Day Camping @ Turner Falls in Davis, Oklahoma (pics) for the 4th vol. Damn Nature You Scary / Beautiful

21,728
15,748
Joined
May 25, 2001
storm2006 storm2006

here's a Youtube user who went and shows most of the things



- Turner Falls is in Davis, Oklahoma (about 2hrs from Dallas, 1 hr from OKC).. It is the tallest waterfall in Oklahoma at 77ft, he park itself is in Arbuckle Mountains, has outdoors-y things like you can swim, fish, set up day and overnight camping, horse rides, atv park, a random 1930s style castle with comically small rooms and stairs and huge spiders, waterslide and diving board in an area called The Blue Hole

- Has had 10 deaths since 2016. It's the wild, not a pool. Most of the water is waste level then you take a step and go under then another step and its back to 2ft. The rocks on the bottom are so jagged and sharp and inconsistent and slippery with algae. I saw the lifeguards have to rescue 3 people just in hour or so I was swimming over by the waterfall (you cant swim right under the waterfall, but you can climp up it to go into the "cave" and the waterfall is going over your head. Would have been an amazing photo but the water falling on my phone kept messing me up)

- We got there at 6am. You just pull up, and set up your spac on a first come first serve basis. We found a nice spot on the hill underneath 2 trees so we had shade, had like 15 people and about 5 tents between us. 2 grills in the space we picked and a water spicket and across from the bathrooms.

- There's Level 1, 2, and 3. You have to park in whatever level you pay for, but you can set up where ever. The walk fromm level 1 to level 2 (never even visited level 3, the Waterfall and Caves and Blue Hole (diving board/waterslide) is all in level 1 is literally a mile up a 60% incline narrow road with no sidewalk. And down may have been worst than up, I just jogged because it's so steep you get turf toe and spend more energy trying not to just take the momentum forward. I posted pics of this below. Oklahoma

- Grilled a few slabs of ribs, burgers, shrimp, corn, some of the onions for the burgers then I had a propane cooktop and a cast iron skillet and did crab leg (dungeons) and butter sauce, potatoes (for a crab boil which never got assembled because people ate everything so fast) and we had some watermelon. 2 big *** tents

- Would recommend. Anybody come to Oklahoma or OKC hit your boy up. I'll give you some recommendations at the least, if not come out and get some drinks with your boy. I'm on a diet right now though so give me a minute or you gonna be getting real drinks while I get water with a lemon.

Pics,

Entrance

208732923_10100562184910134_1074415304468927805_n.jpg

209674494_10100562180548874_7822016124523144080_n.jpg



Appropriate Warnings (people drowned here)
210567806_10100562184745464_7056131862398099053_n.jpg

209158265_10100562183153654_3831581661371456648_n.jpg

213878172_10100562183228504_6399010195416555187_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
Those videos didn't work. I'll fix it. Just love all the tiny waterfalls where the water crackles and all the roads being low water crossings. Bring your water shoes at least ($5 at Wal Mart or some real flyknit based shoes if you have beaters)

Kids were out there in the Blue Hole (under 12 have to have on an approved flotation device and they have actual Police patrolling screaming out the bullhorn at them even if in the 6 inch shallows)

We went over there and I was gonna go down the slide then everyone wanted to go to the Waterfall instead which is the opposite direction so I'll check it out next time. They make adult life vests, I bought one but didnt put it on. Nothing wrong with safety or no reason to be embarassed I should say

More pics
 
Pics

Castle (it was stupid, maybe there's a reason for it I dont know but just a 1930s style castle with tons of steep, narrow stairs that go nowhere and tiny rooms and doors and a massive spider infestation)

209741501_10100562181152664_1671067040438688579_n.jpg
208950119_10100562181047874_344164678299658091_n.jpg

208900927_10100562181092784_6973063485064119254_n.jpg

209419554_10100562182539884_4006636716107898419_n.jpg


Waterfall (I went in the cave, didnt get a good picture from up there. It was slippery and hard to get to)

210720496_10100562182370224_3108875167495652732_n.jpg

208784039_10100562182320324_2902529998393060843_n.jpg

214082909_10100562182480004_1574965567020025241_n.jpg


The Diving Board
209498465_10100562182854254_5783926480706410609_n.jpg


The ridiculous, treacherous road from level 2 parking back down to Level 1 (I guarantee they have tons of heat exhaustion cases from this miserable walk, 1+ mile, 60 degree incline. There's a shuttle but he takes forever so you have to walk down/up a narrow road with no sidewalk to get to your vehicle if you don't buy level 1 pass and want to post up at the bottom. Price difference is neglible so that's just something to know for next time.

208594945_10100562182954054_2541812247360958205_n.jpg

208325478_10100562183487984_2280673159028348975_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
overall, looks like a pretty cool spot. looks too crowded and touristy for my tastes but that picnic and bbq outdoors looks like a great time. i hope everyone picks up after themselves. that’s a pet peeve of mine - finding rubbish on the ground when i’m hiking or at the beach.
 
It was crowded, but it wasn't uncomfortable like a theme park or a state fair. Our campsite we were plenty far from the parties near us. We could hear their Mexican music and I'm sure they could hear the rap music the teens were playing, but it wasnt uncomfortable and everyone was friendly. In the water there's infinite space too, thats just the area in front of the waterfall kind of crowdd and you could go to level 2 or 3 which are up above and I'm sure there was hardly anyone up there. THis was also July 4th weekend which I have to imagine was a peak day, you could even go on a non weekend and probably have the whole place to yourself like dude in the video in op did.

It's also down the road from Arbuckle Wilderness which I have been to dozens of times, which is like a drive through safari style zoo where you feed the animals out of your hands or an old Pepsi cup.

As for it being touristy, there was like 5% white people there at most not counting the employees which leads me to believe they white flighted to a new spot because I thought they'd be out en mass for the 4th. It's their holiday, we just bbqing

 
Last edited:
Nice Photos.

I Hate Swimming Places Were The Footing Isnt Consistent
saw people literally almost drown just because you dont be ready for the next step. I guess you'd be dead so you wouldn't care anymore, but for someone' sfamily to have to explain their kin drowned in knee deep water that kids were standing up in right next to them would be tough. Plus that their kin drowned to begin with
Looks like a dump tbh
Post some Yellowstone/Yosemite doggy
They making a killing and I doubt redirecting that money back into the City of Davis. Ice was $8. They literally buy all the stuff from Wal Mart they know you will forget and sell it to you at 6x-8x markup. Money probably flows into the Governor's pockets
 
LivinanOKLife did a vlog of the zipline over the park and the aforementioned Arbuckle Wilderness drive through safari zoo and Arbuckle fried pies, all of which are like a block away from the Turner Falls. At 1:46 you can see the waterfall from above. Shout out to them, letting people know we out here,. Yes, we as in the blacks. storm2006 storm2006

 
Back
Top Bottom