I always loved this clip from PBS of Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman talking about light.
If you ever want a fun read about an incredibly clever and mischievous fellow, pick up Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.
Bushwhacks Along the Bugle Trail
Bluffs Below the Bugle Trail (click image for a slideshow)
On a cool Sunday afternoon in May with partly cloudy skies I set out to hike once again the Bugle Trail at Osage Hills State Park. I parked by the park swimming pool and soon dove down off trail to Sand Creek below the waterfalls to enjoy the greenery from recent spring rains. The steep bluffs across the creek here mark the southern boundary of the park and I scampered alongside the creek past a large fallen tree to reach the triple falls. The creek was flowing well, water cascading across most of the breadth of the jagged upper falls.
Spiderwort was blooming as I climbed toward the group camp. Soon I was on the bluffs near the group camp and spied a social trail I’d spied before along their base. For the first time in my many trips along this trail I decided to access that bushwhack and found it quite photogenic. The trail led quite a ways along the base of the bluff, past rock nicely eroded with some visible bedding planes.
I found a new sign along the cabin trail indicating the path and old stone stairway to the ball field and traipsed across the field over to the high bluffs farther upstream. Here I spotted the diving tree below the bluffs and decided, for the first time in years of visits, to find the bushwhack down to it. It ran along a dark bluff to the tree where someone long ago nailed boards for illicit dives into the creek.
Climbing back up I admired the eroded stone, shot some more spiderwort, and then spotted a woman sitting at the far end of the bluffs, contemplating the view. Careful not to disturb her, I retreated back to the Bugle Trail and made my way past the observation tower up to the CCC camp, where I took a shot of the park water tower against the sky.
Dramatic clouds hung above Lookout Lake. Crossing the dam, I found the spillway fairly dry and clambered down through it for a panoramic view of the beautifully broken bluff there from a different angle than my usual shot of it. I passed the turnoff for the bicycle trails, which also sported a new sign. Along the trail back to the car I passed oxeye daisies and tickseed with close and separated petals, using my iPhone’s 8mm app to capture myself trekking along.
I read Kafka’s The Trial this past week, prompted by my affection for the 1962 film of it by Orson Welles. Today’s lovely five-mile walk through Osage Hills was quite a contrast to the oppressive gloom of that short novel, reminding me of Chapter XVIII: A Flood of Sunshine in The Scarlet Letter when Hester flings her stigmatic symbol away and the sun bursts through the forest gloom to illuminate her and poor Dimmesdale in an all-too-brief moment of hope before fate tightens its grasp upon them both. My nature walks are similarly a welcome contrast to work days spent in concrete cells under a fluorescent sky. No wonder I regard Oscar Wilde’s finest lines as the ones he wrote in the gloom of Reading Gaol, anticipating the healing freedom of Nature upon his release:
Society, as we have constituted it, will have no place for me, has none to offer; but Nature, whose sweet rains fall on unjust and just alike, will have clefts in the rocks where I may hide, and secret valleys in whose silence I may weep undisturbed. She will hang the night with stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt: she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole.
Tracking Me Down
The press has been going on about how smart phones effectively transmit your movements when they upload information on cell tower locations, etc. Duh, that’s what happens with a smart phone.
Far more interesting to me is that the controversy led someone to write nphonetrack for Windows computers and iPhone Track for Macs, which can extract the cell tower database from your iPhone’s backup file in iTunes. I keep my iTunes backup file encrypted, so I had to remove that before the nphonetrack utility could generate a map for me in Google Earth. And now I’ve updated my iPhone’s operating system and that means this location cache will be restricted in size, no longer backed up on the computer, and cleared out whenever I turn off location services on the iPhone. So this may be the last time I’ll see something like this:
My iPhone Track (click to enlarge)
I find this fascinating. You can see the tracks from my trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado last summer. And I’ve managed to smother with cell tower pickups all but the northwest quadrant of Oklahoma, along with big chunks of Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.
I’m not all that bothered by tracking. In fact, I run Google Latitude when I’m on a solo trip so that my parents and a few close friends can actively monitor my position if they wish. And my posts on Facebook and my blog make it fairly clear when and where I am on my regular hiking expeditions. But if I ever want to disappear, I’ll certainly need to turn off my phone’s location services!
