Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve

Stunning views, nice clean park. Only complaint is lack of bathrooms in tent area. I would have appreciated a porta-John at the lake view camping area. Having to make the drive when nature calls was the only downfall.

The park with the highest point in Oklahoma. Wanted to go to that point but didn’t know it was a four mile trail so opted out of it. We did go to the dinosaur footprints and the three corners monument. It’s an interesting park in an interesting part of the state.

We were super impressed! Facilities were nice and clean. Park staff and camp hosts were very nice and helpful. We had a remote stargazing tent spot but drove the mile or so into the main camp for restrooms and group activities.

We took a beautiful drive to a park we always wanted to visit since we were kids. Beautiful views! The campgrounds looked very clean and peaceful!

Great park. We did all the hiking trails and fished both the creek and lake. Camped at the lake, but would recommend the sites within the park because of the drive to the bathrooms.

The good: quiet at night, dark skies, lots of wildlife, hiking is good, host was nice and there was wifi. The bad: zero Verizon, the wifi only works if the huge 5th wheel isn't watching Star Trek (their nightly routine🤣), rangers never opened the nature center or did any programs, you have to reserve sites and there isn't any first come first serve. The ugly: they force you to use a credit card and then hit you with a 3% fee! Also the prices in the shop are ridiculously high (like airport level).

I stayed at Black Mesa SP from Saturday, June 8, 2024, to Saturday, June 15, 2024. This was my first stay at an Oklahoma State Park. I was thoroughly pleased with the facility and trails. The staff was amazing. I am a full-time RV'er so I have been to many places where one or two employees stand out. There were so many people who did such an excellent job I had to start making a written list of names. I would like to thank Leon, Polly, Ryan, Cindy, Tim, Karla, Jay, Sherry, and Debbie. I hope I got all the names correct and didn't omit anyone. My thanks to Cole for his great maintenance skills. I look forward to visiting again in the future. Returned July 2025. They made some improvements without changing the experience. I love it when things are good and they leave it way. Tent camping paradise.

We camped here 2 nights in late June and had a really good time. We picked a very shady site. However, it was windy and the large Cottonwood trees definitely need their large dead limbs trimmed. The park is quiet and has tons of wildlife. Loved the updates since the last time we stayed here several years back. The bathrooms/showers are great. And my kids loved the playground. The park store is tiny but has a lot of stuff for camping as well as food and snacks. The lake is very low. But we were mostly in the area to hike Black Mesa (the highest point in Oklahoma), which is about 20 minutes away.

Sites are small even though the site reads large rigs, our 40 ft fit was difficult to get out and to dump site. Hook ups are on wrong side for rigs, hoses and electric cords need to reach under to attach. Doggies need shoes bootie, goat heads and large barrel stickers WARNING. HIKING TRAILS, really exceptional with amazing sights, this is a DARK SKY at night park with beautiful views. WiFi is available when gift shop is open 830 a.m -1230 This campground is reserved all on line with self serve when you arrive. Ranger is there for need but not visible camp host, bait shop canoe rental available. Know your weather report before going,does get sudden wind storms and cold. Tent sites are available look level ,clean . Dump station on way out must be well thought of in approach to dump, wider turn must be made onto grass to approach and empty.

If nothing else I am an abundantly honest reviewer. I am a resident of Oklahoma and I think it's cool that we have a park area around the highest point in the state, but beyond the mesa itself, there's not much here. Of course this is in a desolate spot in the far eastern part of the panhandle and that's just not much around, AT ALL! If you do decide to come out don't expect to be accommodated beyond a permanent port a potty and a fence with some basic rules of the park. Overall really not much can be expected from the state of OK as there really isn't much here. The views though of the landscape are second to none. It really is quite incredible the nature and wildlife that you can find out here. Despite giving this only 3 stars I say it's well worth the trip out to see it, but I don't want to give it 5 stars and set somebody up for disappointment. If you're going to make the drive out, be sure to look up the fossilized dino tracks just up the road and the tri state marker. Both are within 10 minutes of the park entrance!

Out in the middle of nowhere. They have tent and camper spaces. I read they had some kind of bunks or cabins or something like that. I hardly saw the lake. It is nicely kept. The Black Mesa Nature Preserve is within the park limits. The Black Mesa Summit is the highest point in Oklahoma and there is a 4 or 5 mile trail to a marker at the summit. There is a 600 foot elevation gain and some very rocky places in the trail. You can see Kansas, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico from the summit. Start early and have water and a hat. Follow the signs from the park. Website address http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/oklahoma/placesweprotect/black-mesa-preserve.xml

Was a fun and relaxing family trip until scientist in a secret testing site we were unaware of accidentally opened up a portal to another world and aliens such as dogs with a bunch of eyes and little head crab things showed up and started killing the scientist, then the military and their Gman showed up and started killing the scientist and all the people in the area, I would have given it one star but one of the employees for Black Mesa, Gordon Freeman, escorted our family out of the area by smashing a canyon passage open with his crowbar and we were able to escape. Great place!

