Wah-Sha-She State Park is located close to the Kansas/Oklahoma border, on the shores of Hulah Lake, Oklahoma. As the Osage name indicates, this beautiful state park is located in the heart of the Osage tribal territory. The park and its surrounding areas provide its visitors with the opportunity to easily delve into the exciting historical past of Oklahoma and Kansas. The guests may also participate in many modern forms of entertainment and diverse cultural activities just as easily as they have delved into the past.
Park info
Wah-Sha-She State Park is located on SH-10, about 10-12 miles west of Copan and 15-26 miles northeast of Pawhuska, depending on which roads you take. The surrounding rolling hills, Hulah Lake, the Caney River, native trees, and adjacent grasslands all provide guests with scenic beauty year round. The numerous park amenities offer outdoor enthusiasts an ideal place to vacation year round as well. However, some of the comfort facilities are closed during winter months.
Wah-Sha-She State Park’s amenities include 46 electric/water hookup sites for RVs, as well as a sanitary dump station. There are also 112 primitive camping sites. In addition, some private rental cabins are available around the lake. Restrooms, showers, and picnic areas abound. Lighted boat ramps, loading docks, and various spots along the Hulah Lake shoreline make it easy to go boating, water skiing, fishing, and wakeboarding. Accesses to the Caney River provide opportunities to go flat-water paddling in a canoe or kayak. A nice swimming beach and a playground also add to the visitor’s enjoyment.
The white and largemouth bass, crappie, and various types of catfish make this an angler’s dream fishing hole. What makes it even better is that if you get tired of fishing in Hulah Lake, there are numerous other lakes, rivers, and creeks within a 40-mile radius, all teeming with big fish just waiting to be caught. Hunters also can take advantage of the nearby Hulah Lake State Game Management Area to bag whitetail deer, squirrels, and cottontail rabbits. Mourning doves, waterfowl, wild turkeys, bobwhite quails, or prairie chickens are also available prey for hunters in this nearby public hunting area.
Bird watchers will love visiting the nearby Hula Lake State Water Fowl Refuge. Guests will love seeing the wide variety of water fowl, as well as the eagles that make their namesake lake (Hulah) home from January to mid-March. Hikers and mountain bikers alike enjoy the beauty of the nature trails throughout Wah-Sha-She State Park and other areas of interest surrounding the park.
Surrounding areas
Wah-Sha-She State Park is a great place to stay and enjoy outdoor activities. However, it also makes a great base camp for exploring the past while enjoying the niceties of modern day living. It’s just as perfect of a vacation spot for historians, craftspeople, artists, writers, musicians, architects, amateur archeologists, geologists, and photographers as it is for outdoor enthusiasts. Within a 30-mile range of the park, you can visit an Old West ghost town (Elgin, KS) where famous outlaws like the Dalton Gang hung out and open range wars occurred. You can visit the Osage Nation’s capital of Pawhuska, which is so steeped in history that eighty of its downtown buildings are registered with the National Historic Society. One of these is the first tribally-owned museum in America. Or you can visit historical, yet modern day Bartlesville to partake of a variety of entertainment, both indoor and outdoor.
No matter which direction you go in from Wah-Sha-She State Park, you’ll find adventure of one type or another. All within a 5-70-mile range are: museums, art galleries, arts & craft shows, antique and gift shops, live musical performances of diverse genre, movies, plays, ballets, libraries, zoos, aquariums, and fine dining. Also within that same 5-70-mile radius are: historical sites and land marks, a wide variety of topographical features, wild life preserves (including those for wild horses and bison), real cowboy and Native American events, agricultural related events, notorious outlaw haunts, and lots of natural and man-made architectural wonders.
For more information about Wah-Sha-She State Park, please contact the park. You can call the Park Office at 918-532-4627 or send a letter to: Route 1, Box 301, Copan, OK 74022.