Meador Manor

November 29, 2013

Thanksgiving Break Travels (click image for slideshow)

Wendy and I spent Thanksgiving Day with my parents in Oklahoma City, with a sunset walk at Lake Overholser. We spent Black Friday hiking in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, preferring that over braving the throngs of bargain hunters at the stores. We wrapped up the break with tours of the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman and the Oklahoma History Center at the state capitol complex.

Lake Overholser

Wendy and I walked off some of my mother’s Thanksgiving feast with a walk along the dam and eastern bank of Lake Overholser.  The lake has about 600 surface acres, but an average depth of only six feet and its deepest point is only 13 feet down, but there is a 60 foot fall-off beyond the eastern end of the dam, which is over 1,200 feet long.

We first walked the length of the dam and back, passing over the long series of spillways with birds wheeling about overhead. After sunset, the lamps added to the dam in the late 1990s were lit, and the darkening sky silhouetted an old spillway control wheel.

Wendy’s lovely shot of Lake Overholser Dam

As the sun set, we walked north along the embankment which forms a channel along the lakes’ eastern shore, enjoying views west across the lake and south towards the dam and its spillway control house.

Charon’s Garden Wilderness

Black Friday found us hiking in the Charon’s Garden Wilderness, a rugged mountainous area in the western part of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton. In keeping with the area’s 1970 wilderness designation, trails there are unmarked and not maintained. I first hiked the southern portion of the Charon’s Garden Trail back in November 2010 with Quincy Amen, completing the trail the next February along with the Elk Mountain Trail. Charon’s Garden is the most challenging trail in the refuge, but Wendy was up to it, scrambling with me across the rough terrain and enduring the inevitable scratches and cuts from the granite boulders.

Charon’s Garden Hike

We arrived at the Sunset Pool trailhead about noon and headed west along the creek. I couldn’t remember where to strike south uphill from the creek bed for the unmarked trail, so we overshot the turn about 0.1 mile, but then backtracked and made our way around the northeast side of Elk Mountain, which was dotted with snow, especially on the shadowed north face.

Apple and Pear

We passed a hillside of trees covered in different shades of red and orange leaves, soon climbing through one of the most scenic stretches of trail up to where the Apple and Pear formations hove into view high above us.  Soon we would reach a large boulder field, and a family of hikers asked us if we knew where the cave was. I knew of Spanish Cave and Wind Cave (aka Bat Cave), although I’ve never been to either one, but neither of them is anywhere close to the boulder field. So I couldn’t help them, although later I wondered if they meant the “rooms” below the boulders where you can roam about.

We reached the field of room-sized boulders, the top of which yields a beautiful vista to the south. I struggled to recall how I had crossed the boulders previously. I tried going straight through, but the huge gaps between the high boulders made that too perilous, and I knew a hiker died out here some years back. So I led us up the east side of the canyon, but again the way seemed too fraught with peril. But I could see how the trail coming up from the south led up the west side of the boulder field. So we scrambled down and across, using trees and rock edges to pull ourselves up and along the western edge of the boulder field, straddling one “bridge” boulder to make it over to the rest of the trail. Wendy and I each collected our share of cuts and scrapes, but we made it.

We paused to rest at Post Oak Creek where a side canyon leads east to where the Bonanza Mine was sunk over 100 years ago. The shaft eventually ran over 80 feet into the mountain until a lead seam pinched out and the mine was abandoned. Someday I will locate that old mine, but this was not the day for it.

We proceeded south along the creek to what I call “The Slot” — where the creek drives through a section of granite walls and a tiny waterfall connects two pools. We carefully scooted along the western side of the falls across the smooth slick rock and then the trail broke away from the creek to climb a hillside for a view of Treasure Lake to the southeast.

I led us over to the lake shore and then we climbed up toward the south trailhead, pausing for Wendy to shoot a pool in the rocks above the lake and for me to shoot a panorama.

Above Treasure Lake

We rested beside Post Oak Lake and then retraced our steps, with a detour at one point as I satisfied my curiosity about a side trail, finding it was an alternate route southward to Post Oak Lake. Wendy formed a snowball but spared me as we trekked northward through The Slot and past the perilous boulder field, rewarded with a late afternoon sunlit view of the Apple and Pear.

As we came down the hillside, Wendy carved our initials in the snow, signifying that she had enjoyed our strenuous six mile hike. We tried to eat dinner at Meers, but it was overcrowded and we opted for comfort food at the Riverside Cafe in Medicine Park.

Sam Noble Museum of Natural History

Buffalo Hunt, They Throw Their Hearts on the Plains

On Saturday we toured the Sam Noble Museum at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, intent on seeing some Spiro Mounds artifacts after our visit to the mounds themselves a few weeks ago. There were ear spools, pipes, and pottery fragments. We again noted the similarity of the pottery designs to Mayan and Aztec work, enjoying a recreation of a conch shell artifact next to a matching fragment. We were surprised to see quartz arrowpoints from another site, and admired the extensive beadwork on various Native American artifacts.

