Great Salt Plains State Park
Oklahoma State Park Beside Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge (Established 1930); Parking Pass Required · Jet, Oklahoma
A park on the shore of Great Salt Plains Lake in north-western Oklahoma, where a shallow, salty lake sits beside a white flat of salt-crusted mud left by an ancient sea. The flats next door, on Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, are the only place in the world where visitors can dig hourglass selenite crystals, gypsum crystals whose growth traps an hourglass-shaped pocket of sand. Digging is free and needs no permit, but it is allowed only inside a marked area that moves each year and only from 1 April to 15 October, when the refuge is not needed by nesting and wintering birds. The lake holds saugeye, catfish and hybrid striped bass, and the refuge is a stop for tens of thousands of migrating shorebirds and snow geese and for the endangered whooping crane. The state park itself has cabins, campgrounds and boat ramps, and requires Oklahoma's $10 daily parking pass.
23280 South Spillway Drive, Jet, Oklahoma, 73749, United States
State park open daily, year-round, with the office about 8 AM-4 PM; an Oklahoma parking pass is required. The selenite digging area on Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is open 1 April-15 October only, during daylight hours (the refuge site also lists 7 AM-8 PM), and closes when the flats are too wet. Refuge trails are open sunrise to sunset; the refuge visitor centre is closed for remodelling (check fws.gov/refuge/salt-plains).
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