We are planning a trip to Broken Bow. Will probably camp at Beavers Bend State Park. Does anyone have any info about riding fees, maps, or suggestions about where to ride. We'll have the kids, so we don't want anything too difficult, just some nice scenic trails.

 

Hmm....I have a ton of things to tell you.

Camping - I personally dont like the Beavers Bend State Park. Its very crowded and you have to trailer 15 minutes or so to ride. We prefer to camp in either of the two northern sites. They are Stephens Gap and Carsons Creek (5-6 minutes trailer to ride area). They are on the lake (other is on a small river) and just great sites to camp. I have pictures of this camping area on my site. Tent sites are like $7.00 a night and collected in the evenings by the ranger. You can NOT ride from any of those campsites.

Fees - There are two main places to ride up there. Be sure to stop off at a gas station and get the free map of the area. Its the "Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area" map. I scanned it in and its here: http://www.ansley.net/pic.php?image=...en_bow_map.jpg. The USFS land (green) is free to ride on. The TWMA land (pink) is $25/calendar year to ride on. This INCLUDES kids of any age. This pass is a land use pass and has nothing to do with quads. If you want to take a walk on that land you must pay. Keep the passes with you or you will pay a steep fine.

Where to ride - There are a ton of drop in spots. Just about any dirt road off of 259 you can ride on. Just pull off into a bigger one and park. Do not block the road and do not park on 259. We usually pull off onto a bigger dirt road and find a small clearing to park at. As for where to ride its a toss up. The easiest stuff is west of 259. If you want to swim in the lake you will have to go east of 259. Maybe do the first day in the wasy stuff and the next day towards the lake. Do you have a GPS? If so what brand and model. I can send you some maps of the area. I highly suggest a GPS for out there.

Give me a few minutes and I will put some maps of for you to look at with labels.

 

http://www.ansley.net/temp/area.jpg
There is a zoomed out picture of the area. I tried to highlight areas and label difficulty for yall. The campsite I was talking about is about in the middle labeled CAMP.


http://www.ansley.net/temp/zoom.jpg
Thats a zoomed in view of the camping area. It shows a gas station to get the passes at, a restaurant, camp, and a parking good spot for riding.

Feel free to email me about riding up there.

 

TEXMUD,
I was told that there are also cabins you can rent there and you can ride in to the area from them. Was I given some bad info? We are thinking about a group going there in Oct.

 

There are cabins that you can ride from. Only a few allow it. The cabins that are actually in the state park do not allow it. I know you can ride from the Whip-Or-Whil cabins and the Last Resort Cabins. If you are looking for a cabin plan REAL FAR in advance. They fill up very fast and during the summer they are usually booked.

 

TEXMud,

Thanks for the great maps. We'll probably be there for 4th of July week. Is there a swimming area at the campsite you suggested. Also, Do you know anything about canoe float trips on the river.

 

You can swim in the lake at the places I suggested to camp. As far as the canoe trips go, I cant say I would suggest them. When I think of canoes I think of a liesurely ride down a river where you can take in some scenery and relax. That didnt happen. About 40% of that river is deep enough for a canoe. The other 60% is ROCK. We spent most of our time pushing canoes over rocks. There were even spots where we had to get out of the canoe and push it through the 6 inches of water. There are some pretty good rapids, BUT the water isnt deep enough where they are so they aren't the funnest thing to do. I would of spent my $40 on something else.

 

There is a place called clancy's cabins in honobia that you can
ride out of. The smaller cabins are pretty good, but the house
that they rent for $90 a night is a dump.

 

this is calncys cabin web page

http://www.site.yahoo.com/clancys-cabins/index.html

 

TexMud,

I bought a Magellan Sportrak Map. I know it accepts detailed maps from the Mapsend CD. Do you have any maps I might be able to download to the GPS?