Lake Eufaula was named after the nearby town of Eufaula, Oklahoma, which itself was named for the Eufaula tribe, a Muscogee (Creek) Native American group. “Eufaula”: Comes from the Muscogee (Creek) language, and while the exact meaning is debated, it is often believed to mean “they separated here and went to other places” or something similar, referencing tribal divisions.

Completed in 1964 and situated on the Canadian River, Lake Eufaula is Oklahoma’s largest lake, encompassing approximately 102,000 acres with 600 miles of shoreline . The lake is renowned for its exceptional fishing, particularly for species like crappie, sand bass, catfish, and black bass. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages several marinas and boat ramps, providing ample access for boating and fishing enthusiasts.

Park Review – Lake Eufaula State Park

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Location: Eufaula (Checotah), OK
Type: State Park
Check-in/Check-out times: 5:00/2:00
Site Quality / Amenities:
Access: Easily accessible from US-69 or Interstate 40. Take OK-150 to the park.
Staff: Staff at the Park Office were friendly and helpful but were not fully up to date with activities within the park. We saw park rangers drive through the main loop area but they never ventured into the Lake View Circle.
Cellular/WiFi: I don’t believe there is any WiFi in the park but we had a decent T-mobile signal with about 160Mbps downloads and 7Mbps uploads. Starlink had a relatively obstruction free view of the sky in spite of numerous trees and it achieved about 150Mbps downloads, and 15Mbps uploads.
Restaurants: We stopped by Lin Cuisine IV in Checotah while in town for our weekly Walmart visit. This is a Chinese restaurant and the food was unexpectedly pretty good.
Nearby parks: We didn’t explore any parks nearby.
What we liked: We visited right after schools were getting out for the summer and we expected the park to be busy but it was probably less than 10% full. Some people may have stayed away due to the lake being flooded. For instance, the marina was closed since the walkways going to it were underwater. There were lots of large mature trees that not only provided shade but also made for a beautiful area.
What we didn’t like: Because of recent rains, much of the park and it’s trails were a muddy mess. As previously mentioned the marina and it’s restaurant were closed. The nature center also seemed to have varying hours. Much of the area around the nature center including the exhibits were closed and looked like they hadn’t been usable for years. A lot of the picnic and tent areas were constructed in the mid 1960’s and did not seem to be maintained any more. The entire Longhorn Loop area was closed – possibly due to flooding. Trees could be trimmed up in most areas to keep larger rigs like ours from scraping them. Although the park is usable and a nice place to be in nature it definitely is showing a bit of age and need for some TLC.
Verdict: We’d likely stay here again when travelling through the area. The park is very nice for a rustic experience.