Broken Bow OK Camping

wbrown62 wrote:
Only a small section of BB is reservable. It is a loop next to the river that flows out of the lake. You may or may not get a site next to water. The best sites are non reservable and are first come first served and people go to great pains to "save" the primo sites next to water. They will get there a few days early and pitch an empty tent on a nice site next door that is never used other than to hold the site for a buddy. Shouldnt be allowed IMHO.

I reserved a spot; won't know which one until we get there, I suppose. I noticed that only a small loop is reservable. We're going on Sunday, so maybe we'll get lucky and find a better first come first serve spot. Either way, we'll have a good time, but it's always a little bit better when you've got a good spot!

We'll be coming from Ft. Worth; any advice on routes? The lady at the campground said to disregard the GPS because it wants to take you down a farm road between Paris and Idabel. Avoiding that road only adds 15 miles to the trip, but backroads don't usually bother me. Anyone ever taken that route with a large camper?

Thanks for the pictures! The place looks awesome.

Once I get into Oklahoma - I just follow US-70 east. Neither my Garmin nor my Rand-McNally have tried to send me down a dirt road.

The maps show a 'US-70 Bypass' across north of Idabel - which apparently isn't the route the bypass actually took. Since the state highway department has never corrected their data, it appears on the GPS.

Or she may be talking about FM-37 in Texas from Clarksville to Idabel. Which is a fine road to travel on with an RV - at least it was about 18 months ago when I last drove it.

As far as getting to Oklahoma - you probably know the DFW freeway system - and the construction on US-380 between Decatur and Denton, also in Farmersville, and the couple dozen stoplights between Denton and McKinney.

You can go up to US-82 and over to Paris, or through the metroplex and out I-30 to Greenville / Commerce and up TX-24 / TX-19 to Paris and US-271 to Hugo, OK.

One thing you may want to check on once you get there if you happen not to like yoursite in the reserved area. We checked with other campers in the non reservable sites to see when they were leaving. We found a site we liked better and ask them if it was okay to come over early the morning they were going to leave & put a small tent on it. We told the host in the reserved area that we were going to move & it wax not a problem. There are some sites in the reserved area that are desirable but we didn't get one. Talk to the hosts at both areas about the best way to work this out if you choose to do so. You must have a small tent to hold the spot.

She was talking about FM195 between Paris and Idabel. She suggested taking 82 over to Clarksville and 37 up to Idabel. I could also take 271 up from Paris to 70 and then head east. Either one of those routes is the same distance.

Ok. Never heard of a GPS routing someone on that road, but one of the first things I learned about a GPS is to NEVER set it for 'Shortest Distance' routing - that will take you down all sorts of unsuitable roads to save less than a mile of travel distance.

Checkout Cedar Lake some 30 miles north of Broken Bow. It is a national Forest Service campground. Nice fishing and swimming
lake. Water and electric.

I usually go up SH 37 to near Idabel then take the 70 bypass north at the 4 way stop sign. This will take you around to Hwy 70 north to Broken Bow. Not sure where it would be best for you to hit 37. Don't know if your taking I-30 east or going up through Paris. If I-30, you will hit SH 37 at Mt Vernon. BTW, no need to stop at the office when you enter the park. Probably no room to park anyway if you have a large rig. You can continue right on around to the camp loop. The reservable will be the first loop you come to. First come first served is beyond the reservable section past the tennis courts. Good luck and have fun!

Also, when you pass the park office, there will be a 3-way stop adjacent to the office. Continue on straight to get to your area of the park. If you turn left, you will miss the RV loops. Come to think of it, there may be a few RV camp spots in the other section of park, but really not sure. Its been a while. Sorry.

Well, looks like Beaver's Bend is closed and I'll have to pick a new destination. Does anyone have any experience with Arrowhead state park or Lake Murray state park?