Found this little nugget of information in case you are thinking about going.

A friend and I took our kids camping up there a few months ago, they had a blast. It’s a cool place for sure.

I agree on the comments about it getting crowded - finding a place to eat with a reasonable wait on the weekend was pretty tough. Not a huge deal if you plan ahead - just don’t show up at peak time with three hungry kids and expect them not to lose their [censored].

Stub sounds like y’all had a great time!!

Took my family there 2 years ago, and had an ok time. We didn't really know what we were getting into, but looking back, dining was the biggest complaint. Like others have said restaurants were jam packed or closed by 8. Do yourself a favor and get or bring groceries with you. Scenery was nice though, caught some trout on fly, and generally just relaxed.

For being spring break it was no where near as crowded as I expected. Buddy said him and his wife had the river all to themselves this morning to fish. Beavers Bend brewery was crowded by not insane.

FYI there is no need to haul groceries all the way from home. There is a decent grocery store in Broken Bow (Pruetts) and a more uppity little local “market” called the Local 259 or something like that on the N side of Hochatown now. The red lights have helped a bunch with traffic flow. There is also a decent little meat market called Mountain Man’s. There also some gravel roads that go for miles and miles N of town in National forest lands - don’t even need a truck/suv/sxs to get off the beaten path and take in some of the scenery.

I know what you mean. We've been going for about 15 years. It's not the same anymore.

Just like Collin County, TX. People moved in, ruined the country, and ran me off.

Lived n OK for 19 years and never went.

Fish Tails Winery has decent wine and good food, though the selection is limited.

Been going there since Broken Bow lake was built back early 70's, land here now is $130k per acre, the place is over built, there are 4000-5000 new cabins in last 4 years, just subdivisions in the woods on an acre or less of land. 80-85% of visitor's are from 20-30 mile radius of Plano. Hochatown just voted to become an official city. Lots of great food. Lake is a great crappie lake, love fly fishing below the dam, hunting in the national forest just up past the golf course, lots of deer everywhere, we can have 15 or 20 in the backyard on a given day.The original Hochatown is in the bottom of the lake, moved it to present location when lake was built. The area was known as the moonshine capital of Oklahoma back during prohibition days,

Where do you ride your SXS's and how far from Hochatown? We have a trip planned at the end of this month, might take my SxS.

There are a couple national gorest trails you can get a permit for. I would suggest getting off the beaten path. Go to 5,300 and head west for 10 miles to the glover river and you will have it to yourself. Personally I would not go ride in Broken Bow too many people on too few trails.

The trails were leisurely but scenic. Saw a few deer. Noting on them really required 4 wheel drive except the first trail we had to turn around on because it abruptly stopped. We parked at 58110 and rode west from there on Cedar Trail. We did prob 40-50 miles and only encountered 2 other groups.

A member of the TFF has a restaurant there.

https://shuckme.net/

There are trails on the E side of 259 as well - they're also pretty leisurely. The most "difficult" part of that trail is from the parking spot to the trail head - but it winds around the lake and has pretty views and a waterfall. The gravel roads on Cedar Trail go a LONG ways and if someone was up there even in a sedan they could go adventure - there are some scenic spots - especially in the fall. For those thinking about going up there - Cedar Trail is a gravel road on US forest service lands - it is all weather and open year round. There ARE true off-road trails in that area - some of them are NOT open year round - need to consult the Fed website for dates things are open/closed. OnX Off-road doesn't give those dates (and don't show every trail) I believe. There are some weird characters up there during deer season and I've come across more than one "camp"

We ate there Saturday evening around 6, it was just okay, the wife and I were disappointed because of the great reviews on it.

While staring at the menu board I saw a person with a small bowl of Gumbo and it looked pretty good, so I asked if I could try a taste and it was.
I ordered a combo of fried Catfish and shrimp with a bowl of gumbo, wife ordered popcorn shrimp and fried okra.

My Catfish was dry, the shrimp were decent, no clue what batter they use but it was fairly bland?
For some reason they put a pile of dark colored rice with corn bits in the middle of my Gumbo, it took away from the flavor of the Gumbo itself.

Even though they gave me a nice looking bowl and saucer it appeared to have the same amount of Gumbo in it as the cup that I saw while I was in line, in essence they give you a bigger bowl with the same amount of gumbo they just put a pile of rice in the middle and charge you extra for it.
The wife also did not care for the batter.

There was not many people in there for a Saturday night around 6?

The dining up there has always been sub par, its always been best for us to take our own food.

My wife and I bought a cabin up there right as Covid happened. One of the best investements we've made and its springboarded us into starting to invest in more cabins throughout the country. There are a bunch of brand new cabin owners (new builds) that will be in trouble as the pre-covid booking occupancy and nightly rates have started to settle in.

It's definitely a tourist trap
I was kinda disappointed and bored

It needs a strip club

I can make a not so good mental picture of the chics that would be working a SE Oklahoma shaker shack.

You have to have a boat to enjoy that lake.

To many folks up here now and once hotel casino opens even more people. SXS trails are being ruin by the folks that don't follow the trails and it getting worse, cabins are over built, one of the big developments is on the auction block. Time will tell how bad it gets, once the ODOT road project starts thru hochatown to 5 lanes ......

kind of reminds me of this song.

Definitely a resemblance there..

Which one is Stub?

I live out FM 195 from Paris. The traffic from Thursday to Saturday out bound to Oklahoma is pretty bad. The worst is Sunday when they all come back at one time! Sometimes I can’t even head back to Paris on a Sunday for anything because it looks like one mass convoy! I’ve counted over 100 cars before I could turn onto 195 before!