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To begin the story of Optima Lake, I would like to give a little background.
I saw a story on News 9, which can be read here stating the park would be torn down instead of replacing a $1.5 Million guardrail that protects drivers crossing the dam. So we decided to hit the road, and document the park before it was lost forever.
Optima Lake is located in the panhandle of Oklahoma in Texas County on the Beaver River, approximately 4 1/2 miles northeast of Hardesty, and 20 miles east of Guymon. All public use areas around the lake are grown over and hardly accessible to vehicles, but remain open without any services like water or electricity. The lake was built in 1978 by the Army Corps of Engineers, but the water level never reached normal pool because of an extreme case of drought and evaporation in the area. This can be read about here.
There is approximately 3400 acres of land for public hunting and approximately 4300 acres of Federal Wildlife Refuge. According to the Army Corps of Engineers website, Optima Lake is also a prime area to view a variety of waterfowl, shorebirds and wading birds.
Even though there may not be any water in the lake, or any other visitors around, there is some amazing views of the valley below and the surrounding hills. The drive from Oklahoma City took 4.5 hours, but was well worth it. Next time, we’re bringing a tent!
Below is an article from the Oklahoman:
To Unlock the map, Click Here.
Awesome! I’ve heard about this place for some time now, but never wanted to drive all the way out there. Thanks for the pics!So is that an actual dam in pic #24 or what? I cant tell… Oh and I spotted your car again, pic #31, its trying to hide haha.
This place looks pretty dam cool.
hardy har…. good one….
Oh guys! Amazing pics! what do you thing whould make thos shelter structures all crumble in the same direction? wind? any thoughts?
My thought was strong winds. There was an area that was surrounded by trees and they were still intact. Also, on the backside of the dam at Anglers Point, the ground is so far below the dam, that the winds wouldn’t be to strong there either and they were mostly standing. Possibly a tornado, I couldn’t find anything in the archives about it.
I was wondering the same thing. You think if it was a tornado things would be more strewn about instead of, er, tipped.
Wildfires burnt the support posts.
the part of the story that has not been told recently is that this hoped for lake had been authorized to be built for forty years before it actually got built.
Oh and by the way you were just thirty miles away from the old Baker school…. You would have loved checking it out. Its north about twenty miles then west for about ten miles. The school sytem was abandoned back in the sixties.
Oh man! I wish we would have known that! Send me a link to the google map of the school and we can always make another trip!
I went through this area in 1979 on a trip to Colorado. There were campsites, picnic areas, restrooms and playgrounds. It was all brand new, but there was no water in the lake. I walked the whole Hardesty area on a hot August afternoon with a cold beer in my hand. I was 18 at the time and left my camera in the car. Dummy.
I also stopped here with my family in about 1988. The roads were starting to show grass in the cracks then. There were a group of RV campers there and one of the campers there told me they came to this site regularly because it was cheap and private. The water in the basin was less than your pics show now.
I have driven by since but have never stopped.
Thanks for the pics.
well I was close actually it is ten miles east of Hooker, Oklahoma on hiway 64.
http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS306US306&q=baker,+oklahoma&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Baker,+Oklahoma&gl=us&ei=Yc6-SrXIOYH2sgOEpJQl&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1
I grew up in this area and spent quite a bit of my early years camping at this place. I loved it. Then, while in high school, it was a popular place for my friends and I to party and camp on weekends because there was really no law enforcement patrolling the lake area.
It’s really sad to see it in the state that it’s in now.
Great pictures!
I’m always amazed how people comment about the run down facilities, obvious lack of water and complete project failure of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Why not think of the family’s that had their land forcibly taken through innment domain action by the U.S. Government. Then watched for the next 43 years (1966 – 2009). I would lay odds the land supported more more wild life on the ranch land before the U.S. Government got near the land. Texas County, The U.S. Corp of Engineers and the State should just give the land back to the original land owners with a huge apology!
Just thought I’d clarify a few things. I was a Park Ranger @ Optima Lake from 1979 through 1994. Number 1: There never was a “State Park” @ Optima Lake. The State of Oklahoma declined this option in the planning stages (most likely due to cost). All of the recreational facilities were managed by the Corps Of Engineers. Number 2: The Coldwater Creek “arm” of the “lake” is a National Wildlife Refuge administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service while the North Canadian (locally called the Beaver) River “arm” is run by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Number 3: the dam itself is 3 1/2 miles long, and actually at it’s highest level (in the mid-80’s) had a max depth of about 10 feet of water! The damage to the facilities is a combination of vandalism, lack of any maintenance for about 15 years and slow destruction and removal by the Corps. Number 4: There was no tornado damage. There was some range fire damage (particularly to the infamous guardrail) but this was relatively minor in the recreation areas. I’d be glad to answer any questions I can regarding this site. Having spent 15 years of my life working there, count me as one of the most disappointed in it’s outcome!