Okay okay... Black Mesa is a SIGNIFICANT drive from Tulsa or OKC. Trust me though, it was totally worth the seven hour road trip from Tulsa, even the part through the impossibly flat and boring pan handle. Two of my teacher friends and I planned an epic road trip a few years ago after finishing our third year of teaching. Our plan was to do a huge loop from Tulsa to Denver to the major national parks of Utah to the Grand Canyon and back to Tulsa. Meanwhile, we were also trying to visit all 34 state parks in Oklahoma, so it made sense to make the drive out to Black Mesa State Park before driving North to Denver, Colorado. The park reminded me of the topography of parts of Colorado or New Mexico. I saw more unique wildlife here than any other state park in Oklahoma including coyotes, rattle snakes, prairie dogs, mule deer, bison, big horn sheep, eagles, antelope, and tons of other birds. The state park has plenty of shorter hikes to choose from that allow visitors to explore the unique flora and fauna of the park. The trails are well marked and include interesting facts and figures. If you are up for a more strenuous hike, I highly recommend taking a hike to the tallest point in Oklahoma on top of the black lava covered plateau. There is a USGS designation at the top at 4,973 feet above sea level. Make sure you bring plenty of water and sunscreen. Give yourself plenty of time to finish the hike before dusk (at least four hours) and use the restroom at the trailhead before you go. There is not a lot of cell service or shelter from the sun throughout the hikes. The views and opportunity to experience the unique flora and fauna are priceless. Within a short driving distance of the park are fossilized dinosaur footprints and a marker for the Tri-State border with New Mexico and Colorado. We prefer to camp at every state park, and there were plenty of spots available in late May. Our site was within walking distance of a nice bath house, we had a fire pit with a grill cover, a few trees to hang our hammocks, and a view of the creek. Don't expect to get too much sleep, the stargazing is incredible! I have read that it is one of the best public accessible places to see meteor showers in the contiguous United States. Before you head out on your next adventure, make sure you stop by the park office and store to get a sticker for your passport!

Very nice campground. Closest town is Boise City, OK. About 20 minute drive to the Black Mesa summit trailhead. Sites are large. There were only three other sites occupied while we were there. Very quiet. Beautiful lake. Two short trails at the campground. Clean bathrooms/showers but water temperature was barely warm enough. No cell service but Wifi at the office seemed sufficient to check for text messages and emails. Black flies while we were there (April 2017) but they did not bite.

Why. Did they tear up the trail??? Sad. So very sad. The trail is dead. Leave no trace?????

This is an extraordinary find in the far west panhandle of Oklahoma (as far as you can get before you aren't in Oklahoma anymore, but in New Mexico). This is a small state park, but quiet and commodious. The park is situated along the entire length of a small canyon and is lined with huge cottonwood trees and cattails. A severe drought has dried up most of the river but there are open ponds of water which are surrounded by deer and raccoon tracks. In the morning I saw 20+ deer on the grassy, shaded banks and fields making up the park. This park is very far from any town so make sure your equipment is in good shape and that you have plenty of food and supplies before you go in. The roads out to the park are paved but very narrow, much of it through open range. Watch out for multiple rough and unmarked cattle guards. I had to stop several times to let cattle cross the road (I admit, I opened the passenger window and let Cello yap at them hysterically from his "buddy seat" to speed them along). The further out to the park you go, the more spectacular the land becomes, opening out into mesa land, and rocks and small washes and canyons. There are mountains and large rock formations in the distance. At one point you cross the Old Santa Fe Trail, which is marked by historical markers. The trail is faintly visible in the rolling, grassy landscape. The exact way to the park is not well marked, but at one point you can either drive straight north to "Black Mesa" which is right on the Oklahoma/New Mexico/Colorado border, or turn left (west) to the park. Go straight and there is an eight mile hike to the highest point in Oklahoma, very scenic and rugged. Go left to the park and you will find a small jewel with about 20 small electric/water sites for RVs and 10 or more tent sites, also with water and electric. The park is very remote and I think gets few visitors, although there were three or four sites occupied when I visited in mid-October on a Sunday night. I elected to park under the huge cottonwood trees at a tent site. The ranger, who really leaves you alone, just said "hello." It's hard to imagine who they could get to live out there. Boise City, Oklahoma is the nearest town of any size, and yet is almost 20 miles away. I couldn't find a map for the park but did find a nature trail which is easy and about mile long. There are lots of other places to walk in the park under trees, and along the line of trees and green following the course of water, hidden underground by the drought. This is a great place to come and unwind for a few days, particularly if it is not crowded. It's very quiet and relaxing. There is a shower house which is old but spotlessly clean (water just barely warm, however). There is also a large group camp further in the park. If you have energetic noisy people in your party, get rid of them for the day by sending them to the Black Mesa pinnacle. You can then relax and unwind under the trees.

Black Mesa State Park and the Preserve all around it is definitely an amazing experience. I only refrained from 5 stars because I wish there was better signage at some of the sites, but that's why I created a guide with photos and a map that you will find referenced at the bottom of this. And in part, the lack of signage adds the rugged charm of feeling like you are the only person in the world to be discovering it all on your own, like Lewis and Clark once did. There are petrified dinosaur tracks, a tri-state marker to stand in Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico all at once, a hike to the highest point in Oklahoma on Black Mesa, various intriguing geology and petrified tree stumps, rock formations that resemble items and are named as such, like the Old Maid or Turkey Tail, the ruts of the Santa Fe Wagon Trails are still visible, a replica of a dinosaur femur is located at the site it was dug out, and in Kenton there are wonderful people (population 17) who love to have guests and will open the Kenton Museum for you and a small donation. This museum holds artifacts you can see, not replicated items behind glass, such as a prehistoric tooth, Native American points/arrowheads and grain grinding stones, as well as many Pioneer relics. Gas up in Guymon or Boise City before you go into the park, because you won't have access to anything once you get there. But that is part of the beauty of seeing untouched panoramas as they existed in the days of the Santa Fe Trail serving as an interstate, when cowboys and Natives camped along the Carrizzo Creek, and outlaws hid out as it was No Man's Land and there was no law. It is also a great place to be inspired for artwork and photography. There is an audio tour guide and map of all the sites that is available at www.fb.com/visitguymon and www.visitguymon.com. You can spend at least 6 hours sight seeing so bring snacks, water, and No Man's Land Beef Jerky for protein.