Foss State Park — Attraction in Clinton

I have visited this state park, near I-40 in western Oklahoma, many times. Management is careful to keep the park mowed only in the camping areas; the remaining acreage is left as a natural tallgrass prairie. Although tent camping is allowed, most of the campsites are devoted to RVs.

The Cedar Point RV camping area is the most popular. The RV-only campground is built on a point jutting into the lake, which allows for views of the lake from three directions. Although the view of the water is nice, Cedar Point does not have a beach. RV sites at Cedar point are modern, but necessarily placed with very close spacing so as to get as many RVs onto the narrow sliver of land as possible.

The small Sandy Beach campground allows mixed camping and offers long stretches of beach to explore. Cutberth Campground is heavily shaded by mature trees and near a boat ramp; however there is no beach. Heavy brush prevents a consistent good view of the lake.

The Cottonwood campground has no view of the lake, but is shaded by many mature trees, has the most open grassy areas, and a nice hiking trail leading to a private beach. I have never visited the Mouse Creek campground. The Buffalo Bend campground is usually reserved for group camping--family reunions and such.

There is one small convenience store operating near the Cottonwood and Cedar Point campgrounds; the nearest grocery store is in Clinton, Oklahoma, about 15...

Fishing, swimming and camping. There is an equestrian campground with 5 pens available. The sign said pens are $5/night. Some pens had shade, but where you park your trailer did not. The equestrian campsite has a boat ramp, bathroom and showers, but there is not a good swimming area. It was very grown up with no beachy area. Camping areas were well mowed. The park ranger was very nice and the nature center had some cool things including the white deer that use to live there. I suggest swimming at sunset beach. There is a lot of room to swimming with covered picnic tables. The beach is nice sand and the water was clear. As far as hiking I wasn't impressed. There's one trail that has to be shared by hikers, horses and bikes. It's just a mowed path that is 22 miles long. It crosses the road a couple of times that I could see. If you are camping with horses, the good swimming area is on the other side of the lake and a decent area is closer, but a different campsite. We really enjoyed swimming for the day, but probably won't camp. At the time of the photo is was 4...

We decided to take a last minute trip for the weekend. When I called the park office to ask if there were any open cabins the man answering the phone was very polite and helpful. There was 1 open cabin so we booked it right away. When we arrived, we were able to get the keys but did have to ask for directions. We got to our cabin and it was perfect! The cabin is VERY small but we felt comfortable for a family of 4. Our first evening we ate at the marina (all you can eat catfish) and had a great time. The food was good and the atmosphere was friendly. We enjoyed feeding the fish. Saturday was very rainy but we made do. I will say, there are no TVs in the cabin, so bring something to do in case it does rain. We spent several hours at the beach, which was littered but nice. If people would clean up after themselves, it would be a much nicer place. Our cabin had a picnic table and a fire pit which we used to roast marshmallows and hot dogs. We had such a relaxing weekend and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I would...