Ruff Road Review
Overview
Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma was our home for a week this spring. Read on for our Ruff Road Review of Coon Creek Campground! If you want a visual, check out our You Tube Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma Ruff Road Review: https://youtu.be/qBpNpvbutBk
Our site was a WINDY site, but oh so pretty! We had sunrises AND sunsets! Coon Creek Campground is a US Army Corps of Engineers campground is located on Kaw Lake in north central Oklahoma. Kaw Lake, completed in 1976 by damming the Arkansas River and flooding the original Kaw City, required the town of Kaw City to be relocated. This campground is on a peninsula providing beautiful waterviews from every campsite. Coon Creek Campground is one of several US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds around the lake. Due to the size of this 17,000 acre lake, you’ll find there are miles between this campground and other the other campgrounds and recreational areas around the lake.
Things to do
What is there to do? Well, first of all, anything that involves water: fishing, boating, kayaking, swimming. You’ll find a boat ramp here and you can hand launch your kayak on the Coon Creek cove area, which is just down the hill from our campsite. Kayaking Coon Creek, will reward you with a clear, rock bottomed, flowing stream with high banks. You will have to get out and pull your kayak over the shallow areas but this little trip is peaceful, scenic, and full of birds. It’s refreshing to wade in the cool, clear, rushing water.
There’s a playground for the kiddos near the boat ramp camping area. If you have dogs to walk or just like to walk, this campground offers a few miles of campground roads and open fields to check out. Watch your pups though, there are catfish heads and bones just left laying around in the grass. You can bike these roads and even head out on the quiet roads leading to the campground. There are hiking and equestrian trails on the other side of the lake, but since that was miles away, we skipped it.
Nearby, you can visit Kaw Dam and fish in the Arkansas River as it flows away from the dam. Finally, sightseeing and birdwatching are rewarding at this park and in the area. Of course, hanging out at camp made the list of things to do with beautiful sunset views. Ahhhh!
Phone Service
We can only speak for Verizon phone service here. We had service, no problems.
Noise Level
Overall, this was a quiet campground especially on the peninsula end where we were. The windiest area of the campground is the peninsula point area. You can expect wind noise there. There was less wind in the boat ramp area and more campers clustered there. It may have been more noisy in that area due to the higher number of campers, however that was only on the weekend. Still, we found it quiet and peaceful as we walked through those areas during the week.
Campground Views
Water, water everywhere! Across the water you see bluffs and far off sandy shores. We loved the grassy open spaces with blooming trees. In addition, there were shady areas below spring green leaves dancing in the wind. Most campsites provided views of sunrises and sunsets.
Cleanliness
Ok, we’ll have to be honest with this one. We wish that the bathrooms were cleaned regularly, they were not. Also, we wished that fishermen would not throw their dead fish on the ground and just leave it there. Did you know that dogs are in danger of getting hooked if a hook is still in a dead fish? Fortunately, our dogs did not get hooked but we had to watch closely to make sure they didn’t get stabbed by fish bones and catfish spines. Any other incidental plastic bags or trash we think could be attributed to the gusting winds that prevail in that area. Generally speaking, the campsites were clean and well maintained though That’s a plus!
Campsites
The campsites are large providing space between you and your neighbors. You won’t find any brush buffers here, but the campsites are quite spread out giving you the feeling of your own space. The campsites are large but spaced closer together in the boat ramp area. Still, the sites have more room than your typical private campground. Several sites had covered picnic tables, nice! Our site did not. Heads up, if you want to enjoy camping on the point of the peninsula, expect the wind to be much stronger there. The views are worth it though.
Conclusion
Coon Creek Campground on Kaw Lake, a US Army Corps of Engineers campground, is easy to drive to, easy to park your rig due to the openess of the sites, and scenic. We loved this openess and the views. However, we didn’t love the wind but we had some really good days during our stay there. Perhaps it was just the time of year. We didn’t love the messy bathrooms and fish heads strewn about. Also, just as a heads up to those who love full pressure hot showers, the shower water in our bathhouse was not adjustable and would be considered barely lukewarm. Still, the good outweighed the bad and we really enjoyed this campground. The campsites were reasonably priced and bonus, if you have the America the Beautiful or Access Pass, the rates are 50% off. Worth it! We give Coon Creek a Ruff Road Review thumbs up!
Check out more of our campground reviews right here or on our You Tube Channel, Ruff Road RV Life. See you on the road!
“We like looking at freedom!”