Posted in technology, travel, web link
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A Long Walk in the Woods
McGee Creek NSRA (click image for slideshow)
Until this weekend my day hike records show the longest hikes had been 13 miles at both Eagle Creek in Oregon and Queen Wilhelmina in Arkansas and 14.5 miles on the Elk River Trail up in Kansas. On Saturday, May 7, 2011 I set a new personal record with an 18.4 mile long walk in the woods in far southeastern Oklahoma. Between Atoka and Antlers is McGee Creek State Park and 10 miles from there, at the northeast corner of McGee Creek Lake, is the 8,900 acre McGee Creek Natural Scenic Recreation Area. It has 25 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians in keeping with its designation as a wilderness-type recreational experience for non-motorized activities. Gas boat motors are prohibited in the area as well, although I saw a boat flagrantly violating that edict, roaring past the Whiskey Flats point more than half-way through the quiet zone.
The trails I travelled…
McGee Creek Lake was developed from 1979-1986 by the Bureau of Reclamation, prompted by Oklahoma City’s continuing need for water and Oklahoma City, Soda, Atoka County, and the City of Atoka all have water rights to it. It is 160 miles due south of Bartlesville and about 3.75 hours away. I knew the layout of the trails meant I’d need a very long hike, so I booked a room in Atoka for Friday night so I could spend over eight hours on the trails on Saturday before driving home.
I made a straight shot of the drive down to Atoka and had dealings with five of its 3,000 citizens for my overnight stay. Each of them was gracious and kind and spoke with that distinctive Little Dixie accent. The City of Atoka was founded in the 1850s and named for Captain Atoka Oshlatubee, Choctaw Chief of the Pushmataha district, who came to the area in 1833 after signing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which began the process of relocating the Choctaw people from Mississippi to Oklahoma in 1830. So it is no surprise that the main street through Atoka is Mississippi Avenue. Atoka’s name was derived from the Choctaw `hitoka’ or `Hetoka’ and means `ball ground.’ Atoka is reported to be the site of the oldest Catholic parish in Indian Territory, and oldest Freemason and Order of the Eastern Star chapters in Oklahoma. Captain Atoka built the first log cabin in Atoka in 1850, where he later operated a stage station. Like many Native Americans, he fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. He was killed in the war and is believed to be buried near Farris.
The internet had steered me to the Comfort Inn for my stay. The room was okay but had unusually high ceilings, perhaps to compensate for its narrowness but reminding me of my paternal grandparents’ old Cities Service company house which they had moved from Grabham Station to Independence, KS. It had very high ceilings because it dated back to the days before air conditioning. The hotel room furnishings were spare but serviceable and my stay was satisfactory except for a loud rumbling noise after midnight which shook me awake and continued for several minutes. Earlier I’d heard freight trains rumbling by, but this was clearly something happening in the room behind my bed. I knew it was mechanical and not simply the beast with two backs; had someone’s Magic Fingers bed malfunctioned? Later I noticed the elevator to the next floor was behind that wall, so it was probably elevator trouble. Thankfully it only lasted five to ten minutes and was over for good.
Ranger Station
It was a 30 mile drive from the hotel to the remote Natural Scenic Recreation Area, tucked away 13 miles north of Highway 3 on Centerpoint Road, which is paved but rather rough for the last few miles. I stopped at the ranger station to fill out the free permit. The park limits the number of guests doing various activities, but I saw no other hikers on the trails the whole day, only one group of 10 equestrians. The permit asks for your name and activity, including when you are heading out, which trail you’re leaving on, and when you expect to return. You leave a carbon copy at the trailhead and turn in the original when you are done. This is the first time in almost 100 day hikes in which there has been a reasonable system to allow rangers to really know who is doing what and when they should be back.
I drove west from the ranger station to park at the trailhead for the Carnasaw Nature Trail, which promised an overlook of the lake and the canyon to the north carved by Little Bugaboo Creek. Like many such overlooks, I found the view completely blocked by tall trees, although the rock formations were nice and there was spiderwort along the trail. Soon I reached the west end of the Rocky Point Trail, which led southeast past the eponymous rocky point, which I circumnavigated via a side trail.
