Great Salt Plains State Park

The Great Salt Plains are the bed of an ancient inland sea. As that sea evaporated over millions of years, it left thick beds of salt in the ground, and salty groundwater still draws that salt to the surface today. When the water evaporates in the sun, it leaves the white crust that gives the flats their shimmering, otherworldly look.

That geological history explains the salty lake and the barren flats alike. The Salt Fork of the Arkansas River runs briny as it crosses the region, and the reservoir it feeds is far saltier than a typical Oklahoma lake, a rare feature that shapes everything from the fish to the birds to the crystals buried in the mud.

Great Salt Plains Lake is broad and shallow, and its salty water supports fishing for catfish, sand bass, and other species adapted to the conditions. The park offers boat access, though boaters learn to mind the shallow depths and shifting shoreline, and the lake draws anglers looking for something different from the state's freshwater reservoirs.

Along the shore, the park provides camping, picnic areas, and trails, with wide views over the water and the salt flats beyond. Sunrises and sunsets are especially striking here, the low light catching the white crust and the open water in a landscape with almost nothing to break the horizon.

The salt plains sit on the Central Flyway, one of the great continental migration routes, and the shallow lake, mudflats, and marshes draw birds in astonishing numbers. Shorebirds, ducks, geese, gulls, terns, and the elegant American white pelican gather here, and the black-and-white American avocet is a signature sight probing the shallows.

In spring and fall the migrations peak, and the endangered whooping crane sometimes passes through on its long journey. The adjoining national wildlife refuge protects the most sensitive habitat, closing certain areas seasonally, and together the park and refuge make this one of the premier bird-watching destinations in the southern plains.

The park's best-known neighbor is the crystal digging area on the flats, the only place on earth where visitors can dig selenite crystals that grow in a unique hourglass shape. During the open season, families walk out onto the salt to dig their own, a one-of-a-kind treasure hunt just a short drive from the park's campsites.

The broader region is dotted with the relics of those ancient seas, from gypsum mesas that glitter with selenite to a great gypsum cave, all within reach of the salt plains. It makes northwest Oklahoma a surprising corner for anyone drawn to unusual geology and wide, quiet, big-sky country.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.