Tag Archives: swimming

Salt Plains State Park ~Jet, OK

We had a great three day weekend at the Salt Plains State Park and nearby Wildlife Refuge for our 16th wedding anniversary. We stayed at the Sandy Cove campground this time and it ended up being a great site.

The campground is right next to the swimming beach which worked out great with the 100 degree temps.

If you are going to visit, there were a LOT of ants and no soap in the bathrooms. Also, the bathrooms had those half doors that are basically useless so keep that in mind.

My kids basically wanted to just live at the beach. It has a nice sandy beach but is very shallow for a very long time (I never found any water above my waist), it also turns to mud as you get further out. The sandy beach and shallow water would be great for little ones though! We mostly stayed at the state park so we could go crystal digging at the nearby Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge! My kids loved it so much the last time we went that I knew it would be a hit. It is such a breathtaking place to visit in Oklahoma.

Definitely worth a visit, even if you don’t want to dig.

If you do want to go digging, you will need sun protection, a shovel, and a bucket. Also clothes you don’t mind getting salty and muddy would be good!

As with most trips we had a few fails.

Trying to hike in the mid-day crazy heat (my idea), oops.

The water tank started leaking in the rv so we could not use the water in there, thankfully we have plenty of kids that can haul water 😉

And I had brought beach towels so we could clean up the mess.

Even the hot temps were okay.

We just tried to go out and do things in the morning (except for my attempt at hiking) and evening.

The beach in the evening was so relaxing and beautiful. I still went out at night after kids went to bed to take a picture and listen to the quiet.

One night, I thought I was going to take picture of the sunset and ended up stumbling upon this guy.

He finally got annoyed that I kept taking his picture and slithered off into the woods.

It was fun to watch him weave all around the picnic tables though.One morning we got going early (well as early as you can with 5 kids) to hike at the wildlife refuge.

It was a beautiful hike.The kids loved all the bullfrogs they saw on the hike, they were huge! We have hiked here before but this morning hike was my favorite. The kids played tablets in the heat of the day.

It ended up being a great trip and we really enjoyed this campground location!

Have you been to the Salt Plains in Oklahoma?

Check out our video on youtube of our time in the Salt Plains!

Crystal Clear Creek in Oklahoma!

The Little Blue Area used to be a state park and is located in Disney, OK. It had changed some since the last time we went, it has a really deep spot that was perfect for swimming! I would still recommend footwear since the rocks are hard on feet but it was a great place to explore. It ended up being a bit chilly(for okies) and rainy but it was nice to be there when it was almost empty instead of crowded.
The water is so clear and cold! The cold was a bit shocking at first. The kids loved catching minnows and crawfish!  It took me a while but I decided to go into the deep end to swim and I was so glad I did.

Swimming with a cliff right there and all that green in a clear, cold, creek was amazing.

So pretty.

Nick relaxed…ha There are only vault toilets there so keep that in mind. The kids got a kick out of watching these jeeps drive up the waterfall nearby!

This is such a fun spot to visit!

It can be hard to find but the road to get their is located across from the Disney State Park.

Check out the video I made of our afternoon at youtube!

 

Touring a Dam and a clear, cold creek.

I am on a mission to visit all of the State Parks in Oklahoma.

This past weekend we went to Grand Lake to visit some of the parks over there and tour the Pensacola Dam.

They give tours all summer from 9-4. So much information!

I learned a lot from the tour!

You do go where the turbines are running so it can get very loud. Our tour guide was excellent.

Such a wealth of knowledge.

Afterwards we drove around trying to find this old state park called Little Blue State Park.

We had been told it had a great wading creek that was ice cold and clear but it was hard to find the entrance.

The road is across from Disney State Park that takes you to this little park.

So pretty and worth the search.
It is not very deep at all and very rocky.

I would definitely recommend water shoes of some sort.

There were a lot of crawdads and minnows.

It reminded me of the creek we used to play in as kids.

There was a slightly deeper area but it was pretty crowded so we did not stay over there. If you want deeper water to swim in Grand Lake State Park has a swimming area nearby. We went because this kid is about to have a birthday and I wanted to go somewhere the weekend before!

Last day of being 11!

I will have a twelve year old tomorrow!