Primitive Camping - Whitetail North/South

I just spent the weekend in the South camp site but ventured to the North campsite on my way out to look around for a future stay.

There are no facilities so best to bring your own, or plan on driving out and into the main campground to use the restrooms there.

North: Large campsite with both tree shaded and open areas, larger access to the water. Area is large enough for multiple vehicles, though only 2 vehicles are allowed to stay at the campsite it would a nice site for others together if they were camping in the nearby primitive sites. Fire ring provided. The main road in isn't bad, but the Y to the North camp site does have a bit of a rock ledge to drop off of and a bit of an off camber section. 

South: Nice primitive campsite with water access. Plenty of room for a couple of vehicles and tents. Mostly tree shaded with one small area open to direct sun. Fire ring provided. The water access in this site is a path through the grass that grows at the edge of the water, the bottom is sandy. Heard/saw fish hitting the water often was not able to catch any. The road all the way to this camp site isn't bad.

Should it rain while you are staying in either spot, the roads out could change quite a bit especially due to the sandy soil. The Lake states 4wd is required to stay at the sites and while it's not necessary when dry, I can see it being needed during/after a storm.

One thing I did not like about the primitive sites is that the hiking/biking trails come right by the campsite within a few feet, so I had people all weekend practically coming into my camp. I prefer primitive for a reason and that is to get away from people not have them coming through my campsite. There is more than enough room between the campsites and the main road to have adequate space between the trail system and the campsites as not to disturb the campers.

Nice hidden gem

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.

Great place to get away.

Have camped here twice with family and with friends and it has been great. Camp host has always been super nice. We have always stayed in the north end of The Point, the bathrooms are good and not that far of a walk. I really like that the camp sites are not close together and well treed. 

Will be coming back again this May for a weekend away with friends.

A few things I don't like about this particular location:

Not as close to the water as I would prefer.

A bit of a drive to the swim beach.

Nice campground with many things to do for the kids

Have camped here a couple of times with family and alone. We typically prefer to have a camp site at the back so that we aren't completely surrounded by other campsites.

Sites in this area are closer together than sites in other campgrounds in the area.

Sites are large and flat with fire rings, picnic tables, and lantern hooks. 

Camped one night here the first week of May 2019, and was the only camper in this camp ground. It was great with a little abandoned feel to it. The camp host was a little grumpy, and the season had just started.

Things to do:

Visit the Nature Center

Hike the spring trails

Multiple swimming area along the road to the nature center

Little Niagara

See the bisons

Hike the top of Bromide lookout

Bromide Springs

swim and fish at Lake of the Arbuckles

Etc…

Great little camp ground for a getaway

Have stayed in the Buster Hight campground for a weekend in early May for the last two years with friends. This last year the water level was high so putting a tent on a site near the water was a bit more difficult. The sunrises are great and had fog roll across the lake both years. Looking forward to bringing my family down this year as well.

This campground also has a play ground, pavilion, swim beach, and fishing docks.