If you want to get outside in Oklahoma, the best place to start is at one of Oklahoma’s 50 State Parks. This network of public lands features myriad attractions, activities and accommodations, and is a great way to enjoy Oklahoma’s varied ecosystems and natural resources.

For example, Beavers Bend State Park offers trout fishing in the Lower Mountain Fork River, but I often stay here when visiting the nearby Glover River. Similarly, Osage Hills State Park is located about 45 minutes away from the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, my favorite Oklahoma landscape. So I’ll often use Osage Hills as a base from which to venture out to the Tallgrass Prairie and Kaw Lake. 
 

Most of us don’t have time to see all of Oklahoma’s 50 State Parks – but we can try. If you’d like to sample the state’s diverse landscape, I think the 10 parks included in this two-part article are a great place to begin.

Alabaster Caverns State Park

I love that at Alabaster Caverns State Park you never know what kind of wildlife you’ll see, nor can you gauge how dirty you’re going to get when you try spelunking for the first time.

Alabaster Caverns allows wild caving from March 1 through September 30, where you and your party of at least three can explore the area’s four caves. These caves are natural, and do not have marked trails or lighting. To go wild caving, you will need a permit from the park office, as well as a hardhat, flashlight, boots, long-sleeve shirt and pants.   

Every time I visit here, I can't help but think that Little Sahara is the perfect getaway.

For those who just want to see a cave without the physical commitment of wild caving, daily guided cave tours follow a family-friendly paved trail to explore the world’s largest public natural gypsum cave.

Little Sahara State Park

Now that you’ve satisfied your urge for subterranean exploration, a change in altitude, and attitude, may be just the ticket. Just south of Waynoka, not far from Alabaster Caverns, is the state’s sandbox and a favorite playground among off-roaders, Little Sahara State Park.

Sometimes you visit a park and wonder how it got its name, but that won’t happen at Little Sahara. I have spent a lot of time in the Arabian Desert, and this place looks remarkably similar, so much so that at times I wonder if the distant ATV convoys aren’t actually Bedouin nomads and their camel caravans.

Every time I visit here, I can’t help but think that Little Sahara is the perfect getaway. The park encompasses more than 1,600 acres of sand dunes, and some of these reach 75 feet in height. So bring your dune buggies, motorcycles, Jeeps and ATVs, and drive, or ride, to your heart’s content.

There are some rules, however. Your vehicle must have a legitimate roll bar (your factory SUV hard-top does not qualify). “It has to support one-and-one-half times the weight of your vehicle,” says Park Manager Jason Badley.

Other requirements include seatbelts for each passenger and helmets for motorcycle and ATV riders under the age of 18, as well as bright-orange flags mounted to all vehicles. Contact the park for a full list of requirements.  

Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve

Sometimes you just want to take your outdoor experience to new heights. When this urge strikes, visit Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve in far northwestern Oklahoma.

At 4,973 feet above sea level, Black Mesa is the highest point in Oklahoma. Unlike the rest of Oklahoma that uses Central Standard Time, Black Mesa is located in the Mountain time zone, so you’ll feel like you’ve really gone somewhere.

Try hiking to the top of Oklahoma’s portion of Black Mesa, a mesa that also spreads into Colorado and New Mexico, using a trail located at the nature preserve, some 10 miles from the state park. This trek is about an 8.2 mile jaunt from the parking area and back.

After your hike, check out the fossilized dinosaur footprints located near the preserve. From the Black Mesa parking lot, follow the paved road northwest about one-quarter mile. You’ll see a dirt road. Turn right on the dirt road and follow this one-quarter mile to the creek. The dinosaur tracks are easily found down in the creekbed.

Black Mesa is a truly remote location. Many times you’ll hear only the wind blowing and birds singing. But when you want to get away, that’s the whole point.

Great Salt Plains

Now, who ever heard of a body of saltwater hundreds of miles from the sea? Well, wonder of wonders, this is exactly what the Great Salt Plains State Park is known for: an 8,960-acre landlocked oddity, which is roughly a third as salty as the sea, yet offers excellent fishing for saugeye, white bass and hybrid striped bass.

The park is known for its 11,000 acres of white salt flats, the only place where hourglass-shaped selenite crystals form. From April through October, guests can even grab a shovel and dig for these rare crystals in a designated area.  I enjoy visiting Great Salt Plains for the excellent bird-watching. Migrating waterfowl, including the whooping crane and American white pelicans, use the lake here as a stopover during their travel through the Central Flyway. From October 15 through April 1, a portion of the lake is closed in order to accommodate these avian travelers. This location is a haven for many shorebird species, including the American avocet, Wilson’s phalarope and the Baird’s sandpiper.

“Over three hundred species of birds have been identified here,” says Park Manager Russell Nickel. “This includes a variety of shorebirds, upland game birds, waterfowl and other migratory birds.”

Nickel says the Great Salt Plains’ reputation as a significant birding destination is growing, and the park has really come into its own in this regard over the last five or six years.

Heavener Runestone State Park

Situated atop Poteau Mountain, near Heavener, is perhaps the most enigmatic of all Oklahoma State Parks. Heavener Runestone State Park is based on a mystery that has puzzled and intrigued generations of Oklahomans, including local resident Gloria Farley, who dedicated most of her life to studying a stone on the property marked with ancient carvings.

Who made these carvings? No one knows. Scholars have speculated that Vikings traveled into this area via the Arkansas River, and are responsible. Whoever it was, today the Heavener Runestone State Park celebrates them and their rocky legacy.

Heavener Runestone is a day-use park and is best enjoyed with a leisurely visit to look at the big rock with all the strange carvings. The park provides educational programs on the Runestone and picnic tables where you can eat your lunch or just scratch your head and ponder. There is also a nature trail where you can walk it all off and clear your mind.

Read Oklahoma's Perfect 10 – Part Two.