We enjoyed the various natural science exhibits, but what impressed me most was the temporary exhibit, Masterworks of Native American Art: Selections from the Fred and Enid Brown Collection. There were some splendid paintings, such as Rhythmic Reflections, Regalia & Song and Prayer for the Return of Bees by Yatika Starr Fields, an untitled work by Raymond Succo, and the vivid circular Buffalo Hunt, They Throw Their Hearts on the Plains by Parker Boyiddle Jr. I didn’t care for the Dali-esque surrealism of Robert Lee Taylor‘s The Souls of the Mountain: The Dance of Life, but I admired the dancing motion he captured.

Oklahoma History Center

After the Noble Museum, the Oklahoma History Center by the state capitol was underwhelming, with me very distracted by the foyer being set up for a reception, despite the discreet workers. Wendy loved seeing props from the movie Twister and was amused by the gruesome special effect heads by Steve LaPorte, while I liked seeing the Gemini 6 capsule and its scarred heat shield.

For this break spent with my parents and my adventurous sweetheart, I was truly thankful.

Click here for a slideshow from this trip

November 17, 2013

Wendy and I enjoyed a 1.3 mile stroll at Redbud Valley and then walked at Woodward Park on a warm autumn day.

Redbud Valley (click image for slideshow)

Depth of Field

Tulsa Skyline from Woodward Park

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike

November 9, 2013

Rough Canyon Trail Loop (click image for slideshow)

Tumbling leaves are dispersing peak autumn colors, so Wendy and I joined Betty and John Henderson for a drive back to Kiamichi Country, the southeastern corner of Oklahoma known as Little Dixie, to hike 3.2 miles around the Rough Canyon Loop at Robbers Cave State Park.

Our latest day trip

My car is out of the shop with a new wheel bearing, but the tires are cupped. I had one wheel rebalanced awhile back and the car has a fresh alignment, but on my next tire rotation I’ll ask them to inspect the shocks and struts. Meanwhile, the crankshaft on Wendy’s car has a failing harmonic balancer. So we were grateful to John for driving Betty’s 2012 Camry on our expedition.

We picked up sandwiches at a QuikTrip, with me delightfully snacking on a warm soft cinnamon pretzel at the Generation 3 store we visited. I don’t particularly like the layout of those new stores, but they do have those pretzels! We reached the trailhead at Robbers Cave itself a bit after noon and headed west towards Rough Canyon.

Wendy delighted in the multicolored leaves on many trees as we walked on the step-like tree roots past Fourche Maline creek (pronounced “foosh-ma-lean” and referring to the “Treacherous Fork” of the Poteau River). A shower of red leaves across the trail was a welcome sight. We climbed the hillside past rock ledges and fallen trees, the trail decorated in autumn colors that were quite beautiful and painterly.

Wendy and the Hendersons paid attention to the various mushrooms along the way, with Wendy searching for puffballs; some of the larger toadstools attracted my gaze. We reached Rough Canyon and took pictures of each other at the sign, with Betty having her usual fun. We then turned north to follow the eastern edge of the rocky stream, with autumn colors nestled amidst evergreens.

Rough Canyon colors

I always love to bushwhack along the rocky ledges in the creek, and found a spot where we could ease our way down to the pools and ledges for lunch. Wendy and I sprawled out on a soft mossy ledge while the Hendersons found a convenient edge of ledge for sitting. After enjoying my half of a delicious Turkey and Swiss on Berry Wheat sandwich, I looked at the leaves in the water streaming across the ledges while John located a side spring, Betty delighted in a large crawdad and fed the fish in a large pool, and Wendy celebrated the peaceful surroundings.

Leafy pools

After that lovely break, we set off eastward toward Lost Lake. Even the trail surface is quite picturesque at this time of year, with beauty underfoot. We saw many more fungi along the way and the cameras were out in full force to capture the autumn beauty at Lost Lake. Wendy sat on the dam to capture the reflections across the water, while I took my shots from the lakeside.

Following the “People Trail”

We saw more enormous toadstools as we wound our way back to the cave area, including a coral mushroom spotted and shot by sharp-eyed Wendy, who also found a tiny tree frog, so small my camera couldn’t grab focus before he hopped away. We took the “People Trail” to the cave area, where Wendy and Betty relaxed while I took John up to the cave, which he had not visited previously.

The rocky hilly trail made the 3.2 mile trek seem longer and we were grateful when John drove us to Giacomo’s in McAlester for an Italian feast and interrupted the drive home with a stop for ice cream in Okmulgee. I am very glad we made the long journey south for more Kiamichi Country colors, but after two long day trips on consecutive Saturdays I think my next day hike will be much closer to home.

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike

November 2, 2013

Spider at the Manor

For Halloween this week Mother Nature gave me a treat, or what some might view as a trick, in the form of a large orb-weaver spider, with a commensurately impressive web. The arachnid built its trap from ground to gutter in front of the garage door at Meador Manor, but failed to ensnare any costumed children.

