Robbers Cave State Park

AT THE PARK

My first visit to Robbers Cave State Park was in October 2013, the year I decided to become a hiker. It also set the stage for what hikes I would repeat over and over as I shared this park with new visitors over the years.

ROBBERS CAVE PARK MAP

Mountain Trail - Outdoor Classroom Combo Loop
2.6 mi, 400 ft Elev Gain

I have loved every trail I’ve hiked at RCSP, but I do have a complicated history with the Mountain Trail that takes you to the bluffs above Lake Carlton. It took me 4 attempts to figure out the connection trail that allows you to loop back to the Outdoor Classroom trail at Lake Carlton. If you miss the connection, you may end up as I had, hiking pavement for a mile and a half from the Equestrian Campground to Deep Ford where the trailhead begins.

In the last year, Robbers Cave has done a lot of work to fix trail markers — so my problems of the past will stay in the past.

Rough Canyon - Cattail Pond - Lost Lake Loop
3.5 mi, 400 ft Elev Gain

There are so many ways to connect trails and make loop combos at Robbers Cave, one of my favorite loop combos takes Rough Canyon Trail to Cattail Pond and Lost Lake before returning to the CCC Cave Area. This trail combo is roughly 3.5 miles with 400 ft. elevation gain, and you can add about a mile of rock scrambling on the CCC Cave trail.

CCC Cave Trail
.8 mi, 171 ft Elev Gain

There is no wrong way to scramble-explore the CCC Cave Trail, but here are some of the best features to look out for. Some of these names are not official by any means… The Hot Tub, for instance, is something that my friends came up with and I have carried on.

**The Crawl-Through next to Devils Slide**

COUSIN CAMPOUT 2020

After a cold and rainy campout at the Wichita Mountains in 2019, we planned our annual Cousin Campout for the last weekend in September at Robbers Cave State Park.

We reserved the four campsites at Bobcat Crossing Campground to ensure that we had a large private area to camp, cook, and play. While we only used two of the campsites for cooking and tents, we definitely needed the entire parking area for this campground AND the ample space for playing catch, playing bocce, and for the little kids to run around with some outdoor freedom. One family van-life-ed at our campground, and two families opted to book the 1-2 Bedroom Cabins up the hill. We rented a couple of golf carts from the Park Office, and it was worth it. You can drive them all over the park (on roads), including all the way to the CCC Cave Area.

HOT TIP: If you want to rent the golf carts, do it right when you arrive — they run out on busy wknds.

Here are some of the things we did at Robbers Cave with 24 Reese-Lobmeyer Cousins - ages 7 months to 34:

Coon Ridge Trail (Partial)
Swimming & Kayaking at Lake Carlton
Disc Golf on the Park Course
Hiked the CCC Trail at the Cave Area
Mountain Biking on Coon Ridge Trail
Bocce Ball at Bobcat Crossing Campground
and lots of playing “Catch,” a family favorite

LODGING & CAMPGROUNDS

I have stayed at Robbers Cave in a variety of ways:

Day Trips from OKC (a 2.5 hour drive, one way)
Camping at Deep Ford Campground
Two nights at the Belle Star View Lodge
Camping at Bobcat Crossing Campground
One night in one of the two bedroom Cabins

While camping is my favorite mode of staying at our state parks, I love the convenience of having lodging available.

For Large Groups needing meeting space, Robbers Cave has the Butterfield Room at Belle Starr View Lodge, (2) Group Camps, the Lake Carlton Community Center and (6) Covered Pavilions.

**Butterfield Room, Belle Starr View Lodge**

For reservations, go to okstateparks.camp/RobbersCave or call (918) 465-2562.

HISTORY & CULTURE

Robbers Cave State Park is located in the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation. Osage and Caddo tribes were also stewards of this land prior to the removal of nations to the Indian Territory.

**Chahta Okla History**

*Click to Download*

Robbers Cave State Park sits in the San Bois Mountains, a hilly, rough terrain that made it a perfect hideout for outlaws in the post-Civil War era. This park is named for being a legendary hideout of Jesse James, Belle Star, the Dalton Gang, and the Youngers.

One of the original seven state parks of Oklahoma, Robbers Cave is full of awesome CCC features from the dam that holds Lake Carlton to the trail around the cave area. Shelters, roads, pavilions, and other structures around the park hold a lot of history from the late 1930s.