A guide from people who grew up in it
Turner Falls Park, and the ten minutes around it
Sean has been coming to this park since he was a kid. This is the list we'd give a friend: what's worth doing inside the gates, where to actually eat, and how far everything really is.
Inside the gates
Fifteen hundred acres in the Arbuckles
Turner Falls is the oldest park in Oklahoma, run by the city of Davis, sitting in the Arbuckle Mountains with Honey Creek running the length of it. The waterfall it's named for drops seventy-seven feet into a natural pool — the tallest in the state.
Collings Castle
A rock house built into the hillside in the 1930s, now half-ruin and free to wander. Climb the stairs behind it and you come out at an overlook above the falls. Do it early while everyone still has energy for the steps.
The caves
Three natural caves scattered through the park. Small enough to be an adventure for kids and short enough that nobody gets nervous. Bring a flashlight and shoes you don't mind getting wet.
The Blue Hole & the creek
Three places to get in the water. The Blue Hole near the front of the park has a slide, diving platforms and a shallow shelf along one edge. The pool under the falls is the deep one. And quieter stretches of Honey Creek suit smaller kids better than either. Water shoes are worth packing — the creek bed is rock.
Life jackets are required for children 12 and under. The park enforces this strictly, anywhere in the water, and it does not rent or lend them. They must be Coast Guard‑approved. Bring your own or you'll be turned away at the water.
The trails
Marked trails run up through the Arbuckles, including a long loop with genuinely rough sections. The overlooks above the canyon are the payoff.
Carriage rides
4D Carriage Rides runs horse-drawn carriages through the park in season. Reliably a hit with anyone under ten, and a nice slow way to see the length of the valley. Their Facebook page is the best place to check days and times.
The ride out to Cross Bar
A trail connects the park to Cross Bar Ranch, and street-legal UTVs are permitted on the park's main road. Anything else is a five-minute tow to the top-side parking, where the trail connects — either way you're riding 6,500 acres without leaving the park to get there.
Coast Guard-approved life jackets are required for every child 12 and under. This applies everywhere in the water — the Blue Hole, the pool under the falls, and Honey Creek. The park enforces it strictly and does not rent or provide them, so a family that arrives without them doesn't swim. They're cheap at any sporting goods store on the way down, and the single most common thing guests wish they'd known.
Water shoes are the other one. The creek bed is rock, and it's slick with moss in places.
Park hours, swimming season and attraction openings change through the year. Check the park's own site before you plan a day around any one thing.
Labor Day to April
Bring the toys
Cross Bar Ranch is the largest off-road park in Oklahoma or Texas — 6,500 acres and more than 150 miles of trail, minutes up the road. A trail connects it to Turner Falls, and street-legal UTVs are permitted on the park's main road.
Ride out from the driveway
A trail connects Turner Falls to Cross Bar, and street-legal UTVs are permitted on the park's main road. That means you can leave the cabin on four wheels and be on the trail system without loading anything back onto a trailer.
If your machine isn't street legal, it's a short haul rather than a dealbreaker — about five minutes up the hill to the top-side parking inside Turner Falls, where the trail connects to Cross Bar. Unload there, leave the trailer, and ride in from that point.
The terrain runs the whole range — prairie two-track for a relaxed afternoon, and rock ledges in the Arbuckles for people who came to work at it.
- Size6,500 acres
- Trails150+ miles, prairie two-track to rock crawling
- HoursOpen around the clock — night riding allowed
- Getting thereShort drive, or ride the connecting trail
In the off season, the lot in front is yours
The park runs its summer season May 1 through September 30. The crowds, though, follow the school calendar rather than the calendar on the gate — after Labor Day the day traffic drops off sharply and the gravel lot below the cabin empties, with weeks of the season still to run.
From October 1 through April 30 that lot is free and open. Pull in with a trailer, unload, and leave the toys sitting where you can see them from the porch. In July it belongs to day visitors. In October it doesn't.
It's the better riding weather too: cool enough to work all day, quiet enough that you're not threading through swimmers to get anywhere, and the cabin has heat in the loft and heaters on the porch for when you come back in.
- Off-season parkingLarge gravel lot, free, Oct 1 – Apr 30
- On-site parking2 cars, free, year round
Between October 1 and April 30 there's room in front of the cabin for trailers and toys, at no extra cost. Between May 1 and September 30 that lot is working as day-visitor parking, so message us before you book if you're towing in those months and we'll tell you honestly what will fit.
Two things to know either way. Turner Falls charges its own admission separately from Cross Bar's, including if you ride in on the connecting trail. And only street-legal UTVs may use the park's main road — if yours isn't, tow it about five minutes up to the top-side parking inside Turner Falls, where the trail connects to Cross Bar, and leave the trailer there while you ride.
Both parks set their own rules on vehicles, hours and where trailers can sit, so it's worth a call to each before a trip built around riding.
Where we send people
Eat
Four places we've been to enough times to vouch for.
Legendary around here, and there's a line out the door most of the busy season. Go early or go odd hours. If you only make one stop outside the gates, make it this one.
Homemade cinnamon rolls and desserts that are worth the drive on their own. We've worked through a lot of their frozen items, fudge and popcorn over the years and haven't hit a bad one yet. Good for stocking the cabin kitchen, not just lunch.
We've eaten here dozens of times and it's always fresh and always good. The reliable dinner when nobody wants to cook.
There's a burger on the menu for everyone in your group, vegans included — which is not something you can say about most places within fifteen minutes of here.
Mornings
Coffee & breakfast
There's a Keurig and a coffee bar in the cabin, but if you want to go out:
Consistently well reviewed for years running, which counts for a lot in a town this size.
Comfort food in generous portions. Worth the extra ten minutes if you're planning a big day and want to eat like it.
Just outside
Worth the short drive
The closest major attraction to the cabin. You drive your own car through and the animals come to the window, which children find either wonderful or alarming and sometimes both.
Owned by the Chickasaw Nation, right in Davis. Easy rainy-afternoon stop, and the obvious place to pick up something to take home.
Springs, streams and trails on the other side of Davis. A good second-day option once you've done the falls, and free to enter.
Practical
How far things actually are
| From the cabin | Drive |
|---|---|
| Arbuckle Wilderness | 5 min |
| Cross Bar Ranch off-road park — or ride the connecting trail | 5 min |
| Davis — town, groceries, pharmacy | 10 min |
| Sooner Foods grocery, Davis | 10 min |
| Sooner Pharmacy, Davis | 10 min |
| Bedré Fine Chocolate | 10 min |
| Chickasaw National Recreation Area | 20 min |
| Mercy Hospital, Ardmore | 25 min |
| Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma City | 1 hr 25 min |
Collings Castle, the caves and the Blue Hole are all inside the park, so there's no drive involved — and the Cross Bar trail runs out from inside the gates too.
When to come
The park has four quite different personalities
Spring & early summer
The creek runs highest and the falls are at their most impressive. Everything is green, the crowds haven't fully arrived yet, and the screened porch is the right temperature all day.
High summer
The park's summer season runs May 1 to September 30, and July is the busiest it gets. Porch fans and the shaded firepit terrace earn their keep, and the after-hours quiet is at its most valuable.
Autumn
Our favorite. The Arbuckles turn, the trails are comfortable to walk or ride, the day crowds thin right out, and the porch heaters make the evenings work.
Winter
The quietest the park ever is, and the best months to ride. Bare trees mean you can see further, the lot in front has room for trailers, the firepit is the whole evening, and the night sky out here is genuinely dark.
Stay inside the gates
All of the above is a short walk or a short drive from the front door — and you don't have to leave when everyone else does.