Many trees around here are blazing autumn colors, so Wendy and I planned to drive south on Saturday to the Ouachitas in quest of fall foliage. Princess the Camry has been rumbling and shaking more than even her 12 years of use and 210,000 miles of wear should warrant. I suspected a bad wheel bearing, so I took her into a local repair shop on Wednesday, knowing that most of its repairs take an extra day or two for parts. But it took three days for the mechanic to clear his backlog and confirm a dry bearing on the driver’s side rear wheel. Sure enough, parts have to be ordered and won’t arrive until late Monday. So I won’t get the car back until Tuesday, a week after it went into the shop.

Wendy has graciously been transporting me to and from school and we used her car, Xanadu the Impala, for our journey south. Having been disappointed on multiple occasions by haze or fog and late autumn colors on the Talimena Skyline Drive, I made her first visit to the Heavener Runestone the focus of our day.

Our day trip to the Ouachitas (click image for slideshow)

We had a lovely breakfast at Eggbert’s and headed south in Xanadu towards Poteau for lunch. When Wendy spied a sign about the nearby Spiro Mounds, she expressed her interest in visiting the only prehistoric, Native American archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public. As on my first visit a few years back, she found the mounds underwhelming; they had to be reconstructed after severe looting in the 1930s and later scientific digs sent off the remaining artifacts, so Wendy wants to someday visit Norman’s Sam Noble Museum to see artifacts which were taken from the site by archaeologists from the University of Oklahoma in their excavations between 1936 and 1941.

Autumn through the roof

But we had a nice walk around the big burial mound and nearby took some shots of the decaying example of the kind of leader house which was built atop many of the dozen mounds back when this was a thriving Mississippian-culture center 500 to 1,200 years ago. In contrast to the recent reconstructions of a Chickasaw village we saw earlier this month at Sulphur, the Spiro house’s thatch roof is in tatters, exposing the beams, and the walls have been put to use by insects, but Wendy still composed a nice view of autumn leaves through the rafters.

We had a tasty pizza at Mazzio’s in Poteau and then drove south to Heavener to tramp 1.7 miles about the very hilly terrain of the former state park. The state closed the park in 2011 due to budget cuts, but thankfully the citizens of Heavener are keeping it open. I agree with skeptics who think it was carved in the 19th century, but the park is a beautiful area to explore, with challenging trail terrain.

As we walked along the stone trail down to the runestone, Wendy wondered if the extensive stone railing and walkway were another product of the CCC. I presumed it was, but it turns out the land wasn’t donated to the state until 1965 and opened as a park in 1970. The main stone trail and steps are showing their age but are still in good shape overall.

On our way down to the building protecting the large carved stone, we saw Callicarpa, which are appropriately called Beautyberries. After viewing the runes, I took a shot of Wendy in front of the adjacent bluff and waterfall, which we would explore later.

The Sickener

We ascended to the perilously steep nature trail, which has an appropriately tilted sign at the other end. The trail surrounding the runestone had oodles of mushrooms of various types all along its length. Wendy was adept at spotting them, from Russula emetica (The Sickener!) to a group of fungi with an accompanying ‘pede — I’m not adept enough to distinguish a millipede from a centipede. I spotted serrated ‘shrooms as we trekked up and down the steep hillsides and across dry streams with tumbled slabs of stone.

We climbed the steep grade to the other end of the nature trail at the visitor center, where I posed out on a rock projection, and then walked along the road uphill to what I knew was a bluff providing westward vistas. I located the overgrown trail on the west side of the road which led over to and along the bluff; this is a lovely walk with great views of the rocky bluff, its lichens, and great views, so it is a pity the trail is not being maintained.

The Bluff

We reached the mowed overlook area with its winding rock walls and enjoyed the panorama, wildflowers of various sorts, and the trees scattered and leaning about the park. I led us down and across the road to find the trail leading back to the runestone. Along the way Wendy spotted a large golden fungus growing in a stump.

Back at the runestone, Wendy walked over to examine the waterfall pool while I shot the stream and we poked around the eroding shale bluff with its fallen blue and gray stones and cracked surface, with Wendy composing a nice shot of leaves amidst the damp stone. We ascended the steps toward a final blaze of autumn color to return to the car.

We then drove south to follow the Talimena Skyline Drive westward against the sun, but haze obscured the views and many of the trees had not yet turned. This made the drive slinking along the ridge more fun than the panoramas. Dinner at Krebs/McAlester was a bust, with such slow service at Isle of Capri that we left, only to find Pete’s Place too crowded and Patron Mexican Grill rather dirty. Our very late return to Bartlesville was ameliorated by the shift out of Daylight Savings Time, giving us back an hour.

Talimena Skyline Drive

We had a lot of fun at Heavener and hopefully can make it down to the Ouachitas later this fall for more hiking…without Vikings.

Click here for a slideshow from this day trip