People come out here and think, 'Wow, we have mountains here!'" Those are the words of Sue Hokanson in describing the visitors to Quartz Mountain Nature Park in southwestern Oklahoma. The park is approximately 4,800 acres, including the land with a resort lodge, cabins, performing arts complex, full hookup campsites, hiking trails, ATV area, and more. The lake in the park, Lake Altus, covers 6,500 acres when full (it is currently 60% full). It really has a little bit of everything on a land that is unique and surprising in the great plains of the United States.
"We are a state park without the capital "S" and capital "P," Hokanson says. In the beginning, the dam that created the lake was built by the nearby city of Altus in 1927 to have a water supply for the town. The site for the lake was chosen based on a tornado hitting the town in 1912, and then the dam being built that created the lake, eventually causing the people to move. It officially became a state park in 1935. It was one of the original state parks in Oklahoma, being built up by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and eventually turned over to the State of Oklahoma. In 2001, the resort lodge needed to be rebuilt after the previous one was destroyed by a fire.
Then in 2002, the Oklahoma Legislature transferred Quartz Mountain from the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, according to their website. "It went really well until the crash in 2008 and most of the money went away and we never fully recovered from that," Hokanson says, "On the one hand, it is great because people stopped travelling to New Mexico and Texas for recreation and came and see us instead, but on the other, the funding from the state was drastically cut."
In the Oklahoma wilderness, the nature park has a total of five camping areas and offers approximately 119 RV sites, nine of which have full hookups. [Photo/Quartz Mountain Nature Park]
Even so, the nature park is well-loved by all who visit. One of the most popular groups to visit is the climbers. Essentially, it is a world-class destination for professional climbers. Said not to be for the beginner climber, it will, according to the Mountain Project website, "test your friction skills while the bold routes will test your nerves; RX climbing at its best." Interestingly, climbing reached its peak in the area in the 1970s when a famous mountain climber named Doug Robinson from California came to teach some of the climbers of Oklahoma about technique. Robinson was shocked at what Quartz Mountain and the locals offered him, prompting him to return many times to climb with his new friends. In a very fun and humorous article written about Oklahoma climbing in Outside Magazine from 1985, Robinson writes, "We found Quartz Mountain--called Baldy Peak on the topo map--in the middle of a flatlands farm: one orange dome rising out of a field of winter wheat that looked as if it got lost on the way to Yosemite. Its 300-foot face was that good, smooth and flawless." And, later, he describes his first climb: "The rock at Quartz had been a pleasant surprise, but the climbs were downright unbelievable, bold to a standard, seldom seen elsewhere."
Back then, the mountain was owned by Ted Johnson, a cattle rancher, who had a friendly agreement with the climbers of Oklahoma. Recognizing the importance of the area to climbing and in an effort to preserve it for future generations, The Access Fund, a not-for-profit rock climbing advocacy group, bought the land in 2001 and gifted it to the Nature Park.
Of course, climbing still happens at the park, but there is plenty to do besides that. "In the winter, spring, and fall, we get a lot of folks coming to view the wildlife and fish," Hokanson says. There are many herds of whitetail deer, as well as common prairie wildlife is seen often. They get a lot of winter birds, including bald eagles that winter in the area and can be seen quite regularly. Another bird that is seen in the area is the beautiful golden-fronted woodpecker. "Everyone seems to see it here, but I had to go down to Belize to finally see one," Hokanson laughs, who has worked at the park since 1996.
In the summer, there are a lot more folks who get out on the lake and do water sports, such as water skiing, jet skiing, and things like that. Hokanson says that about 40% of the people come from Texas, 30% are local, and the other 30% are from the Oklahoma City area. In the summer, also, high schoolers come and have workshops at the performing arts center for film and dance. The campsites usually fill up on weekends during the summer, but all of them are on a first come, first serve basis, so there is usually a pretty good chance of getting one during the week or anytime during the winter. Whether you want to go for a challenging climb, a nice walk on the trails, fishing on a boat, swimming, or just about any other recreational activity you can think of, Quartz Mountain Nature Park in southwestern Oklahoma should be your next stop.
Destinations, Family Friendly, Nature, Oklahoma, Outdoors, State Parks