• Rocky Terrain

• Trails 4,5,6, & 7 are less rocky than 1 & 2 but I would still recommend boots or shoes.

• Camp and Day ride 

  • Camp is located in Cove 1​

  • Camp is first come first serve, but you can reserve a spot by calling the lake ranger. Ranger phone number is 405-257-3600

  • Website is https://www.seminole-oklahoma.net/sportsman-lake

  • Big Rig Friendly for both camp and day parking

  • Day parking is at the fork of the entrance by the bathrooms to the west. Big open area, can't miss it. 

  • Box to pay is at the trailhead as well as up by the bathrooms

  • Bathhouse does need to be updated. No hot water or least doesnt stay hot long, push button type faucet. Sometimes they stink like sewer. There is a bathhouse in cove 3 that is brand new built earlier this year 2023 and the showers  there are clean, hot and dont have a sewer smell. Joyce, said she hope to get the bathhouse in better working cond​

• About 30 miles to ride, creeks to cross, logs to cross, places to long trot, lope and hills to climb with great views.​

• The road to get there has a small white sign but it sometimes falls off, so follow your GPS. "Sportsman Lake" or the roads to the lake are NS 3600 and Lake Road. Follow Lake road East into the park and Cove 1 will be the one you first come to and enter.

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From personal experience, if I kept shoes on my horses, I would ride here all of the time. Besides Prague Lake, this is really the closest place. I grew up riding here and know the place like the back of my hand. An FYI-When riding across South Bee Creek or (SBC) to go to the Dam, the markers become few and far between and it is also overgrown because it does not get rode that much. SBC can also be a little soggy in some spots when getting across but it is doable.

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Update on Sportsman Lake-

 

Recently I camped here (11-10-23 thru 11-12-23) and around the beginning of October we day rode here and reported some things we found along the way that needed fixed up- (we hadn't brought our nippers out that day due to trying to get some mileage in before a big trip we had planned out in AR)- for a while, which I did not personally know, Sportsmans didn't have an assigned ambassador which made sense on why it was so grown up. Tina had stepped down because she was the only one and it was way to much for one person, of I guess I should say is too much for one person. We now have 3 co-ambassadors for Sportsmans and they have already been hitting the trails hard to get them back into working condition.

 

While course the trails are still rideable, the further out spots that get neglected the most have been worked on. Crossing SBC is now more doable and when we camped out here we added some ribbons along the exisiting trails (where markers had fallen, the trail had been lost, and or where you would think was the trail, wasnt (LOL) SO.. me and my husband rode along putting up temporary tape so ambassadors could later go back and replace with real markers where they please (as far as distance between each) 

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FOR ANY CONFUSION FROM MY FACEBOOK POST- I was not going to and am not currently doing so- changing ribbon colors, marker colors, renaming/adding new trails- I was simply asking permission or asking who i needed to ask for permission to do as such simply in the short time frame from going to not having an ambassador to overnight having 3 co-ambassadors- so the timing on that post was horrible. That being said- once again, I did not create any new trails I just put ribbons up for exisitng trails so we knew where it was at. Those places being Duck Pt "loop" as I call it since you can take 2c to the flats instead from 1, and 1 & (going to be soon) 2 across SBC to trails end. When we got over SBC we were running low on trail tape and daylight so we had to cut it short and get back to the main trails and hit 2 back to camp. 

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NOW.... for all of that explanation- why?? well it was a surprise until I got it done but Im horrible at surprises so I came out with it and mapped 22 miles in that weekend we camped to put Sportsmans Lake on the Gaia GPS!!! 

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As of 11/14/23 the map is NOT- i repeat NOT completed yet- I will come back here to post the date on which it is completed... HOWEVER, The Map is AVAILABLE for downloads! This link below, will forward you to the map- to get it on your cell phone, click the moblile icon on the mid left of the screen. That will prompt you to the app store where you can either open  the app if you have it already downloaded or you can download it then open it.

 

Gaia is super user friendly, it works without cell serivce (but you have to have service to get the inital map to pull up but if you are out and lose service along the ride you still will have your map) You can track your route, add your own waypoints for your personal references and the compass is super sensitive to direction. Gaia is both android and iphone friendly!

 

As the rest gets mapped out it will show up on the map automatically once I add it to the folder. Duck point and part of 1 passed SBC are mapped but will be remaped to correct where ourselves got lost while trying to put up new markers. 

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This link is also on my facebook page and the Trail riders of Sportsmans lake facebook page. Happy Trails!! 

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Map Update: 2/28/24

Sunday February 25th 2024, my husband and I went out and rode about 12 miles and rode out past South Bee Creek (SBC) and we finished throwing ribbons so they would be more frequent on the trail. We were trying to get out there a little earlier so we could then re-ride all of it and map it in the same day but that did not happen. A work day is supposed to happen March 2nd but I have work on the farm and my kiddo that weekend so I wont be able to make it. However If trails past SBC do not get managed that work day weekend, next time I am out which I hope it to be that following weekend, March  9th and 10th, to clean up the trails and remap what I have so it is cleaner on the GPS.

 

I am going to look into possibly reopening trail 2 that splits off from 1 by Surprise pond. I have been informed that they just let it grow up because no one really rode it, and it was too much work to really mess with for how steep the hill is. I like a challenging trail though, So i am curious to how challenging the trail truly is or could be or if It can be managed down to where it isnt. It is a short section So we shall see how it pans out. It would be a really cool lunch spot if you didn't want to ride the rest of the way to trails End, Though trails end not being far, it's worth just riding to it at the same time. 

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There is a trail that used to be called 5 and 5E way back when which split off from the now "2" trail when you take 2 from Hamburger pond. On GAIA I have a way point marked to "keep to the left" and it also shows that it Dead Ends if you stay straight. It comes to a fence line but long time ago went along the fence line and down the hill and would spit you back out at NBC. I have been informed that this got rerouted due to the crumbling hill being too dangerous. So that trail is good to stay closed. Might be able to repoen it one day by going on the backside of the hill instead but that is not something Im going to do until I get permission.