Beavers Bend Campground

We had reservations at the Armadillo loop, site 17 and had just a bit of an issue finding it. We had “Beavers Bend State Park” in our GPS, but the Armadillo campground was farther north. Once we found “Armadillo Camping Area Circle” in our GPS, we navigated to the campground easily.

The campground is configured in a couple of loops, all of it on the side of the hill. But the campground is well designed because there were terraced retaining walls between sites and the pads themselves were mostly concrete and pretty level. Each site was offset from the pad next to it so visually, there appeared be plenty of space between each pad.

There were only a couple of RVs in the entire campground for a day or two and we found ourselves to be the only camper at times. We work remotely so during the day, it was so quiet we often had up to eight deer within 5 to 10 feet from our window. We had that view every day. It was nice to disengage from work for a minute and see the wildlife so close.

The roadway leading in and out of the campground is a bit narrow at times and curvy, so it appears as though pulling a rig through the trees would be a bit risky. I saw a couple with a long 5th wheel take their time pulling out of their campsite and they stopped at times to check how close they were to trees before continuing forward. In the end, they had no issue. We didn’t either.

We work from the road using a Cradlepoint router with Verizon and a Cuddy router with ATT. The Verizon signal in this campground was not as good as our ATT connection.

Site BK004 is a pull through that faces the river. All the sites in the Buckeye loop have been recently redone with new concrete pads, the roads look freshly paved too. BK004 is completely level. Full hookups (20/30/50 Amp, Water Sewer) and gets partial shade. Showers and Flush Toilets along with a small coin laundry are available. Bathhouse was "OK" clean, not awesome, but not a pigstie either. The laundry room could use a good cleaning, there are cobwebs everywhere, one of the two washers was out of order (8/27/2022).

Weekdays the dam upstream releases water into the river a few times a day. Before each release, there is a fairly load siren that goes off as a warning as it will cause a rapid rise in water level and increased currents (no danger to the camp ground) however it isn't "too" loud, if you are inside your RV with AC it is hard to hear. This does not occur at night, so nights are nice and quiet. Because of this, swimming, kyaking, etc, is not allowed in this section of the river, but is allowed in the lake just upstream the dam.

There is a decent amount of space between sites, the back end sites are angled such that you don't stare at your neighbor when setting outside your RV.

No Verizon service on the ground (1 bar if standing on the trailer roof), I did find I get 2 bars of service using a WeBoost Destination RV cell phone booster (this is the higher power booster with the directional outside antennae). Other park visitors confirmed Verizon is pretty much not available normally, but sounds like AT&T is.

I would definitely return if I'm in the area again.

We stayed three nights in the Acorn campground at Beavers Bend State Park. Our site was right on the river with electric and water but no sewer. The park does have areas with full hookups but not in the Acorn campground. It is a large state park with an area on the river and a separate area on the lake. Our site was level and I didn't have to use anything to level it side to side. This site had fewer trees than some giving us less shade but an unobstructed view of the river. Campsites starting around #6 had more trees and shade. We had 3-4 bars with ATT service. My only complaint is the wooden picnic table top was warped at one end and should be replaced. The bathhouse has individual rooms for showers and toilets with separate doors so there is a lot of privacy.
The dump station was in good shape and had two sewer holes.
The Nature Center in the park was pretty small and disappointing. The Heritage Center though was interesting. It had information on the timber industry in the area and the CCC building the park.
We went fly fishing for the first time and had a great time. We used On the Rivers Fly Fishing for a guide. My wife caught 14 trout and I landed 8.

We stayed one night in the Acorn campground, site 6. Loved the view of the Mountain Fork river. There are other spots on with side that have even nicer views. Our stay was on a Sunday. There is a nice restaurant with anazing views inside the park and .75 miles from campground. We didn’t get a chance to eat there because they close early on Sunday and they are closed on Monday & Tuesday. Acorn has nice, level pads with fire rings and a grill. While there are TONS of activities (hiking, miniature golf, real golf, kayaking...) there are a couple of drawbacks here. The restrooms. They have brought in trailers. Bugs everywhere. The old restrooms there are old and are not cared for. In their defense, Beavers Bend State Park is building new restrooms, which look to be nice. The other drawback is that armadillos and raccoons will roam campsites at night. We had a great experience and look forward to returning.

First let me say that I loved this park. Sites are close but not too bad, they have sites with full hookups (not in Acorn loop) and the park is gorgeous. Several creeks flowing through the park with trails along side. Their is a really good restaurant right down from the park office. We have also stayed in the Armadillo loop in the northern part of the park. However, this part of OK is in a dead zone as far as cell service. With my prepaid ATT plan, I could not get any phone service, not text, not voice, not data. I am one whose phone is attached to their ear, but my life is too connected to go 4 days with no contact with the outside world.