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Friends Trail Loop at Beavers Bend State Park is a 1.5 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Broken Bow, Oklahoma that features a river and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, and nature trips. It is considered one of the more moderate difficulty trails at the park.
Friends Trail Loop at Beavers Bend State Park – Location
It’s hard to explain. The trail is off 259a past Stephens Gap but just before the bridge. Off to your right you will see a dirt road with a large parking lot. Most of the time its full or close to full. It even has a parking pass machine (or at least a sign saying you need to pay for a day pass before leaving your car). You may even see the giant trail head sign for Friends Trail Loop. If not, you will see it in the parking lot. You can’t miss it. If you just want to go to water. I was told but haven’t confirmed that if you follow the parking lot to the road barricade and walk from there you can get down to the river without the hike.
Friends Trail Loop at Beavers Bend State Park – The Hike
I was told the trail is one of the newer and more maintained trails at the park. It also a clean trail. For hiking trails, the park in general has the cleanest trails around. Even with all the people on the trail it’s a quiet trail and when along the water it’s nice to hear the water.
I love this trail and at some point, we will revisit this trail. But that’s only after we’ve tried all the other trails. In my opinion, this one is far harder than most of the trails at the park and that’s only because of the almost straight steep uphill walk to the top of the small mountain. There’s no switch backing your way up the hill like most trails this one is almost a straight line to the top. But I get ahead of myself…
This is a popular trail. Almost every time we drive past the parking lot or pull into the lot its always or almost always full. During our hike, we passed at least 3 families going the wrong way on the trail and another family that was behind us for a while. I’m not sure where all the families went after parking their cars, but they were in the area. Maybe exploring along the river since there are some unofficial trails down there.
Once parked, you will see the nice new and oversized trail head sign. From there, you walk a short distance (call it a warmup before the hill climb starts). Then the steep incline starts and that takes you to the top. From there you walk along the ridge. Until you start your way back down the other side. This part of the trail isn’t too steep and it’s a short winding path that takes you down to the river. The path narrows and is near a drop off at the water’s edge. There are a few spots you can get down to the water’s edge where you can get out onto the rocks (the water is too fast to swim).
There are a few spots along the path that are washed out and have you walk at an angle (one leg is higher than the other). The trail will eventually take you back into the forest and widens out again. This part of trail easy and only has a slight elevation gain/drop as you follow the land’s contours as you make your way back to the trail head.
Tips For the Trail
- The trail isn’t all that hard. The steep inclines, the narrow trail sections, and trail angles make it difficult for those do not use to hiking or out of shape. So, take your time and take plenty of breaks to enjoy the scenery.
- At the top, there isn’t really a good view of the surround landscape. The trees block the views. The view is the river.
- Wear a good pair of sturdy shoes. No canvas slips on, fashion shows, or sandals. You will tear them up and your feet up.
- Bring plenty of water. Even in the weather you will sweat. In the summer months you will need more than you think. The hills burn up a lot of your energy.
- Bug spray is needed during the spring/summer/fall months that are still warm enough to keep the biting bugs alive.
- Trekking poles will help with the up climb and help stabilize you on the uneven paths.
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About the Images
Some images were shot early on a gloomy and damp afternoon. Others were shot on a sunny afternoon causing glare and what washing the images. I had some issues getting the images to stay in focus and removing noise from the images. I was able to fix some of the issues in post. I used my Sony a6000 using my Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS. I then edited the images with Adobe Lightroom CC, Topaz Labs Denoise AI, AI, Topaz Labs Sharpen AI , Aurora HDR, and Luminar AI.
I also used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Snapseed for some of the images shared here.
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