The second-fastest growing travel destination in the U.S. is a 6 hour drive from Wichita

When I hear Kansans talk about heading to the lake in Oklahoma, most often they’re going to Grand Lake in the northeastern corner of the state. While researching vacation rentals earlier this year, though, another Okie lake caught my eye.

The area around Broken Bow Lake in the far southeastern corner of Oklahoma topped Vrbo’s list of drivable U.S. Destinations for 2021 published in its annual trend report. The vacation rental online marketplace has since reported that for Memorial Day getaways, Broken Bow was the second-fastest growing travel destination in the United States, wedged between St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and Grand Teton, Wyoming.

I needed to see what was elevating Broken Bow into this top-shelf set of vacation destinations, especially considering it is only a 385-mile drive from Wichita, or about six hours.

We timed our trip to Broken Bow for late March, after the spring breakers from Dallas (190 miles), Tulsa (200 miles), Oklahoma City (250 miles) and nearby Arkansas would have returned home and before the peak summer pricing would begin.

The first surprise was the type of vacation rentals we found available. I was expecting traditional cabins more on the rustic side than the modern, well-appointed homes we found. According to AirDNA’s short-term vacation rental data, the number of rentals in the Broken Bow area has grown from about 600 at the end of 2018 to nearly 1,800 today. That means a lot of newly built properties and amenities ranging from decked out game rooms to fully-equipped outdoor spaces.

We found great options on Airbnb.com and Vrbo.com (stands for vacation rental by owner), plus vacation rental management companies specializing in Broken Bow area properties. Part of the fun of the trip was the planning stage and exploring all of these rentals. We settled on Hidden Solace, one of four luxury log cabins (with two more under construction) that a Dallas owner is developing under the name Rivers Bluff Cabins.

The drive from Wichita to southeastern Oklahoma can be beautiful, especially if you take extra time and plan your route to catch at least a portion of the Talimena National Scenic Byway. We covered about half the drive on our way to our cabin; in late March, the views weren’t yet green but were incredible, and we could see that this would be an ideal fall foliage drive.

This part of Oklahoma is among the Ouachita Mountains and the Kiamichi Mountains that are within the Ouachita National Forest that stretches into Arkansas. Beavers Bend State Park was established in 1937 but Broken Bow Lake wasn’t formed until 1960, when a dam was built to flood the original town of Hochatown and create the 22-mile-long, 14,000-acre lake.

Hochatown, a former Choctaw Indian village and considered the moonshine capital of Oklahoma during prohibition, was rebuilt along State Highway 259 and that’s where you’ll find restaurants, attractions and gift shops, many of which play up the area’s Bigfoot legend. Farther south along Highway 259 is the town of Broken Bow, with a little more than 4,000 residents.

Our cabin was about 25 miles north of the area’s main attractions, a bit of a drive but we liked that it was secluded and close to the Mountain Fork River. Vaccinations had yet to be rolled out to the masses, so we were booked a property that would be fun whether we explored the area or just stayed at the cabin. Hidden Solace had beautiful indoor spaces, plus a covered deck with a hot tub, television, fireplace, seating area and a grill so we could make our own meals. We also had our own firepit, a supply of firewood and use of kayaks and river float-tubes assigned to our cabin.

We spent one full day reading and relaxing at the cabin, taking some short walks around the property. The rest of our time in the area, we spent part of our days exploring Beavers Bend State Park and Broken Bow Lake, along with the towns of Broken Bow and Hochatown. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 virus, we spent our time hiking or driving through the area – enough to see that the rumors are true that the area is shaping up as a miniature Branson.

By that, I mean that there is a mix of natural and manmade attractions and it’s all coming together in a concentrated area.

Along the highway, there are breweries, distilleries and wineries; plus family attractions such as Beaver’s Bend Mining Company, where you can dig for bones and pan for gold, and MAZE, a 29,000-square-foot outdoor wooden maze that opened this year.

We got takeout from Grateful Head Pizza and had the best meal we’ve ever had within a state park on the deck at Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Kitchen, part of a family-owned restaurant business with eight locations, including four Oklahoma state parks. (Don’t pass up the ‘Squatch Balls.)

Beavers Bend State Park is 3,482 acres along the shores of Broken Bow Lake and the Mountain Fork River. We hiked four trails within the park:

Forest Heritage Tree Trail is an easy 1.1-mile loop along Beaver Creek from the Forest Heritage Center, the visitor center for the park. This is also where we paid our parking fee (there is no admission charge for the park).

Cedar Bluff Nature Trail is a 1-mile loop that offers bluff views of the river and also provides access to the David Boren Hiking Trail, a network of smaller trails that can be combined for longer hikes.

Lakeview Lodge Trail is made up of three loops allowing you to hike from 0.4 miles to 6 miles.

We liked the Friends Trail Loop, a 1.5-mile moderate trek established in 2019, so much that we hiked it twice, seeing the rock formations, trees and a section of the Lower Mountain Fork River from both directions.

Other activities include horseback riding, mountain biking, boating, canoeing, kayaking, water sports, swim beach, miniature golf, ziplining and fishing. The lake is one of the largest fresh water lakes in the state and is a year-round fishing spot known for bass and trout below the dam in the Lower Mountain Fork River.

If you go

Broken Bow, Okla. – Beavers Bend State Park and Broke Bow Lake, southeastern Oklahoma, about 385 miles from Wichita

Find daily updates from Beavers Bend State Park at www.facebook.com/beaversbend.statepark and information on park activities and camping at okstateparks.camp/BeaversBend

This story was originally published August 1, 2021 at 5:31 AM.