Okatoma Outdoor Post

Headed out for an adventure with friends to spend the day kayaking. It's about 2 hours from where I live in New Orleans.

The property is nice, with ample parking space. Their bathroom and shower facilities are well kept, and while the bus is hot, it's a short trip to the river and back. You can buy ice at the facilities along with other fun float trip items.

Check-in is easy, and if you bring your own kayaks, they'll load them up for you. It's $30 to catch the bus there and back and use their equipment, and $20 just for the bus. I understand this since it's probably more of a pain for them to put other folks equipment on the racks, but if you love your kayak and don't mind traveling with it, then you get a wee bit of a deal.

The equipment is in OK shape. Life vests are a wee bit worn and old school but make for a comfy seat while you're floating / paddling along. I 100% suggest picking up some cheapo seat cushions from Walmart for your back and butt. You will thank me in a Compliment later. Also suggested to bring bungies and check if the kayak you have has enough holes on the back to create a little pocket for your ice chests and things.

Other items to bring:
Wet/dry bag
Waterproof sunscreen
Shades
Adventure sandals (in case you want to walk around a bit)
Baseball cap
Towel (leave in your car)
Bug spray (bugs weren't that bad, but suggested)
A bag for your trash
WATER!

You're going to get wet. Period. There's no way you won't so make sure to protect your things that need to stay dry in a wet/dry bag or one of those waterproof cases.

We went on what I perceived as a fairly busy day, sometimes there was a few folks around us and other times whole groups. This is definitely an easy route with a few rapid spots. There are also beached to chill out on. But Dear God, please pick up your trash or I will send Captain Planet to kick your butt...

Lots of floating, some paddling, and occasionally rigorous "we're powering past this group" paddling. Whilst you may get stuck if it's shallow or you don't turn the right way, I didn't see a lot of folks tip (though our friend did when he was being a goofball). Best idea is to talk to the folks at the facilities to learn which way to go when you approach the drop spots and rapids.

I'd definitely head back this way for another adventure! Don't miss the watermelon where you turn for some epic pics. ;)

I went here a few years ago and had a great time! However, I tried to go back yesterday and didn't have the same experience. I made a reservation for six and drove an hour and 45 minutes to find out they were CLOSED!! What the heck??? A phone call or email would have been nice to let your reserved customers know. Extremely unprofessional and rude.

I've been to Okatoma dozens of times since I was a kid and usually have fun although it's pricey and usually crowded. The last time I went, we had reservations and drove an hour and 45 minutes to get there and they had a closed sign on the door. You would think they could send an email at the very least letting their patrons with reservations know they won't be opening for whatever reason.

I would recommend Black Creek for a less crowded, more secluded kayaking adventure-- however, the river at Okatoma is more fun.

We have been here several times in the past 5 years. Always a top notch experience. The best tip I can give is to RESERVE your kayak in advance. If you try to walk in on a summer weekend without a reservation you will be out of luck. They do offer group reservations and each individual can pay the day of. They accept cash or credit. After you pay you will wait in the front. They will call your name over the loudspeaker when they are ready for you and you will load a school bus. The workers load your kayak on a trailer behind the bus. You take a 20 minute ride and they drop you off at the river start. Kayaks, oars, and life vests are unloaded and you put yourself in the water. A small ice chest will fit on the back of your kayak. TIP: Bring your own bungee cords to secure your ice chest. I use a soft ice chest with zippered side pockets to store my valuables. I suggest packing water, lunch, sunscreen, and a few adult beverages. The river itself is clean and shallow in most spots. You will have to navigate around a few trees and branches. There are about 6 rapids you will go down with the largest being about a 3 foot drop. I have never flipped but I have seen many people flip. TIP: Once you clear the immediate rapid area get out of the way so you don't cause a traffic jam or have other kayakers run into you. They do have canoe rentals but I highly urge against it because 9 out of 10 do flip over on the rapids. There are several mini beaches throughout the trip for you to stop at for a break. Most people take the 7 mile trip. There will be a large yellow sign hanging over the water to tell you where to stop. Workers will be present to gather your kayak and oar. You get on a school bus and are brought back to the main building. The facility does have bathrooms with showers. $30 includes use of their kayak for the day.