Rocky Point
Little Bugaboo
I turned northeast upon reaching the Little Bugaboo Trail, which crosses and then runs alongside Little Bugaboo Creek. After relaxing at the pretty ford, I came upon some small orange mushrooms alongside the trail and some lanceleaf tickseed. While ticks don’t hatch from its seeds, the bloodsuckers are abundant in this area of Oklahoma and I had thoroughly sprayed my limbs and the openings in my clothes with Backwoods Cutter to keep the critters away. Either the ticks were not out in abundance or the Cutter was working well, for I never picked up a tick all through the long hike. The trail meandered through the trees and then alongside the creek, affording a better view of its run through the woods.
I reached the Box Spring Camp Area, which is the intersection of several trails and features spiderwort and other wildflowers and butterflies. I took the Whiskey Flats trail, which led westward over a mile down to the shore of McGee Creek Lake with a campfire spot and a view of the Little Bugaboo Creek entering the lake. I sat beside the water for an early lunch. As I finished I heard the Ghost Riders draw up behind me. It was the party of 10 equestrians, a friendly group of several couples and some children. I call them the Ghost Riders because I thought I snapped a picture of them, yet found no such photo on my camera card. They asked me how far I would be hiking and I guessed 14 miles, which had them expressing admiration for my stamina. Bidding them farewell, I hustled up the Whiskey Flats trail with the party on my heels, managing to outpace their leisurely ride. It was fun to hightail it up the hillsides toward the rim of Bugaboo Canyon, pretending I was an outlaw with a posse after me.
When I reached the Box Spring Camp Area I headed northeast on the South Rim Trail with a rocky bluff overlooking the Bugaboo Canyon. Midway along it I reached another overlook spot of projecting rocks with a view which, sure enough, was blocked by trees. But I posed atop the pretty rock formations. The South Rim Trail along here was clearly an old logging road, which is the origin of most of the trails in the Natural Scenic Recreation Area. The trail ended and I made a sharp westward turn onto the North Rim Trail.
Fellow traveller
This run of trail had three memorable features. First was the last remnants of a fallen tree, parts of which looked like wooden shark teeth. Next was a tree which looked like bent taffy. Finally I had a dramatic pause when I realized a long snake was lying across the trail alongside a fallen tree limb. Thankfully it was a non-venomous black ratsnake. He refused to yield right of way, just sticking his tongue out at me. I returned the favor and, giving him a wide berth, walked onward to the Wildcat Canyon trailhead.
Wildcat Canyon, like Bugaboo Canyon, runs southwestward down into the lake. I passed thistles and ferns as I descended toward the lake, with the trail ending many yards from shore, leaving me to navigate the steep and rocky creek bed to where the canyon enters the lake. I had hiked nine miles to this farthest end of my hike. The temperature had reached the low 80s, so I was grateful for the forest shade as I retraced my path all of the way back to Box Spring Camp Area, where I took a fresh section of the South Rim trail toward the ranger station. I passed a large cleared field with a lingering chimney of what may have once been a homestead.
Wildcat Canyon Thistle
Arriving back at the ranger station, I began walking the mile along the road to where my car was parked. The trail riders I had met at Whiskey Flats appeared, heading out for the West Boundary Trail. They asked how far I’d come and when I said my tracker said I was at the 18 mile mark and I had one more mile to go back to the car, they were mighty impressed. We parted and when I reached my car I swigged some water and took advantage of the lonely spot to completely strip down and wash up, putting on all fresh clothes for my drive north to McAlester for a big Mexican dinner at Patrón Grill.
There weren’t many scenic highlights on my longest day hike, but I welcomed the long walk in the woods after a stressful week at school filled with meetings and one 14-hour work day. Various obligations will keep me in the Bartlesville area for the next couple of Saturdays, so I may not make it out to any new trails for awhile as the school year winds down to a close at the end of May.
