There are four RV pads with electric hook up across from the baseball diamond, next to the restrooms. I really wouldn't recommend the campground for tents. There is no privacy and a housing community backs up the RV pads. The town seems pretty hip though, so if you are in town, explore the business district.
ScoutAs much as I’d LOVE the pictures posted here to be Wellington Lake in Kansas is is not. There are no mountains not even any hills really. I’ve lived in Wellington all my life and have visited, swam, and camped there.
The beach area for swimming is nice and has a playground. It’s roped off so swimmers are safe from boaters. Camping options for tents or camper trailers.
GuideWe camped here for a weekend. There was no fire pits for the rv sites. The sites were super close together. The bathrooms were really clean but the showers were a little gross and there was no hot water for them. The main reason we came were for the caverns and despite there being a sign and information online that the cavern would be open, they were still closed because of the Rona.
Despite that, the staff was nice and the trails were beautiful. Just didn’t get to see the caves.
Or have a fire....
ScoutWe camped right next to the river. Was very peaceful and had a great view. There's also plenty to do there if you go during crystal digging season.
LegendCLICK HERE for full video on this location including camping accommodations and dig site information
Finding a campground which also offers unique activities is something I truly enjoy. While many might have hiking or lake activities, finding something which is a bit outside of the box is a little more of a rare find, especially in certain areas of the country. Living next to Oklahoma and exploring it most of my life, I always thought that Oklahoma’s camping was just an extension of Texas, very similar in nature, climate and vegetation. That was until I discovered the Great Salt Plains State Park in northern Oklahoma.
Removed from much of popular civilization the campground is pretty well off the beaten path. Neighboring the small community of Jet, you will drive for miles and miles seeing only farmland with an occasional silo marking a town in this section of Oklahoma. Then out of nowhere the farms transition into a white glaze which is unmatched by the lands around. It almost looks as though snow is laying in the distance, but snow it is not…. It is salt!
**Campground Review: **
Pulling into the Great Salt Plains State Park there are a variety of options for accommodation you will want to explore. Offering cabins at a reasonable$99 a night, unimproved camping for$14 and RV camping from$22-$25 per night the price point is right on target for most campers. But one thing to note is that the campgrounds themselves are not directly on the Salt Plains, instead these are located closely to the waterways of the location, giving a much cooler and more shaded place to enjoy your time away from home.
With a variety of camping options also comes a variety of vantage points, with some campsites in the more improved locations highlighting the shoreline of the Arkansas River while others overlook the lake from beyond the spillway. I was very pleased with the views available and the variety of options for anglers, boaters and campers alike. This did not feel strictly like a lake campground like so many of the camps do in this region.
The office of the grounds does close rather early at 4 p.m. so it made catching staff a bit harder as there didn’t seem to be anyone actively patrolling the park, with the exception of the dig site for the salt plains…(yes, I said dig site… but we will get to that in a moment). With that being said and also limited cell service, you really need to make sure you are prepared before coming to this remote location.
Of the many camping loops, the one closest to the campground office seemed the least interesting to me personally. There was limited tree coverage, spaces were closely packed together and the restroom was only a port a potty, which in the Oklahoma sun can become a little less than desirable to visit. This portion of the park seemed to be designed mostly for RVs.
Another one which slightly was confusing to me was the official primitive site campground. There is a small community of homes which border the lake on this side and a small stretch of campground separates the homes from the shoreline itself. This seemed a bit uncomfortable for me camping solo to be basically right in someones backyard. This site had beautiful tall trees, great site spacing and the view was amazing so it was a bit unfortunate that this site was so close to everyone’s backyard.
The most appealing sites to me were those along the river which had amazing views and some of the most improved restrooms at the park. These were capable of accommodating both tents and RVs and had connections and amenities which would far surpass other campsites. Here you could find running water, flush toilets and showers in addition to a playground for the kiddos, fish cleaning stations and trash services. A small outdoor chapel/ampitheater was available in this area as well which would be ideal for a group camp.
Sites in this area are the highest of the park ranging between $22 and$25 but they are equipped with picnic tables, fire rings, grills, lantern hooks and easy to pull in and out areas. You can literally walk to the water and be in the river playing or fishing in seconds from any site in this location.
But now to the points of interest of this park…. The Salt Plains!
The unique ecosystem of this area is one to come out and see. There are several observation points in which you can view the birds and other wildlife which call this area home. But one of the things which makes it differ so much from other habitats are the Selenite crystals which can be found as a result of the salt and water table in this area. Birds are drawn to these and often you will find small nests housing eggs lined in crystals. It is unique to say the least.
But if you are not a bird watcher, there is still something for you…. Digging for Crystals! Yep, you can get hands on and dig into the plains around 2 feet down and find that the water will start flooding into the hole you created. From here you simply need to splash water along the sides of your new dig and expose your jewels to take harvest. Sound to good to be true? Well it is not! It really is that easy!!
And unlike the locations across the country which tell you to not take the sands, dirt, rocks or formations with you, you can take everything you find home with you!!
It is a great activity which can leave you busy for minutes, hours or even days and something which is fun for the entire family. On my trip we started early on an August morning and dug for approximately 3 hours. We brought our own sifters, a few jugs of water for cleaning off our finds and a shovel which seemed to be all we needed to find more than our fair share of crystals.
Crystals come in many shapes and sizes but the most coveted are large clusters or hourglass crystals. The crystals are mineral rich and appear to have a chocolate brown to redish tone based on the contents found in the soil which create them. And the unique thing about them and why we are allowed to take what we find home, is they are constantly regenerating.
Dig site is closed from October to April for migration of wildlife so you will want to plan a trip during the peak months to assure you will be able to dig. Don’t worry about crowds it isn’t terrible even on the most busy of days and there are plenty of crystals to be found.
**TIPS: **
**Product Review: **
For this trip knowing that the shade would be limited on the Great Salt Plains I made sure to pack the Banner& Oak Scout Hat in Charcoal Grey. This hat is designed as a summer hat with a snapback and breathable meshing to allow heat to escape and wind to come through.
I wanted something which would provide a bit more shade for my face than simply wearing a bandana to pull my hair back and this was a great fit for doing just that.
The hat itself is easy to size and while it is a men’s hat it easily could be sized down to fit my head and still feel comfortable yet secure. It did not appear bunched in the back like some men’s hats can when worn by women, I personally have a relatively small head so this is a huge deal to me.
The charcoal color did not attract as much heat as I thought it might and I felt comfortable even being out for 3 hours diggings and 2 hours exploring the day before.
The design of the hat is a must for anyone who, like myself, loves tent camping as the patch is a tent with a unique design and a great way to express yourself even in the most simplistic of ways.
I think a lot of people neglect to realize that they can wear a basic camping or exploring outfit and then completely change the vibe with the addition of the right hat. From the design and color to the way you wear your hat, all of these things are expressive of your own unique personality. I will definitely be adding this hat to my stack of hats I take on lengthy road trips, it has great feel to it, the brim was shaped well and mesh back makes it perfect for warm to hot climates.
**TIPS: **
If you're looking for a great spot to camp with your furry friends near Amorita, Oklahoma, there are several pet-friendly options that offer a mix of amenities and activities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Amorita, OK?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Amorita, OK is Salt Plains State Park Campground with a 4.6-star rating from 21 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near Amorita, OK?
TheDyrt.com has all 19 dog-friendly camping locations near Amorita, OK, with real photos and reviews from campers.
