Broken Bow is 2nd-quickest growing journey destination in U.S.

When I hear Kansans discuss about heading to the lake in Oklahoma, most typically they are likely to Grand Lake in the northeastern corner of the point out. Whilst studying getaway rentals before this 12 months, even though, a different Okie lake caught my eye.

The place around Damaged Bow Lake in the significantly southeastern corner of Oklahoma topped Vrbo’s record of drivable U.S. Destinations for 2021 printed in its yearly craze report. The family vacation rental on the internet marketplace has considering that claimed that for Memorial Working day getaways, Damaged Bow was the next-swiftest rising journey vacation spot in the United States, wedged in between St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and Grand Teton, Wyoming.

I needed to see what was elevating Damaged Bow into this best-shelf set of trip destinations, specially contemplating it is only a 385-mile drive from Wichita, or about six hrs.

We timed our journey to Broken Bow for late March, immediately after the spring breakers from Dallas (190 miles), Tulsa (200 miles), Oklahoma Metropolis (250 miles) and close by Arkansas would have returned residence and in advance of the peak summer pricing would begin.

The to start with shock was the kind of holiday vacation rentals we uncovered offered. I was expecting conventional cabins a lot more on the rustic side than the contemporary, very well-appointed residences we located. In accordance to AirDNA’s quick-expression getaway rental knowledge, the range of rentals in the Broken Bow area has grown from about 600 at the finish of 2018 to almost 1,800 nowadays. That signifies a large amount of recently created attributes and amenities ranging from decked out sport rooms to absolutely-equipped outside areas.

We uncovered great options on Airbnb.com and Vrbo.com (stands for family vacation rental by operator), in addition getaway rental management providers specializing in Damaged Bow area attributes. Portion of the entertaining of the trip was the scheduling phase and exploring all of these rentals. We settled on Hidden Solace, 1 of four luxurious log cabins (with two a lot more less than design) that a Dallas operator is acquiring under the identify Rivers Bluff Cabins.

The travel from Wichita to southeastern Oklahoma can be wonderful, specially if you just take further time and prepare your route to capture at minimum a part of the Talimena National Scenic Byway. We protected about fifty percent the push on our way to our cabin in late March, the sights weren’t nevertheless inexperienced but were extraordinary, and we could see that this would be an suitable slide foliage travel.

This section of Oklahoma is among the the Ouachita Mountains and the Kiamichi Mountains that are within just the Ouachita Countrywide Forest that stretches into Arkansas. Beavers Bend State Park was set up in 1937 but Broken Bow Lake wasn’t fashioned till 1960, when a dam was crafted to flood the initial town of Hochatown and build the 22-mile-extensive, 14,000-acre lake.

Hochatown, a previous Choctaw Indian village and regarded the moonshine funds of Oklahoma through prohibition, was rebuilt alongside Point out Highway 59 and which is in which you are going to uncover places to eat, attractions and present stores, a lot of of which perform up the area’s Bigfoot legend. Farther south along Highway 59 is the city of Damaged Bow, with a minimal extra than 4,000 people.

Our cabin was about 25 miles north of the area’s key sights, a little bit of a generate but we favored that it was secluded and close to the Mountain Fork River. Vaccinations had yet to be rolled out to the masses, so we were booked a residence that would be entertaining no matter if we explored the region or just stayed at the cabin. Hidden Solace had lovely indoor spaces, furthermore a protected deck with a sizzling tub, television, fire, seating space and a grill so we could make our own foods. We also had our possess firepit, a offer of firewood and use of kayaks and river float-tubes assigned to our cabin.

We used a person complete day examining and calming at the cabin, using some shorter walks about the home. The relaxation of our time in the area, we expended element of our days exploring Beavers Bend Condition Park and Damaged Bow Lake, along with the towns of Broken Bow and Hochatown. Simply because of the ongoing COVID-19 virus, we invested our time climbing or driving via the space – ample to see that the rumors are true that the space is shaping up as a miniature Branson.

By that, I mean that there is a combine of purely natural and manmade sights and it is all coming jointly in a concentrated area.

Along the freeway, there are breweries, distilleries and wineries additionally spouse and children sights this sort of as Beaver’s Bend Mining Enterprise, where by you can dig for bones and pan for gold, and MAZE, a 29,000-square-foot outdoor wood maze that opened this year.

We got takeout from Grateful Head Pizza and experienced the very best food we have at any time had inside of a point out park on the deck at Swadley’s Foggy Base Kitchen area, component of a relatives-owned restaurant enterprise with 8 destinations, together with four Oklahoma point out parks. (Really do not pass up the ‘Squatch Balls.)

Beavers Bend Condition Park is 3,482 acres together the shores of Damaged Bow Lake and the Mountain Fork River. We hiked 4 trails within the park:

Forest Heritage Tree Trail is an easy 1.1-mile loop together Beaver Creek from the Forest Heritage Centre, the customer centre for the park. This is also where we paid out our parking rate (there is no admission cost for the park).

Cedar Bluff Character Trail is a 1-mile loop that delivers bluff sights of the river and also offers access to the David Boren Hiking Path, a community of smaller sized trails that can be combined for longer hikes.

Lakeview Lodge Trail is designed up of three loops making it possible for you to hike from .4 miles to 6 miles.

We appreciated the Good friends Path Loop, a 1.5-mile average trek founded in 2019, so substantially that we hiked it 2 times, seeing the rock formations, trees and a area of the Decrease Mountain Fork River from the two instructions.

Other things to do contain horseback driving, mountain biking, boating, canoeing, kayaking, water sporting activities, swim beach, miniature golf, ziplining and fishing. The lake is 1 of the largest new water lakes in the state and is a 12 months-spherical fishing spot identified for bass and trout beneath the dam in the Decreased Mountain Fork River.

If you go

Damaged Bow, Okla. – Beavers Bend Point out Park and Broke Bow Lake, southeastern Oklahoma, about 385 miles from Wichita

Uncover everyday updates from Beavers Bend State Park at www.fb.com/beaversbend.statepark and details on park routines and tenting at okstateparks.camp/BeaversBend