Northwest Oklahoma Camping Trip

Greetings, All!

Let's kick off the Spring season with a camping trip to the one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the entire country. Northwest Oklahoma is a true gem of diverse ecological marvels that is only 2.5 hours away from OKC. We will be visiting the Fab Five of these ecological marvels. First, we will be going to the Great Salt Plains, which looks like it belongs in the Badwater Basin salt flats of Death Valley National Park. Second, we will be going to Alabaster Caverns, which is the largest gypsum cavern in the world that is open to the public. Third, we will be visiting Boiling Springs State Park, which features unique sandy-bottom springs that appear to be boiling because of the inrush of subsurface water. Fourth, we will visit Little Sahara, which is a series of large, rolling sand dunes that look like they came straight from the Sahara Desert. Finally, we will explore Gloss Mountain State Park, which features prominent layered red-dirt mesas that look like they were transplanted from the deserts of Arizona.

The plan goes as such. We will be staying at Alabaster Caverns State Park on Friday, April 3rd. I will be staying at Mesa Campground Site 8 there. My campsite doesn't have a fire ring, but the tent sites at Alabaster do have fire rings, so if anyone reserves a tent site please let me know, and we can figure out the campfire situation for the night. Preliminarily, the plan is for you fine folks to meet me at my campsite at 7 p.m. Friday, and from there we'll figure out the campfire details. For those who have the entire day on Friday to themselves, myself and Thad will be driving to the Great Salt Plains before heading to Alabaster. If you would like to hike with us at the salt plains, you can meet us at the address listed for Salt Plains State Park near the very bottom of this description at 2:30 p.m. From there, we will hike about five miles, and then we'll drive to Alabaster.

On Saturday, we will meet at my campsite at 9:30 a.m., and then we will walk over to the park office and sign up for a guided tour of the cavern at 10 a.m. The tour is $20 per person. After the tour, we will hike a small trail that goes around the periphery of the cavern above ground. The hike out of the cavern will be strenuous with a lot of stairs to scale, so be prepared. After we get done hiking, we will break down our campsites and have lunch. Meet me at my campsite at 1 p.m. packed and ready to go. We will then drive to Boiling Springs State Park where we will see the springs and hike an additional 3.3 miles, putting the hiking total for the day at about 4.8 miles. From there, I plan on going to dinner at Ramiro's Mexican Restaurant in the nearby town of Woodward. You can choose to forgo the group dinner and set up camp at Boiling Springs after the hiking, or you can join us for dinner and then set up camp after we get back from dinner, whichever works best for you. To clarify, we will be staying at Alabaster Friday night and will be staying at Boiling Springs Saturday night. At Boiling Springs State Park, I will be staying at Spring Hill Campground Site 38. Meet me there at 7 p.m. for a campfire.

On Sunday, meet me at my campsite at 10 a.m. Make sure you have broken down your campsite and are ready to go as we will not be returning to Boiling Springs once we depart Sunday morning. From there, we will drive to Little Sahara State Park and check out the Sand Dunes from the nature trail and from the observation deck, which will total easy hikes of about half a mile to one mile in all. From there, we will drive to Gloss Mountain State Park and hike to the top of Cathedral Mountain Mesa and back, which will be 1.2 miles roundtrip. This hike will also be strenuous on the initial climb up, so be prepared. After this hike, we will say our goodbyes and head home.
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Below are the campsite details and locations for our destinations.

For Alabaster Caverns State Park, you can stay in the Mesa Campground in either an RV site or a tent site. Tent sites here are limited, so if they are unavailable by the time you look, book a tent site at the Canyon Campground. REMEMBER TO BOOK YOUR SITE FOR ONLY ONE NIGHT ON FRIDAY, APRIL 3RD! Here is a link to the campsite booking at Alabaster: https://okstateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/alabaster-caverns-state-park/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=OK&parkId=1260028#sr_a

For Boiling Springs State Park, you can stay at the Spring Hill Campground if you want an RV site, and you can stay at the nearby White Tail Campground if you want a tent site. REMEMBER TO BOOK YOUR SITE FOR ONLY ONE NIGHT ON SATURDAY, APRIL 4TH! Here is a link to the campsite booking at Boiling Springs: https://okstateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/boiling-springs-state-park/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=OK&parkId=1260029#sr_a

If you want indoor accomodations, Alabaster and Boiling Springs have you covered there as well. Below is a link to the Stables Lodge near Alabaster. REMEMBER TO BOOK YOUR ROOM FOR ONLY ONE NIGHT ON FRIDAY, APRIL 3RD! https://www.thestableslodge.com/

Below is a link to the cabins at Boiling Springs. REMEMBER TO BOOK YOUR CABIN FOR ONLY ONE NIGHT ON SATURDAY, APRIL 4TH! https://okstateparks.reserveamerica.com/campsiteFilterAction.do?sitefilter=Cabin&startIdx=0&contractCode=OK&parkId=1260029
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Here are the locations of the places we will be visiting on this trip:

(Optional during the day Friday) Great Salt Plains: 23280 S Spillway Dr, Jet, OK 73749

Alabaster Caverns State Park: 217036 State Hwy 50A, Freedom, OK 73842

Boiling Springs State Park: 207745 Boiling Springs Rd, Woodward, OK 73801

Little Sahara State Park: 101 Main St, Waynoka, OK 73860

Gloss Mountain State Park: 36.36319099579619, -98.58056187202415

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to text me (918) 906-7803. I hope you all are as excited for this one as I am!