Best Tent Camping near Bristow, OK

Peaceful area outside of Tulsa metro on the outskirts of Broken Arrow near Coweta. 25min drive into Tulsa. 10min drive to Walmart and fast food. Checkout Smokies BBQ nearby for great food. Sites were pretty level using gravel. A few were completely shaded but most were barely shaded. Shoreline really close to campsites with boatdock and fishable shoreline. Restrooms were clean but very hot. Showers available but did not use. Fire ring, picnic tables and lantern hooks available. Dump station is clean and easily manageable. Grass needed to mowed especially since several snakes were seen. Whole area was pretty clean and peaceful.

As a typical Oklahoma State Park, this campground is what you would expect. Built in the 50's and very few upgrades, it remains as a mostly RV/ Boaters park. Many family's go here for the shore line swimming and boating opportunities. The bathrooms are okay but haven't been updated but you don't have to worry about vault toilets. I would suggest bringing soap. Since we tent, it is fairly easy finding a level spot but they do not have platforms or any premade sites to set up. Some sites do have fire rings but most do not but they do have tables. This has always been a good spot for bringing our beginning camping friends to get them introduced to camping before any longer camping trips.

It is a nice little campground that has R.V. camping and tent camping. We like camping here because the campsite is next to the shore. There are some nice camping spots under shade trees. When you want to cool off you can just walk from your campsite to the water and get in and cool off. However don't wear white when you go swimming because after you go swimming white cloths turn orange. It does have a swim beach but we like to swim privately at camp. The fishing is pretty good. There is a playground and restrooms with showers. They only have about 25 campsites that are 1st come 1st serve. Getting a campsite near holidays like the 4th of July is almost impossible unless you go days early to get a spot. The campsites have picnic tables, grills and a fire ring. They also have trails for riding horses. Camping with electric is $18.00 Senior citizens (55 and up) and disabled citizens is $15.00 Primitive camping is$8.00

This is a nice, newer feeling recreation area with a large lake for boating, fishing and water sports. The campground is large with several loops and sites on and off the lake. Most of the sites on the lake were taken by RV'ers, with most tent campers choosing sites up the hill away from the lake (and lake noise). I was in site 44 which backs up to the woods (making it easier to gather downed wood for my fire and cooking). I thought I was going to have the back end of the loop all to myself, but lucky me, someone with a camper decided to be my next-door neighbor. Sigh. It was a fairly nice site with a paved parking pad, picnic table, grill, and fire ring, with plenty of level space for my tent and trees for my hammock. The trees provided a nice wind break from the relentless Oklahoma winds. The shower house on my loop (there was one on each loop and it seemed like a few spare mixed in) was clean and maintained daily. The actual shower portion had two stalls, one handicap accessible, and both with a few resident spiders. Speaking of wildlife, there were plenty of deer in the field in the evening and several turtles and snakes hanging out in the late afternoon. All sites had electric and there was a shared water pump for every two sites. The Recreation Area had a manned gate house and the campground host manning it was very nice and helpful. There weren't any hiking trails in the campground, but then again, its main claim to fame is the lake. If you are looking for things to do in the area, Pawhuska is home to Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman from the cooking channel. Her store and restaurant are in Pawhuska and its a pretty good place to get breakfast or lunch.

My RV spot is so unlevel it's almost unusable. Front to back there is 2 feet in elevation difference and a foot from side to side.

The power pedestal, from the 120v 20amp receptacle, is putting out 134v. The neighboring spot's pedestal is putting out 103v.

The bathroom near the campground was closed due to a water leak and a sign on the door said to use the restrooms near the beach. They were reasonably clean but not too private. There was nowhere to change except in the shower with its cheap curtain.

Grass is very long in some areas, needs to be mowed to help with the amount of bugs.

Each campsite has a fire ring, picnic table, and charcoal grill which is nice.

Had friends come to town with an RV and we decided to do a last minute camp out.

After finding out all of the RV and tent camping areas around OKC were at capacity we gave Bell Cow Lake a shot and we were not disappointed. We stayed in Camp Area B, Friday night there were a handful of RV spots still available and we were the only tent campers. Saturday a few more tent campers arrived but there was still open sites between us. 

Our friends in the RV stayed in RV site 1 and we stayed directly across from them in tent site 3. There was some small trash, cigarette butts and such around the site, cans in the fire ring adjacent to us (site 2) but over all it was a nice spot with ample room to put tents. 

The tent area is on the water with water access through the grass along the shoreline. Swimming was great with a sand bottom once you got past the grass along the shoreline. There were tons of fish hitting the surface in the evening but I was unable to catch any. Each tent site had a table but it either had a fire ring or a grille (alternating) it would have been preferable if each site had both. 

The bathrooms weren't the cleanest but were what I would probably expect for a camp ground owned by a smaller city. 

Bell Cow lake may become one of our go to places as it is still within an easy drive from OKC and half the price of the next closest lake to camp at (Lake Arcadia).

Tent camping is $10 a night, RV is $20. 

One of the only things we did not like was with the campsite being 2 miles from I-44 you could hear the highway traffic all night and there was not fire wood available to gather or purchase (perhaps in town) so though it is generally frowned upon to bring your own you won't have a fire otherwise.

The lake is owned and operated by Oklahoma State University. The grounds were well mowed, some of the structures are dated but well cared for. Super-friendly and helpful people at the permit office. The store was closed when we arrived.

The quirky bit is the number of camping spaces that are by annual permit. That means a lot of of the shore line is taken up by permanent campers, weekend campers that leave their rigs, student living and even residents (in campers). The lake being close to Stillwater, it looks like a number of students and such commute from the lake.

None of this was problematic for us, but the level of care each annual permit holder takes on their lot range from pristine to near dilapidated.

We stayed in Beaver Cove and found it to be clean, well-maintained, friendly and quiet. No real privacy buffer between sites, but the spacing was comfortable. 

The park ranger made several passes through, even though the campground was only about 1/4 occupied. 

Lots of birds, including a resident blue heron the locals named Charlie. Wonderful views of the cove. We stayed in lot 31 and a few large elm trees gave our campsite evening shade.

Nice fire rings and sturdy picnic tables.

All in all, a good stay.