Roman Nose State Park
Watonga, Oklahoma
Roman Nose State Park near Watonga, Oklahoma, was founded in 1937 as one of the seven original Oklahoma state parks. The park is named for Chief Henry Roman Nose, who was a well-respected Southern Cheyenne leader in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The Roman Nose General Store and Horse Stable is home base for most of the park’s group recreation activities, said Eric Wood, manager of the park’s 22-room lodge. The stable has about a dozen horses, and guides will lead group trail rides on the park’s multipurpose trails, which accommodate hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The general store also rents out mountain bikes, Wood said.
Hikers can visit the park’s three natural, cold-water springs that bubble up from an underground aquifer, Wood said, which are “sort of a hidden thing that not a lot of people know about.” Although the crystal-clear water may be tempting, people shouldn’t drink directly from the springs without filtering the water first, Wood said.
The springs create small creeks that feed the park’s two lakes: Lake Watonga and Boecher Lake. Visitors rent kayaks, canoes and paddleboats from the general store to get onto the lakes, which are also stocked with fish, Wood said.
Roman Nose also has a full-time ranger and a part-time interpreter on staff who can lead group night hikes or interpretive walks with advance arrangements, Wood said.
