Washington Irving South
1Heads up1 fire 16 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:24 UTC
- A night
- $15–$25Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 20All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Washington Irving South is located on the Arkansas arm of Keystone Lake, just 30 minutes from Tulsa. In Washington Irving's book, "A Tour of the Prairies," he mentions the area as where he crossed the Arkansas River during his travels. The park features a one-mile nature trail, boat ramp, courtesy dock, playground, and multiple areas along the shores ideal for fishing. The lake's blue-green water, beautiful natural surroundings and wide variety of recreational opportunities make it a popular location for year-round fun. Keep reading
Recreation
Keystone Lake is a prime location for boating, water skiing, swimming and fishing. The lake is noted for its striped, sand, black and smallmouth bass, crappie and catfish. Downstream fisheries are accessible at nearby Whitewater and Brush Creek Parks. The park features a boat ramp, dock, playground, swimming beach and a one-mile nature trail.
Facilities
This well-shaded campground features 20 reservable campsites, all with 30 amp electrical services, water hookups (seasonal), picnic tables, fire rings, and grills. This park also offers a restroom/shower facility, drinking water, and dump station.
Natural Features
Keystone Lake is settled into many small valleys and contains almost 26,000 surface acres. Its 330 miles of shoreline are covered with bottomland timber and post oak, blackjack oak and prairie fields, which provide habitat for a variety of wildlife, including squirrel, rabbit, quail, dove and waterfowl.
Nearby Attractions
The 400-acre Appalachia Bay Recreation Area, locally referred to as Motorcycle Island, is just 10 minutes from the campground and is popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts. Sandy trails crisscross the area's beaches and wooded sections. Whitewater Park is an 80-acre off-road vehicle area next to the dam, about 15 minutes from the campground.
What the agency tells you
Campground has heavy tree cover with low hanging limbs
BEGINNING APRIL 1, 2026: Check out time 1:00 PM, Check in time 3:00 PM Prior to April 1, 2026: Check out time is 4:00 PM, Check in time is 6:00 PM Quiet Hours: 10PM to 6AM Entrance gate is locked from 10PM to 6AM. Camping is permitted in designated campsites only. Each campsite is limited to 1 wheeled camping unit and 2 tent, or 3 tents. Camping is limited to 14 days within any 30 day period. Campers must occupy the campsite at least once during each 24 hour period. Campers shall keep their sites free of trash and litter during the period of occupancy and shall remove all personal equipment and clean their sites upon departure. Ground fires are restricted to metal fire rings. These are NOT trash receptacles, please leave them free of food and litter upon departure. All vehicles should have two wheels on pavement at all times; boat trailers are permitted on the grass. Please park extra vehicles in parking lots, not on empty camping pads.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 20
- Hookups
- 20 electric, 20 water
- Longest rig
- 62 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “This park also offers a restroom/shower facility, drinking water, and dump station.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 20 of 21 campsite records, WATER (SEASONAL) on 20 of 21 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Scenic drives
- Swimming
- Water access
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 102nd darkest of 106 in OK
- Bortle 4
3 of 42 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:24 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $15–$25 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:24 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
21 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 21 mapped sitesAll 21 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 20 of the 21 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| WASHINGTON IRVING SOUTH | GS1 | day use | 74 ft | 393 ft | $25 | ||
| WIRS | 01 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 74 ft | 560 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 02 | standard electric | 31 ft | 30 amp | 69 ft | 508 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 03 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 499 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 04 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 69 ft | 448 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 05 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 111 ft | 321 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 06 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 119 ft | 275 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 07 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 84 ft | 417 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 08 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30 amp | 71 ft | 448 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 09 | standard electric | 33 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 496 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 10 | standard electric | 31 ft | 30 amp | 68 ft | 551 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 11 | standard electric | 54 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 508 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 12 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30 amp | 82 ft | 617 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 13 | standard electric | 62 ft | 30 amp | 84 ft | 651 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 14 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | 82 ft | 695 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 15 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 90 ft | 735 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 16 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 642 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 17 | standard electric | 53 ft | 30/50 amp | 66 ft | 346 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 18 | standard electric | 26 ft | 50 amp | 66 ft | 387 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 19 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 92 ft | 416 ft | $25 |
| WIRS | 20 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 344 ft | $25 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Appalachia Bay Recreation Area1.9 mi
Brush Creek Public Use Area3.4 mi
Walnut Creek3.9 mi
Tall Chief Cove12 mi
Twin Points13 mi
Sheppard Point17 miFrom Tulsa, Oklahoma, take Highway 412 west for 15 miles to Bears Glen exit. Turn left at stop sign onto the Frontage Road and drive 1 block. Turn right at first paved road and follow 2 miles to the campground entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Westport, OK
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 74°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 28°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Washington Irving South is in Oklahoma’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Frank Lucas (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →