Hiking Oklahoma 2016!

Atoka OK,McGee Creek Natural Scenic State Recreation Area 2-8-2016


hey folks.it's time to hit the trails in Oklahoma.im starting off with a hike in Atoka OK at a place called McGee Creek Natural Scenic State Recreation Area.
im taking you on the nature trail,rocky point,little bugaboo,south rim and exit via a short section of the west branch.

so if you guys are ready for the first hiking adventure in Ok.grab your packs,stretch your legs and lets go!

so here is the entrance to this awesome little hidden gem,way down at the very end of a little side road. no one else is around Monday afternoon.so it's just us guys.




here we are guys at the trailhead to the nature trail.this is our way in where we'll find the next trail that will take us in deeper.


this is cool.it's nice to finally be out here hitting the trails.it's windy here today but all that's required is a light jacket or sweatshirt to brake the wind.it's so nice and sunny too! oh man,and to think back home id need to be bundled up to the maxed so i could hardly move.theres well over a foot of snow,so id need my snowshoes and id be able to cover maybe a mile or two until i had enough.this feels like cheating winter and i love it!


here we are at rocky point guys.lets hang a right here.


a little bit hilly but nothing too strenuous in here.



hold up.what kind of birds are those?


hang back here guys.im going to sneak up to them for a closer look.
ok iv got no clue what these are called.they look like some type of vulture.we sure don't have these fellers back in Maine.



little bit of a hill here.lets grab a quick drink guys and own this little sucker.

 

man this is turning out to be a cool trail system.tucked away from everything,nice and quite way deep in the woods here.


here we are at little bugaboo.lets hang a left here.


first campsite area.


this is cool,the trail goes along little bugaboo creek the map says.


we made it out to box spring camp area.


we're going to hang a right here and get on the south rim trail and start back towards the recreation area road.


this is a wide trail here."yield to the horses" the sign says.or as the boys back home would say (at least over downeast) "yield to the huses" lol.



here we are back in the area of were we came in from the rocky point trail.rather than hike that back,im gunna head out here.my ankle is bothering me a little bit still.dangit! and this way is a bit shorter.just a 10th mile out to the road here and i walk back up to the car.




i better give my ankle a few more days to heal before hitting anymore trails.man that's aggravating but it's nowhere near as sore as it was the day i hurt it and time is on my side to heal,while im cheating old man winter here in warm sunny Oklahoma!
stay tuned guys.i'll be fine in just a few days and we'll be hitting a whole lot of trails all over the state.
hope you enjoyed the first hike of Oklahoma!

 

got him.black vulture.i thought it looked just like a turkey vulture but just with no red head so he was easy to look up and identify.

area map;


The black vulture is a fairly large bird of prey, measuring 56–74 cm (22–29 in) in length, with a 1.33–1.67 m (52–66 in) wingspan.[23] Weight for Black Vultures from North America and the Andes ranges from 1.6–2.75 kg (3.5–6.1 lb) but in the smaller vultures of the tropical lowlands it is 1.18–1.94 kg (2.6–4.3 lb).[24][25] 50 vultures in Texas were found to average 2.15 kg (4.7 lb) while 119 birds in Venezuela were found to average 1.64 kg (3.6 lb).

everything's bigger in Texas!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_vulture

i walk real slow and easy up around the other side.i scare one off up into a nearby tree but one remains and i zoom in.
so based on all the poop on the rock,these guys perch here often.after reading wiki about them laying eggs in caves,this makes sense.they likely nest here.there are a lot of little caves and hollows in around these rocks.large enough a guy could crawl down in some of them.

 

Cool! Glad your ankle is better and you could take us on the hike. I like these buddy-buddy, informative ventures and will look forward to our next one.

 

it was good to have you "come along" Gary!
iv gotta rest up before our next one.still a bit sore.i don't want to prolong it from healing so i'll just give it a few days.irritates me right to no end.i hike all over Maine,including last of the season our highest mountain and then i step wrong on an easy,relatively flat trail in Alabama lol! oh well.i'll be good to go before ya know it.

meanwhile,while waiting,to anyone interested,you can check out last years hikes if you'd like.you'll find the latest individually posted in the Maine chapter and then some earlier posted in the general non auto section,in a thread titled "whats the best state in America" it's a great way to see Maine guys.I'm sure you'll love it.
(i recommend starting with my ME to CALI and back trip last March,found in the ME chapter - my first time to OK where it was love at first visit.)

 

who's ready for another hike? come take another with me guys here in the native state.this time,lets head over to Talihina Oklahoma and go for a 5 mile round trip on the Ouachita Trail.

welcome to Talihina.



so iv driven through Ouachita forest last year on my mega road trip to Cali and back.this time i get to hike it and am bringing ya along.



alright! after resting my foot for about a week im so excited to hit the trails again! im feeling great.you guys all geared up? lets do this!!!



lots of trails in here.looks like a great trail system to really enjoy exploring.for now,we'll just go up 2.5 miles and come back.im unsure about my foot,so you guys will have to take it easy on me for the day lol.



it's pretty cool in here you guys.we've got some hills,this is great exercise.






crossing over Indian nations trail



lets keep climbing.we're keeping up a nice pace and my foot is feeling great! this is awesome!

 

whoa.mile 2 already! what? man,we're cruising! sure is good to be out of the apartment lol.any of you guys see mile marker 1? we blew right by it i guess.




come on guys.take a quick breather,grab a drink and try and keep up with me today!




hey guys,this is our side trail/summit for the day.we made it up to potato hills vista! lets scoot up and check it out!



alright.the side trail end.so we come out up on the road at a turnout.yeah.we could of just driven up here,but where's the fun in that!
nice little view in this hilly part of Oklahoma.








now to turn around and head back down the same route we came up.hey guys.........i'll race ya down!!!


sure felt good to get out and hit the trails again! so soon after i head out and drive away.when i get out of the car and start to walk im like ouch! it did make it a bit sore.shortly after though,im feeling fine again.so it's healing but i guess still a bit tender.just gotta be careful and not overdue it.



hope you guys enjoyed this sunny Oklahoma mid day hike.i'll see ya again at the next trail head!

 

Very nice! Thanks

By the way, the scenic drive between Talihina and Mena Ar is a great ride on a motorcycle, especially in the Fall.

 

Except in the fog. Did that back in the late 70's on my XS11 and was so disoriented when we got to the lodge we spent the night.

 

Yeah, fog is never good.

 

2-19-2016 - Broken Bow - Beavers Bend State Park - Beaver Creek,Lookout Mtn,Trail Along Rd Back To Nature Center - 3 Mile Loop

hey guys.so after resting my foot a bit more,i decide it's time to try hitting the trails for another few miles to see how things go.so lets continue on with hiking the native state.
this time im taking you guys over to broken bow to beavers bend state park.
so hop in guys,lets go!





alright lets check out the forest heritage center and grab a trail map inside.
hey check this guy out!cool! paying some respect to my ancestors.







ok lets head inside for a map.i got it,lets hit the trail.....hold up guys,check out those carvings.
oh hey cool,guys on in here,there's a nice little circle walk with displays in here.lets check these out first.
take a look at this baldcypress tree that was cut in the early 60's located on the banks of little river,near the mouth of mountain fork.




oh cool.as a tree lover (as we all should be,cus we wouldn't be here without 'em lol) i loved this one.for those who may not know,im in trees.like literally.im an arborist.


incredible talent.


showing how the villages of Caddo Indians in 1000-1200 A.D.
says these guys built the wickiups as shown to live in.
hollowed out logs for canoes.they were not just hunters but farmed as well.crew corn,squash and tobacco.
just imagine for a minute.living free.i mean truly free without the corrupt government we live under today.camping full time.fishing and hunting whenever you wanted.no boss man to put up with.no women asking if they look fat......oh wait.well they probably had that one to deal with lol.but seriously,what a life they had if you think about it.



check out the early chainsaws from back in the day! pretty cool!


another side room with some cool historical info.


oh wow,guys check out this carving guys! black walnut horses.done by J. Chester "skip" Armstrong from Sisters Oregon.

 

so many displays and carvings in here but lets check out 3 more really good ones and head out guys.




wow that was a nice little warmup.it was a very long circular hallway with side rooms.
now lets head out and take a hike guys.my foot feels fine.

 

alright.so the map shows a nice little hike to test out the ankle with what i see is 3 mile loop.
there's a couple 3 mile loops,we'll go ahead and take the more advanced one as im really felling good here.so hop in guys,we're gunna drive down around to the nature center (it's closed now,but the trailhead is near)
ok here we are! lets go in on the Beaver bend trail.lace up your boots.let's do this!



starts off going right along the creek just for a little bit here,then we'll cross it.


it's nice hilly terrian here.it's going to make a nice little workout.


cool.this is a nice little feature.a small covered bridge.



ok,so we kinda did that side of the beaver creek trail backwards but it looked more enjoyable.
so we came from the right as shown,so now we will turn right or stright ahead from this view,to meet up with the next trail.



few electric poles run down in here that this trails follows for a bit.


ok here we go.moment of truth.we've gotta climb.so if my ankle isn't up for it yet,this is where im gunna know! any you guys bring a stretcher?

 

i feel fine guys.no issues.hey,not a bad little view up here.


alright this is a great day.a little overcast but that's ok.it's so warm out! and im back out of the apartment,so life is good! ok lets head back down around.





wow.pretty nice trail! so now the map shows this little trail here going along side the road takes us back to the nature center.lets hang a right here and head back.



ok so back out in the parking lot of the forest heritage center.lets hang another right here to take us down around to the car.





alright.3 mile loop completed.lets cross the creek and we're back to the trailhead.



alright! im feeling great.got back to the apartment and i ever so carefully step out of the car lol remembering the feeling i had after last weeks hike..............nothing! no tenderness no soreness,nothing.i think im back to 100% guys! so i can finally stop boring you all about my damn ankle!!! lol.
i'll take the weekend to see how things go but i think im in the clear.so hopefully all is good,and we should be hitting some serious full day multi mile hikes soon!

see you guys at the next trailhead!

 

Hey, that wasn't bad at all! And I'm not sore either. Must be getting used to this. Thanks!