Osage Hills State Park — Attraction in Pawhuska

This was the worst experience ever at a State Park or camp ground period. We arrived 9/25/20 at 5:30pm. Their were 7 people in our party with 4 adults and 3 children. We had two wall tents reserved between us for each family. At 8pm Ranger Kyle Thoreson (who as previous reviews state, has a better than thou complex) came to our campsite to say the music needed to be off at 10pm sharp. We had some low playing country music on one of our vehicles. We said ok and he and his trainee Justin left. At 10pm we turned the music off and the adults went back to the tents to put the children to bed. Around 11pm three adults came back to sit by the fire and have some drinks and visit. We all work hard and are between 34-39 years old. Perfectly legal. At 12pm the other adult who had fallen asleep with the kids came back to join. At 1pm Ranger Thoreson and Justin come back to the campsite and the first thing he says is it looks like you all have consumed a lot of alcohol, where are the kids. We stated that was his opinion and the kids were asleep in the tent. He proceeded to state he didn’t believe us and we asked him to leave. He told us he’d let CPS know we were neglecting our children and that we would need to leave the next day. It is not illegal for adults to drink and the children were sleeping. There were no noise complaints and we weren’t being rowdy. We said we wanted a refund and we’d speak to his supervisor. Next day he comes back and says he had refunded us. We asked for his supervisor Nick Conners number and my husband spoke with him. He said he had to go off the report given by Ranger Thoreson. My husband asked what was in the report since we had done nothing wrong and he said he hadn’t read it yet. The supervisor hadn’t read a report that we’re getting kicked out of the campsite for? He proceeded to state they were reporting us to cps for felony child neglect. If we were so drunk that not one adult out of 4 could function, why were the police not called that night to take the kids? No breathalyzer was given? We then told them we’d talk to our lawyer and leave the site. We packed up and left peacefully. As we were pulling out, Ranger Thoreson and Conner pull both of our vehicles over. Literally harassing us. Asked for the kids names, our liscence, and dates of birth for their “report”. I have never been treated this way in my life. I worry about them having our home address because this Thoreson is completely an unstable narssasist with a major authority problem. If you’re older and visiting, don’t plan on consuming any alcohol and go to bed like daddy Kyle Thoreson tells you to, then this is your place. If you want to quietly enjoy yourself with friends and have some beverages as an adult then go somewhere else. We left and went to Tahlequah to rent a cabin and the people were wonderful. Kyle Thoreson doesn’t like being talked down to ecpesically in front of his trainee. He was embarrassed and I believe he felt like teaching...

A Wonderful Stay with One Bizarre Exception

★★★★☆ (4/5 Stars)

We just finished a fantastic stay in the RV loop at Osage Hills State Park and would absolutely return.

The sites are well laid out with nice shade trees and great views. While some sites are closer together, they aren't all like that. We highly recommend trying to book Site 1 if you can—it's practically by itself with a very spacious and beautiful green belt behind it, offering plenty of privacy.

The facilities were great. There are plenty of bathrooms and showers. The park has the original units, which are clean but show their age, and two fantastic new air-conditioned units. A heads-up for the showers: the water runs warm and the temperature isn't adjustable, but we found them to be extremely clean.

The hiking trails are a major highlight, offering gorgeous views both along the way and at the endpoints. Our dog loved exploring with us. As with all state parks, remember your pup must be leashed and under control at all times.

We were particularly impressed with the park rangers. They came around the loop several times a day, which was reassuring. They were also very attentive, making eye contact and acknowledging us, making it clear they were available if we needed anything.

I would have given this park a solid 5-star rating without hesitation. However, as we were leaving, I stopped by the office to purchase a park sticker. The office lady felt it was appropriate to tell me that my dog was overweight. It was an unprofessional, unsolicited, and frankly strange comment that left a sour taste on an otherwise perfect trip.

Despite that one negative interaction, the beauty of the park, the excellent facilities, and the professionalism of the rangers far outweigh it. We highly recommend Osage Hills and look forward to...

I rented a cabin in January of 2015 for my husband and my second honeymoon. Loved every minute there so we came for a family overnight camping trip with family from out of state. Park ranger was very polite, and I paid the nightly fee when he came by. However, we had just started drinking a few beers and were informed that we were being too loud and all music and noise was to be stopped at 10 pm. He ended up coming back to our site several times telling us there was a lot of complaints (every light in the campground was out, and we were at the very end of the all the tent sites) at about 1130, he came by and told us we were just to go to bed. We started going to bed and we asked him about the fire and he said he was going to stay around and make sure we stayed in bed. When I went out to use the bathroom about 40 minutes later, he was sitting there still. He told us that we needed to apologize to our neighbor's and that people go camping to be in nature not to drink and be loud. I felt that I am a 36 yr old woman with all children that are older and were in bed and we were having a good time- I shouldn't have to be babysat. I will NEVER GO THERE AGAIN. it was bad enough that I was told to go to bed but even worse that he stood outside our campsite to make sure we were staying in bed!!!! Such a...