Keystone Ancient Forest (click image for slideshow)
The Keystone Ancient Forest is only accessible on the second Saturday of each month. So an overcast winter day with temperatures in the 40s found me driving Betty and John Henderson south and west 60 miles to Keystone Reservoir to the west of Sand Springs. We trekked three miles today through the crosstimbers north of the dam on the eastern shore of the lake.
We hiked in the same pattern we had last summer when we were about 10,000 feet higher in elevation at Lost Lake: John blazed the trail, I followed, and Betty often lagged far behind, a biology teacher fascinated by her subject. We soon forked off the paved Childers Trail onto the gravel and dirt Frank Trail. It had one switchback up the hillside and then crossed a clearing before plunging back into the crosstimbers.
On the way back I posed atop another stump seat and we took a short side loop for another overlook of the lake, where first the Hendersons and then I posed as a light rain began to fall. That kept us from completing the rest of the short paved Childers trail, opting to head straight back to the dry car. It was a short but enjoyable hike, and I plan to return later this year to see it when the oaks are leafed out.
I launch my 2013 Songs of the Month with another entry courtesy of Kate Strycker: Some Nights by fun. As in “fun.” the indie pop band headlined by Nate Reuss. He previously was part of The Format, and Kate gave me a selection of songs from both groups, wanting to know my preference. I haven’t made a firm choice yet, as I haven’t scrutinized the lyrics of my favorite songs. But Some Nights is a standout song from the whole group. It was also featured on one of NPR’s All Songs Considered end-of-year collections.
The song was released in June 2012 as the second single from the eponymous album. You can find many interesting reads on the song’s meanings at the often helpful songmeanings.net. Songfacts points out, “The song expresses the anguish of a young man who is a long way from home, as he lies in bed at night thinking of his family members.” And Reuss said he was inspired in part by the music from one of my favorite albums, Graceland by Paul Simon (which you can currently buy for only $3 from Amazon!).
The opening is powerfully multitracked; Les Paul would be proud. Then a tremendous drum begins beating, with a few guitar licks. The pounding percussion certainly reminds one of the later Paul Simon, whose music came to emphasize percussion over melody, something foreshadowed by Cecilia back in the Simon & Garfunkel days, which clearly influenced Some Nights.
But then it suddenly eases off and Reuss sings more sweetly, with a dash of Auto-Tune in the background. I must confess I still have a soft soft for extreme Auto-Tune fun all these many years after it first pricked my ears in Cher’s Believe. About 2/3 of the way into the song Reuss severely Auto-Tunes his main vocal to good effect.
The song is relentless, with guitars dancing around the melody and Reuss singing his heart out. He said he wrote to himself, “This will be the best song you’ve ever written.” when composing Some Nights. I think he and his co-composers lived up to that challenge.
SOME NIGHTS
Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck
Some nights, I call it a draw
Some nights, I wish that my lips could build a castle
Some nights, I wish they’d just fall off
But I still wake up, I still see your ghost
Oh Lord, I’m still not sure, what I stand for oh oh oh
What do I stand for? Oh what do I stand for?
Most nights, I don’t know anymore
Oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa oh oh
Oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa oh oh
This is it, boys, this is war, what are we waiting for?
Why don’t we break the rules already?
I was never one to believe the hype,
Save that for the black and white I try twice as hard and I’m half as liked,
But here they come again to jack my style
That’s all right, I found a martyr in my bed tonight
Stops my bones from wondering just who I, who I, who I am, oh who am I, mm, mm
Well some nights, I wish that this all would end
‘Cause I could use some friends for a change
And some nights, I’m scared you’ll forget me again
Some nights, I always win, I always win
But I still wake up, I still see your ghost
Oh Lord, I’m still not sure what I stand for, oh
What do I stand for? Oh what do I stand for? Most nights, I don’t know (come on)
So this is it? I sold my soul for this?
Washed my hands of that for this?
I miss my mom and dad for this?
No. When I see stars, when I see stars, that’s all they are
When I hear songs, they sound like a swan, so come on
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh come on!
