Black Mesa State Park

We went winter camping and experienced all the weather. The RV sites seem to be oriented to help with wind, which was nice. Electric and water hookups were on the wrong side, so make sure you have some length to work with. Sites are well spaced. Downside was the close bathrooms were winterized so anyone that didn’t want to hook up their water had to walk to the group camp.

We enjoyed our extended weekend at the park. The park is well maintained and the park staff are amazingly friendly and attentive. There is also a well run convenience store that provides basic camping needs, along with coffee in the morning! There is easy access to a couple of trails from the campground. We also got up early one morning and drove the 30 minutes to walk up to the top of Black Mesa. Sadly, the area is incredibly dry and the level of the lake is quite low. Otherwise, we loved the area.

Well the stargazing is why we came & we weren't disappointed. Awesome night time stargazing.

The campground isn't anything special but it's very quiet & dark. Our site was larger than most state park sites we've visited, and no neighbors. Probably 50% capacity during our visit.

Hiked a couple trails, nothing special. If you're considering this place, do it for at least 2 nights.

Even if you’re not intro astrophotography or telescopes you should visit this state park.
Be ready for the wind ! It’s always windy here.
There’s lots of hiking, fishing (bass and walleye) and there’s a swim beach.
The RV sites are VERY roomy and the tent sites are well maintained.
The public restrooms and showers are new.

We will be taking some star photos tonight and will add them to the review as well. No city light pollution out here.

Stayed one night on April 16th, 2022 (Easter Weekend) despite all the really negative reviews about this State Park. During the past year this State Park has constructed brand new shower and toilet facilities at the entrance to the RV locations (across the street from the prime sites #1-#5). The balance of the site 6-30(?) are close together in one are just past the Comfort station and are mostly back-in. They are constructing a small store for provisions, across from the check in. Lots of big rigs, and being Easter the place was full, but guests were respectful. We did not go to the Easter Pageant in Kenton, or morning service, but were told it was the highlight for most folks there. Watch out with your dog(s) the goat heads and thorny bushes are abundant, stay on the paved areas or on the trails paths. Easy and nice vista walks fro the campsite 1-4miles in length.
We have a T@B 320CS and enjoyed the location, worth the drive, and a good stopping spot for us traveling from Colorado to Louisiana. No Verizon cell service, but there was WiFi. Reservations were made ahead of time on line. We would recommend this location to other Campendium campers.

We needed a place to stay in Oklahoma (to mark off our 50 state map) so this worked out. Not sure I would otherwise seek out this spot.

Partial hookups (30amp and water with good pressure at 60psi).

Originally we had booked a site online that said would fit our 42ft rig better than the other back-in sites. But once we got there, there were only a couple other campers and one of them was right there next to us. We tried to back in and find a way to get level but finally gave up and went to site 15 which is a back-in site. Even that site took a little bit of kiking gravel around to get it level side to side. Only 3 RVs stayed the night with us so it was very quiet.

There's a short hike across from the campground. Not a lot to see other than cactus and desert, but it was a beautiful sunset.

The park is old but kept the kids entertained in the morning as we used the dump station.

Verizon no service. AT&T had a few bars that were enhanced with our WeBoost.

This is truly the middle of nowhere. In fact, the Oklahoma Panhandle's nickname is No Man's Land pretty much because it was so far from most city centers that no one really claimed it for quite some time. Black Mesa SP is actually a few miles south and east of the Black Mesa Preserve where the actual Black Mesa high point is located. Upon driving westward out of Boise City (county seat of Cimarron County) the road takes one turn in its 20 miles until the turn off to the park. There, the rolling hills and canyons of this small slice of Oklahoma paradise come into view. Cows wander across the road, hindered only by the occasional cattle guard. The area is dry and this is typically the origin of drought conditions, which typically move to the east during the summer. Be mindful of the possibility of burn bans. Don't expect great cell service out here. There is a tower just south of the park, but I can tell you it sure as heck isn't for Verizon, might do better with AT&T (had some service there on my truck)! The park wifi is actually not too bad, however.

Upon entering the park from the south you'll pass a few sites on the left up against the west side of the valley. Some of these are equipped with pavilions and they are all relatively level (gravel). We stayed at site #8, which was part of a series of concrete sites beneath mature cottonwood trees that had a space for RV and TV side-by-side. While the bathroom/shower was open during our COVID getaway, we elected not to use them. The sites north of these trees and beyond the visitor center are of mixed quality. I would suggest the lower numbers of these as the southernmost seemed to be most level. The visitor center was closed while we were there but we did get our sticker for the OK state park 'passport' book.

There is an enjoyable hiking trail on the west side of the valley behind the visitor center that is fun during the golden hour and sunrise/set. This trail contours along a ridge and drops into a valley exiting near an outdoor exhibit of petrified wood. The lake to the north has seen better days and is quite low. Water can be found in Carrizo Creek just east of the campground area, backed by the cliff-forming Dakota Sandstone (see http://www.ogs.ou.edu/pubsscanned/openfile/OF4_99.pdf for more info on the geology of this part of the world, including dino tracks!). Storms were firing overhead during the day while we were there and exploding to the east, pretty amazing sight! Lots of mule deer out here and a few pronghorn.

I've been to many dark skies out west but this one holds its own. There are a few streetlights in the park, but even still the sight was amazing. There is a solid reason why this area holds one of the better star parties each year (Okie Tex). Take a telescope, binoculars...whatever you've got. Hike of the ridge to the west overlooking the valley, and watch the Milky Way dance across the sky...you can thank me later.

Black Mesa State Park is a really nice campground. Though the tent sites where closed for our last trip during Covid 19, the RV sites are still open. There is still a variety of sites available. They have one pull through site, many back ins and four level cement pads, number 6 through 9. Some of the sites looked hard to level up on, but stick to the southern end and you should be fine. I hope to edit this and help y’all out on the unlevel ones or somebody else might fill you in. The AT&T was fine for phone calls and streaming music. They have WiFi and I hear the closer to the Ranger’s office the better it is. I have a booster and couldn’t stream music at #6 after everybody woke up on Sunday morning. There is a dump station in the campground and nice working bathrooms with hot showers. Unfortunately the bathrooms are closed for Covid 19, hopefully they will reopen soon.
The tent camping here is really nice. It is unfortunate they are closed right now. I have tent camped here also and there is plenty of tent sits. T16 is definitely the coolest tent site in the park. The bathrooms provide hot showers and are open year round. Yet again they are closed for Covid 19 at the moment. This is a really nice campground I hope you will stop and check it out.
There is a small lake here that is stocked with trout November through March. I would recommend fishing on the bottom with salmon peach on the smallest treble hook possible, size 14 or 16. I like the dam, some people like the south end there is a good spot on the rock overhang at the north end, but it’s a rough drive. Beware it does freeze over int the winter.