Wister Lake State Park - Wister, Oklahoma

I conifer you a discount on camping puns.

Today we are discussing Lake Wister State Park in Wister, OK.

A gateway to the beautiful Ouachita National Forest, Lake Wister State Park in southeast Oklahoma offers five camping areas around the 115 miles of scenic shoreline. This outdoor haven offers park visitors a variety of activities including hiking, camping, biking, boating and water skiing on the 7,300 surface acres of Lake Wister. As an added bonus, the park is also equipped with a water spray park, a popular destination for children and adults alike.

Nestled in a ring of pine and oak covered mountains: the Sans Bois, Jackforks, Kiamichis and Ouachitas, lodging facilities at Lake Wister State Park include 15 cabins, RV sites with full hook-ups or some with water and electric only, and tent sites. All RV and tent sites must be reserved online. Book one of the 15 cozy cabins within the park and enjoy lake or park view cabins complete with stone-framed fireplaces and easy access to hiking trails.

The park's one or two-bedroom cabins, surrounded by groves of dogwood, wild cherry and northern spruce, accommodate four to six guests and feature one to two queen-size beds in each bedroom with linens, sleeper sofas and a 32-inch flat screen TV. Each cabin also comes complete with kitchen, restroom with shower and air conditioning. Please keep in mind that dishes and cookware are no longer stocked in the cabins. Two cabins have accessible main and bathroom entrances, and pets are welcome to stay in a select number of cabins at the park for a daily pet fee. Lake Wister State Park also offers a fully-equipped group camp that can accommodate up to 100 visitors and includes a full kitchen and dining hall.

Lake Wister State Park welcomes wildlife watchers, nature photographers and anyone wishing to escape into the great outdoors. Hunters will enjoy the nearby Wister Wildlife Management Area. A waterfowl area is also located within close proximity to the park. The Poteau River, Oklahoma's only river that flows north, feeds into Lake Wister along with the Fourche Maline and a half dozen or more mountain streams provided fresh cool water perfect for fishing. An abundance of northern bluegill, channel catfish, flathead catfish, white bass, smallmouth and largemouth bass are available for the angler.

Facilities at the park include comfort stations with showers, picnic tables, group picnic shelters, lighted boat ramps, an unlighted gravel ramp, playgrounds and a swimming beach. Challenge friends and family to a round of miniature golf at the park's miniature golf course. Hiking trails include a self-guided nature trail and a 6.4-mile hiking trail that takes visitors into the surrounding wilderness to view wildlife such as deer, ducks and rabbits. During the winter months, wintering golden and bald eagles can be seen soaring overhead.

Wister is located in central Le Flore County and in the northern portion of the Ouachita National Forest near Lake Wister, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created between 1946 and 1949. U.S. Highways 270 and 271 pass through the town. McAlester is located fifty-five miles almost due west, and the Oklahoma-Arkansas border lies twenty miles east of Wister.

Within a few decades of the 1830s Choctaw removal from Mississippi to Indian Territory, the population in the future Le Flore County area had greatly increased. By the second half of the nineteenth century the Choctaw and the whites who joined them had developed an economy that required railroad services. In 1866, after the Civil War, a treaty between the Choctaw Nation and the federal government permitted railroads to build through the territory. They became an integral part of the economy, transporting coal, timber, livestock, farming, and other products, as well as passengers.

Also discussed: Onlyinokshow, Travelok and Washita Valley Community News.

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