Well that is it, guys, that is all, five minutes in and I’m bored again
Ten years of this, I’m not sure if anybody understands
This is not one for the folks at home, I’m sorry to leave, mom, I had to go
Who the fuck wants to die alone all dried up in the desert sun?
My heart is breaking for my sister and the con that she called “love”
But when I look into my nephew’s eyes,
Man you wouldn’t believe, the most amazing things, that can come from,
Some terrible nights, ah (oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh oh)
The other night, you wouldn’t believe the dream I just had about you and me
I called you up, but we’d both agree
It’s for the best you didn’t listen
It’s for the best we get our distance, oh
It’s for the best you didn’t listen
It’s for the best we get our distance, oh
A sunny Saturday afternoon in January, with the temperature climbing into the upper 50s, was irresistible for a day hike, even if on familiar trails. Last weekend was mostly consumed by preparation for a community talk about the history of the school district, so I only managed to walk on the Pathfinder Parkway. Today my schedule only permitted a short drive west to Osage Hills State Park for a 6.6 mile hike. One would think I’ve thoroughly exhausted its trails, but today I managed to finally find a nearby cave and even mapped two extensions of the standard mountain bike trails. I was only carrying my iPhone on this hike, so the photography is therefore limited.
I started with on the red trail, the longest of the mountain bike trails. At one point two deer bounded away, their fluffy white tails erect, but then they stopped to watch me, hoping I would stick to the trail and leave them alone. At one point along the trail someone had stacked rocks as a marker. A much larger and more elaborate stack has recently been erected where the red trail turns to follow the Osage Trail back to the pump house trail head.
I couldn’t resist the temptation of finally following up on the bushwhack Andrew Geibel and I made off the Osage Trail at the start of December. We had been unsuccessful in finding the cave promised on a hand-drawn map, and later I’d deduced we were just shy of it. I made it over to the dry side draw and followed it up to where we’d been before. Sure enough, only a few yards farther along the draw ended in a large long overhanging shelf you could stand under.
The Cave!
I backtracked, clambering down from the red trail to shoot the bluff where the trail runs along its top edge. I followed the trail past the Grotto and then located a side trail I’d noticed previously but never mapped. I tracked it, finding it to be a single winding loop that climbed the hillside and then descended to join with the blue bike trail.
So I took the blue trail to where it almost collides with itself and bushwhacked across. Earlier I’d spotted another unofficial trail which led off the red trail toward the blue trail. Sure enough, I found the end of it and followed it back, partially along the pipeline right of way, to the red trail. From there I returned to the pump house trail head.
My first hike of the new year was the familiar 2.25 easternmost miles of the Elk River Trail an hour’s drive north from Bartlesville along the north shore of Elk City Reservoir. The weather was in the 40s, but the forecast claimed the sun would come out in the afternoon, and that was good enough for me.
After lunch I drove north to the reservoir west of Independence, KS and parked at the trailhead just west of the dam. I crossed the field and clambered up the slope to the bluff, finding the slope particularly treacherous and muddy with melting frost. I reached the stone corridor, where you walk along a huge deep crack in the bluff top where a portion sheared off and ended up several feet downslope.
Two Lycra-clad fellows were running out of the corridor as I entered. I posed for distance and nearer shots in the corridor using my new Joby Gorillapod, interrupted by another Lycra man jogging past from the end of the corridor. This pattern would continue for my entire hike out to the turnaround point: I would spot Lycra-clad joggers headed my way and stand off trail, greeting them as they ran by. They came in dribs and drabbles of 1 to 3 joggers, the total approaching two dozen it seemed. I’ve never worn Lycra myself, preferring jeans and a knit shirt. At my slower pace I had to keep warm with a knit cap, earpops, and cotton gloves.
I walked along until the trail opened up with a sweeping view of the hillside where an intermittent side stream enters the lake. The last of the Lycra lads and lasses had passed, and I would have the trail to myself along the return.
I was glad to be out on a trail again. I expect my hiking mileage to continue to drop this year, but I certainly won’t give up the rejuvenating pastime.
Meador Manor 