We had reservations today to canoe and kayak. There was no organization. We stood in a line for over 2 hours waiting to get to the counter while watching others cut the line. One girl waived by to us on the way to the bus after I told her the line started behind me. Finally we paid. When asking about life jackets we were told they were issued at the bridge. After 30 minutes our name was called for the next bus but it never loaded. When I asked at the counter they said the ran out of life jackets. I told her we had some if it would help speed thing up. She said yes. She would put my name on the next bus. I told her we were already called but the bus wasn't loading. She said she would put us on the list. A few minutes later the bus started loading. No names were called. People started piling on the bus. The girl in front of us told her friends she had no reservation but was getting on. The bus driver let her on. When I got to the bus I couldn't get on cause our name was not on the list. Worst experience ever. We got a refund and left. Needs organization. There should be enough life jackets and supplies for all reservations.

Okay, so we finally ended up doing some camping here this past weekend. I'm still a huge fan of the large fabulous restrooms / showers near the office, although they didn't do a very good job of keeping up with the restocking side of things while we were there (Friday through Sunday).

We stayed in the primitive camping area across the street from the main office. We were in site 4, which has plenty of trees and shade, a couple of picnic tables, a brick thing for grilling, and a campfire area. It was clean and relatively quiet out there, and the grounds seemed to be well maintained. There is a separate restroom / shower building for the camping side of the business, which was really cool looking on the outside with wood carvings and such, but definitely more in line with what you would expect on the inside when you go to a campground restroom. Three small stalls, two small showers, all kinda cinder-block-ish and broke-down and funky. It was a pretty decent hike from our site, so much that we hopped in the car to take a ride up there when nature called. But the kicker -- the plumbing was decidedly having issues. There was an "out of order" sign near the door that looked like it had been recently taken down, which (I thought) meant everything would be all well and good.

Not so.

Upon flushing the toilets, the water would come gushing out around the base of the toilet at the floor in two of the three stalls, and the other one wasn't flushing at all. We drive up to the front to let them know there was an issue, and were told the plumber had just been and said it was fixed, but that they would get him back out. We checked a few more times during our stay, but the problem never got resolved. Kindof a pain driving all the way to the other building just to use the restroom, and even moreso that they closed at 10pm and didn't open again until 7am when we were there all night long. I would have liked to see them keep the newer (better! awesome!) building open while the one at the campground was in disrepair, but this wasn't the case. So yeah. Definitely minus a star for the restroom situation, and it would be more if the other ones weren't so flippin' awesome.

Most everything else went without a hitch. The people in the front office are super friendly. They had the guys bring the boat trailers and bus over to our campsite for loading, which was AWESOME. They helped us load up the boats (also awesome) and we were off -- but we actually had to stop for gas on the way. Wha? This conveniently came right after we had trip leader training with our paddling club in which we were told to NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES show up needing to go get fuel, so we all had a good laugh while we were sitting on the bus while he was refueling. The put-in was clean and well-maintained, there wasn't much trash on the river at all considering how much traffic I'm sure it gets, and there was a bus waiting for us when we arrived at Fairchild Landing. We loaded up and were on our way back to the campground with a quickness.

All in all, it was a good experience other than the restrooms on the campground side, and I'll still be using them exclusively for our trips on the Okatoma.

We went on the 7 mile float in a double kayak. The grounds at Okatoma are pretty, and the kayak and paddles were in good shape. The area is beautiful, although the water level was low today. The float was nice and we are planning to go back for the 13 mile trip. I would recommend them!

They overcharged my card for a canceled trip. I called and they refused to refund. After the credit card company ruled in my favor and returned the extra money charged they fraudulently charged my credit card $200 more. I had to get a new credit card. Bunch of theifs. Go elsewhere.