The best EQUESTRIAN camping near
Oklahoma City , OKLAHOMA

I stayed for two nights in Site 3 which is a walk-in site on the inside of the little bay and on the opposite side of most of the other sites. All the spaces on this sites are not only spaced apart, but are also staggered so you're never right up against another group.

A couple of things to know though. In the fall, the burrs are bad. All the poor puppies were hobbling around :(  I ended up bringing some home with me, too. Second, I only went into the nearest bathroom - the picnic area bathrooms and if these are cleaner than the others, that's a problem. They were in definitely in need of maintenance - running toilets, rusty, dirty spigots and floors. There's also highway noise at night if you're a light sleeper.

Overall, I really enjoyed camping here and will definitely will be back.

This place has it all! Even buffalo! Indoor pool. Nice showers, laundry room, clean bathrooms. Coffee and muffins free in the morning! They have church services on Sunday as well.

Nice place to relax by a fire. Campsites are spaced out well enough and has some right by the water. Close to some trails. Camp hosts are very welcoming and haven't had any issues with other campers.

Campground C area offers many pull through RV sites and some back-in RV sites, all with electric & water hook ups. There is also equestrian RV sites with pens, tent camping with shared water spigots, primitive tent camping and a dump station. There are miles of equestrian trails. Hiked down one and the trail was very peaceful and beautiful. It had recently rained a lot, so I had a thick layer of red mud on my shoes from the hike, but glad I hiked it. There are bathrooms with showers, a swim beach, a volleyball court, pavilions, a boat ramp, and plenty of wildlife. Lake is calm & shallow, so it is best for small boats and kayaks. There were plenty of flies due to the time of year and the presence of horses, so a good fly swatter and a fly trap is recommended. Found a small cemetery on the drive to the campsite with some very old grave sites. In all, it was a great place to escape from the real world and relax.

They have just about anything you would want. Sites on the water, large shaded sites, pull thrus. Nice playground. Two issues. 1. It’s really hard to get a spot. First come first serve. Not who put things in the site first, but who actually puts money in the box first. This leads to a lot of arguments that I witness almost every time we’re at Arcadia. 2. Community water. Sometimes you need 2 or even 3 hoses to reach the water. Campsite wise,this is some of the best camping anywhere near OKC. Also a ton of deer. See them everyday.

Definitely some of the best camping in the OKC metro! However, getting a site can be difficult. First come, first serve and check out isn’t until 5. Lake has a couple of nice swim beaches also.

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.

We visited in October when the leaves were changing and it was so beautiful. The lake is great. Bring your fishing gear. Site spacing is good. Typical amenities for a state park. You must make your reservations in advance online. We highly recommend this park

There are three main campground parks around the lake. Spring Creek and Scissortail Parks are off 15th. Central Park is off the 2nd Street entrance.

Spring Creek and Scissortail were both full, so we ended up at the Spring Creek Park.

In Spring Creek, there is primitive camping in Bobcat Campground and King Snake Campground. We stayed in the Cottonwood Campground which had a mix of camping types. 

We stayed in an RTT, so all of the spots were easy access for us, but I saw some big rigs and setups with boats, so it looked like it was easy to park for most anyone.

The spaces were ample sized and most all of them had enough trees surrounding them to offer decent privacy. They all had had fire pits, grills and picnic tables. They all looked pretty level.

Restrooms and showers were passable, but not much better than that.

The campground was pretty full, but pretty quiet. No problems with noise.

Lots of trash cans around, but they were all full or overflowing. Most of the campsites had some lingering trash around. Definitely could have been cleaner.

My son had a ball and this place isn't far from home, so we will probably checkout the other campgrounds on 15th the next time we are there.

In addition to easy setup and getting around, the other thing that makes this great for new campers is that the city of Edmond is just a few miles away for a full list of stores and restaurants. Or head east on 2nd (66) and go to Pop's in Arcadia for a burger and a selection of over 500 sodas.

And finally, lots of Oklahoma hospitality in case you do have problems or need a hand.

My family and I desperately wanted to go last minute camping. My husband and I being from Wellston, we had been to bell cow but we had never camped there. With 5 adults and 1 infant we camped at area A. My husband did not catch anything when fishing, but he had fun. The lake is filled with red clay. My mom and I harvested some and made little figures and baked them in the sun. We had so much fun. I do have one complaint, our campsite had trash there when we got there. No big deal we cleaned it, but because of the food on the ground from the previous campers, our camp site was filled with flys. I will always have flys while camping but I had never seen something like this. For anyone planning to camp, make sure u bring slip on shoes. U can go barefoot, we did. But the sand which is great at first… left our feet raw.