Robbers Cave State Park

It’s not hard to see why Robbers Cave State Park is rated the top State Park of Oklahoma.  This is a huge (over 8000 acres)beautiful park with plenty of room between sites.  While there are some full hookup sites, the majority are just water and electric hook ups. Our site, like many, are what I would consider to be quite rugged. I wouldn’t want to walk our site at night without a flashlight as it is very steep with a multitude of rock slabs and uneven terrain.

I would have no issue returning to this campground but this time I would have my eyes wide open. There are some real negatives here, as you will see.

There is no official check in procedure when you arrive.  Also, no indication that would be the case in our email confirmation.  As a matter of fact there was not even a sign pointing to a park office but more about that in a minute.  

Our Reservations for the site were made on line as well as purchasing the parking pass.  Not having a formal check in makes finding your site a bit stressful as there is no map and the specific campground loops are not marked as to which loop they are. It would even have been helpful if outside each loop they had the sequence of sites in that specific loop (eg. sites 1-15).  That would have made our trip to our spot much less tedious.  As a matter of fact, this State Park has the absolute worst signage of any we have ever been to and the maps are not accurate at all.  In their defense I can see that they are working on installing new signs.  That being said how hard is it to put up temporary signage?

If you think the park staff patrols often, think again—at least based on our experience. During the six days we stayed, I saw a ranger pass through only once. They seem to either be understaffed or their attention is elsewhere.  So as an example, the dump station for two camping loops had no water turned on to it.  This was a nasty surprise for me as we left the campground and resulted in me having to do my own clean out at home. I called the office to let them know and they were unaware of any issues at the dump station.  That’s probably due to the apparent lack of oversight taking place in the camping loops.

Aside from the no-check in process, we backed into our site with little to no difficulty BUT there was absolutely no cellular coverage.  In fact you will be very lucky to get one bar every once and a great while here.  Don’t expect that to get any better as you walk through the park – it won’t.

So you might say “who cares, we are camping!”.  However don’t forget the importance of being able to call 911 in an emergency or get severe weather alerts. Also, if your family wants to know you arrived safely, you might not be able to contact them from within the park.  In my opinion those are the downsides of this park.  Well maybe one other; oddly they want $5.00 to use their dump station.  It’s obviously not a deal breaker, we’ve just never seen this at a state park before.  Maybe this is the standard operating procedure for state parks in Oklahoma.

Just so you are aware, finding the camp office was a pain because their maps are not accurate.  It would be nice if they revised them. The road to the camp area (ash lane) is directly across from the camp office but on the map it looks like you would need to drive another quarter of a mile to get to it.  There is also a lot of construction happening in that area.  The park staff hasn’t marked the roads well at all.

So enough about all of that, let’s talk about the park itself:

The Conservation Corps created this park in the 1930s as part of the New Deal, a recovery program designed to combat the Great Depression. Most of the original CC work is still standing, and in pretty good shape for its age. Robbers Cave got its name from the ability to shelter fugitives. Some of the more infamous include Jesse James, the Dalton Gang, the Youngers, and the Rufus Black Gang. If you hike the trails, this will make perfect sense.

Eva and I took one of the trails (Coon Creek) and OMG what a rough trail; even for a one year old German Shepherd.  “You would expect the park staff to maintain the trails better or at least mark them more clearly. The lower part of the Coon Creek Trail looks like rain washed it out and created a path. About an hour into our hike I decided we’d better turn around as I didn’t want to be the main story on the news that night. Plus, without cell coverage, I couldn’t alert anyone while I wandered lost somewhere in the 8,000 acres.

If I didn’t have a travel trailer I wouldn’t think twice about renting one of their cabins. All of them are in beautiful locations and they look well maintained.

The park also has a very large pool, a store, and there are a couple playgrounds throughout the campground. Unfortunately, their construction is affecting the parking area near the pool and store while building a new structure.

In short, a beautiful Campground but poorly maintained (at this point in time). I would not hesitate to go back for a day, or a week. Just prepare yourself for what it may be like. Also, if Cell coverage is important you may want to think twice about staying here.