A Visit to Lake McMurtry
Lake McMurtry (click image for slideshow)
It was a sunny spring Saturday and, having been cooped up the previous weekend with rain and a facility planning project, I was looking for a new and dry place to hike. Rain chances in the area were 20% or more, worsening to the east and south. So I consulted my Oklahoma Hiking Trails book and found that Lake McMurtry, eight miles northwest of Stillwater, had a number of hiking and biking trails maintained by a local bike club, the Red Dirt Pedalers. Nearby Lake Carl Blackwell is larger and also has trails, but they are primarily equestrian and bikes leave far fewer droppings. And the rain chance was only 10% out that way. So a little after noon I pulled up at the ranger station on the west side of the lake, which has two of the four lake trails, paid the $6 day use fee, and followed the ranger’s advice that the orange trail was more challenging and scenic than the blue trail.
At the trailhead there was one trail biker gearing up. The weather was sunny 70s with a breeze so he was in the usual tight biking outfit and the “helmit” the sign “reccomended” for bikers, while I had on old black jeans, a wicking T-shirt, and my Tilley hat. I doused my calves, boots, socks, pant cuffs, and arms liberally with Cutter Backwoods insect repellent since I knew ticks were out and about. Backwoods Off is easier to find in stores around here, but Consumer Reports had tipped me off to the superior Cutter product. Cutter isn’t as greasy as Backwoods Off, works well, and has no strong scent. I also put some sunblock on since I’d be out for several hours to complete the 7.6 mile hike. I got started before the biker, but of course I soon heard him wheeling up behind me and stepped aside to let him pass, exchanging greetings and good wishes.
Soon I had a nice view of one of the large inlets on the west side of the lake. Traipsing northward, I startled a turtle into retreating into his mobile home. The entire trail was well maintained and marked with both signposts, quarter-mile markers, and ribbons. Thankfully it has several large loops so you don’t have to run over your own tracks too much. The area was more wooded than I had thought it might be, although the soil was sandy and the landscape rolled gently along with occasional steeper creek runs. The trail ran by a few primitive campsites with limited access and views of the lake and then followed a gravel road for a bit to cross an inlet.
For the first couple of hours I heard steady gunshots from a gun range just west of the lake. I was grateful when the shooters eventually gave up and allowed the landscape to quiet down. When the trail turned east toward the lake from the gravel road, I skirted the edge of a rough grassy meadow and saw the biker had already completed the main loop and was heading back my way. Through the day I would be passed by four or five more bikers and one runner, and most of them looked like cowboys. OSU college student Cowboys, that is.
The trail ducked back into the trees and then ran along the shore of the inlet I’d skirted earlier. I passed what looked like a tree blasted and burned by lightning and reached the tip of a peninsula, with a strong breeze blowing southwest across the lake to cool me down. The rocks along the shore were nicely eroded and the breeze was welcome.
I was shooting with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10 camera, an upgrade from my ZS3. The zoom has increased to 16x, the megapixels to 14, the colors are more saturated, and the camera’s speed is noticeably better. But the real attractions were the built-in GPS and having a new camera without a scratched screen or the light smudge that had started appearing in the ZS3’s photos. I left the camera’s GPS running throughout the hike and did not notice much battery drain. It takes awhile for any device to get a GPS lock, so I’ll leave the camera’s GPS running when I know I’ll be shooting multiple photos. It was great having GPS coordinates already in the photos when uploading them to Flickr – that will save me oodles of time for future posts. I stuck with using the Everytrail app on my iPhone to track and upload my trip to the web for an interactive map with iPhone photos.
I wanted to check out the movie mode, so I shot a mossy rock in the water which the waves had brought to life. I then paused for a snack and managed to tip my sealed Diet Crush bottle over and watched it roll off the rocky bank down into the water below. Drat! I managed to fish it out and dry it off, only to be disappointed by the taste. Ew, I’ll stick with regular Crush from now on. So when the bottle tipped over again, uncapped this time, and poured orange soda across the rock, I let it flow and shot a video of its progress.
It was time to move on, and I walked north up the peninsula on the well-marked trail. Here and there were tiny blue flowers amidst the grass. The trail made a fun switchback along a stream and a portion resembled a toboggan run. The trail finally began to loop back southward and I came across the remains of an old automobile beside the trail with seats reduced to springs. It looked like it had been driven right into the ground. Soon I was back at the trailhead.
My TomTom GPS app had led me past the Stillwater airport on the way over from Bartlesville, but for the return trip routed me west then north up to Perry, where I stopped to see its CCC Lake.
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Meador Manor 