Hiking in Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain this time of year. Lots of shadows on the trail with all the trees.
A bicycle crossover over the trail. Hikers are not allowed on the crossovers. After one crosses over the slope is very steep. I like to ride my bicycle but I am strictly a pavement kind of guy. You have to be a very good rider to this structure. If you are by yourself and get injured I don’t know what you will do. This is in one of the most remote areas of the park. Weekends are not so bad but during the week I rarely see anyone here.
And a short ways later we have this bicycle jumpover across the trail. You better know what you are doing here. The crossover at least you can “roll over” the structure. Here there is no roll over.
Last week I posted photos of various animals at the Beavers Bend Safari Park that were on the walk through part of the facility. This week I am showing you some of the animals that we saw in the drive through part.
Whitetail Deer
Sable Antelope – Native of Southern Africa
Fallow Deer – From Europe
Banteng – Southeast Asia
Red Stag – – originated in Europe
Female Blackbuck – Indian and Nepal
Female Blackbuck and a Wildebeest (aka Gnu) – The Wildebeest is originally from Eastern and Southern Africa
More Blackbucks
And yet another Blackbuck
Pere David’s Deer – Originally from China. Now extinct in the wild.
Another Pere David’s Deer
A Llama chewing its cud on a hill.
An Elk resting in a grove of trees.
It took us quite a while to do the drive through part of the Safari Park. A good time was had by all. I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters
Back in May the weather turned warm, the sun came out, and off Heather and I went to the nursery. We went to a gigantic place way out in the boonies.
There’s my bride Heather going full speed in the nursery. She is a certified Oklahoma State University Master Gardener and she is reinvigorated this spring to get some plants. I went along to pull the cart and take photos. I don’t necessarily take photos of what she is buying.
Pink Impatiens
Colea
French Marigolds
More French Marigolds
Plum Cockatoo Petunias
Even more French Marigolds
Dayglo Yellow Dahlia
Black Mamba Petunias – my favorite plant name for the day
Orange Marigolds
Callie Pink with Eye Syngenta Flowers
And a large Garden Ornament on the way out.
A good time was had by all. Heather got lots of plants, I got lots of photos.
I saw some shadows while hiking earlier this week on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area.
This deer was hanging out in the shadows.
In places where trails get muddy frequently, one sees pieces of flat rock that are fitted together like a jig saw puzzle. When it rains the water flows over the rocks without eroding the trail and making a big mess. It is called “rock armoring” a trail. It’s a bit much for volunteers to do. One needs to have some machinery to move the rocks around. (Finding the rocks to use in armoring is called “rock farming.”) It’s hard work.
And I saw some leaves forming shadows on the trail.
In the summer, I look for the shadowy trails to hike, especially at midday.
As part of our trip to southeast Oklahoma’s Hochatown we visited the Beavers Bend Safari Park. They have quite a collection of animals. Many in enclosures and others out in the woods confined by fences but otherwise roaming around. I’ll post about the roaming animals next week.
Common Emu
A vervet monkey. Sorry about the camera focusing on the cage instead of the animal.
We love Tulsa Botanic Garden in Tulsa. We have a membership so we go when we can. We went there in early May this year and this is some of what we saw.
Suburbia’s Heaven – Finished with the mowing. I dumped my ancient gas mower a couple of years ago and got an electric mower. No more buying gasoline, or changing oil nor air filter. Just roll it out and mow.
Went to our local Neighborhood Walmart. They had a deluxe pollinator garden for a few years but I guess they are off on new tangents. This nice fence and irrigation system is going to waste. I’m surprised copper thieves hadn’t made their mark.
At a rest stop on Tulsa’s Riverparks Trails during a recent bike ride. What are those deer looking at anyway?
At the end of May we took a little trip down to southeast Oklahoma and stayed in a cabin close to the Beavers Bend State Park. A favorite place to go for us that is not too far. It was a combination getaway and birthday celebration for our son, Logan.
Driving around we came across this deer in the middle of nowhere. Deer are prevalent in the area.
I am not sure if this was the same deer or not.
We went on a hike on the Lakeview Lodge Trail at Beavers Bend State Park. We love the trail. Not many people, it is not too technical nor does it have huge elevation changes. We saw this far away deer and several of its friends. They all stayed away from us and disappeared eventually.
The woods were full of birds. We could hear them and spot small birds here and there. Thank goodness for the Merlin App to listen to the bird chatter and id them for us.
At the cabin we spotted this tree frog late one evening. Sorry about the grainy fuzziness of it. It didn’t stay long.
The State Park has its Woodland Heritage Center where they cover all sorts of things about life in the woods. The logging, the history of the area, woodland firefighting. They have this large piece with Smokey Bear. My dad was a Forest Ranger for the US Forest Service in the West. We went through the museum with him years ago and he kind of brought the exhibits to life with his knowledge, experience, and insights. He is gone now but I feel close to him every time I go through the museum. Lots of happy memories there.
And we celebrated son, Logan’s birthday while were down there. Lots of family memories down there.
I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check them out. Lots of animal lovers who are also good photographers.
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