These trees are in the town of Clinton of Custer County in western Oklahoma. If you’ve ever been to Custer County you might think that trees are so few that might be illegal. The land is dominating by large expanses of wheat and grazing land and there are no forests. Trees are confined to draws and gullys and in parks along lakes and such. So sometimes fence rows. So when you find a big expansive tree like this you take notice.
Sunday I decided to explore a new area with Logan. It is the land west west of Chandler Park is far northwest Tulsa. I was inspired by the facebook posts of TrailZombie Ken who is my guide pretty much for anything having to do with trails and trailrunning in Oklahoma.
We start out at the very southwest end of Chandler Park and cross the gate and head down the road. The first thing you run into is this sign. This is the Compass Industries Landfill EPA Superfund Site. A gazillion dollars was spent cleaning up “…620,000 cubic yards of solid, liquid and sludge wastes, including acids, caustics, solvents and potentially carcinogenic materials” in a former limestone quarry. The cleanup was paid for by the polluters themselves but all that stopped in 1995 and now we taxpayers get to pay for cleanups. I guess because it is unfair to ask the polluters to pay the expenses. It might cut into their campaign contributions budget or something.
We go a little further and we find the that the fence has been breached in a major way. I wonder what kind of morons trespass out there on a regular basis?
Shortly thereafter the trail gets away from the site and continues on west. We only saw one other person during our outing. Turkey Mountain is great but on nice weekends some of the main trails get crowded and Logan doesn’t like the constant bikers coming up behind us. No traffic problems at Chandler Park, yet.
And then it got a little rocky and I spent 40 fruitless minutes looking for a geocache and we continued our trek until the trail looped around to Avery drive.
We took a little break and then decided to head back on a different route.
If it looks steep, it is.
Just ask Logan, he’ll tell you.
We got into some of rock formations that make Chandler popular with the local bouldering and climbing enthusiasts. We are not into any of that.
Logan took a picture of the old man in full nerd regalia standing on a rock.
So it was a nice easy out and back introduction. I can see when daylight savings time returns that I’ll be coming out here some to do my Wednesday night runs. The area is lots bigger than Turkey Mountain but literally about 1% as many people. I’ll be learning the trails and looking forward to it.
Timely column today in the Tulsa World: Do we even need Chandler Park? I say yes!!
Have you been anywhere new lately?
On a lunchtime geocaching expedition to a not great area of Tulsa just to the west of downtown Tulsa on West Admiral I found this gem of a building. It looks abandoned but there is a shiny mail slot in the door to the right and a city garbage container to the left. This looks like it used to be stores below and apartments or offices above. I”m trying to figure out what it used to be. I love mysteries like this.
Topaz Textures – Color Blast
Last weekend’s weather in Tulsa was downright Springlike. Warm, dry and sunny. Heather and I went hiking in shirtsleeves, meanwhile our son was on his school trip in Breckenridge negotiating lots of snow.
So how is the weather where you are?
Topaz Glow – Fin and Feathers
Oxley Nature Center is built on some land nobody else wanted. Just north of the airport, wrapped by Bird Creek, and right next to the police department shooting range, nobody likes it except hikers, families, trail runners, geocachers, and photographer, not to mention deer, squirrels, snakes, lizards, ticks, fish, and lots of birds. The marshes of Oxley is what gives wildlife its space against us humans. I’ve been out here and have seen deer run across the marshes and swim the sloughs and leave guys like me trying to get good pictures behind.
The marshes give Oxley a lot of its mystery. I used Topaz Glow to emphasize that mystery. I like how it brought out the reflections of the trees and the texture of their bark.
Heather and I wanted to go hiking on a warm sunny Winter afternoon and we decided to on the north side of Tulsa to Oxley Nature Center to avoid the crowds that show up at Turkey Mountain on nice days. The successful fight to save Turkey Mountain from developers really aroused the public’s interest in the park and I’m happy that so many people love it but there are other parks in Tulsa to go and hike, run, bike, and whatever you want outside with a lot less people. Where you can get a little elbow room and hunt for a parking space.
Oxley, adjacent to the also hikeable Mohawk Park is a little more structured and has a interpretive center with staff to help you with planning your hike. And it has hours of operation and such but if you just want to show up and hike or run, just park and do what you want. Check the link for hours of operation, maps, and such.
So on a day where Turkey Mountain was a little crowded (only at the parking lot, you get a quarter mile from the parking lot and the crowd are diminished considerably) Heather and I found a hiking spot and took off on a circuitous route. Sure we saw other people but just every now and then.
So don’t let crowded parking lots deter you from spending time outside.
We say several deer right close to the parking lot. I haven’t seen a deer on Turkey Mountain in years.
So we were just moseying along at a leisurely pace. Our son is on a school trip to Breckenridge and of course we stopped every time he texted us.
And we had a great time. Over four miles all in all.
As far as what was going on in Breckenridge, here is a selection of some of the pics Logan sent Heather.
This was from the bus ride as they were getting close to town.
The condo they are staying in and reportedly doing lots of “hanging out” and “relaxing” when we ask him what he is doing.
And it sounds like there is an ice sculpting contest or exhibition going on so this is one of the sculptures.
And this has something to do with dragons. Anyways we miss the boy and are glad to be able to hear from him.
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I saw the orange glow in the western sky so I grabbed my little Nikon AW110 point and shoot and took the elevator up to my old floor in my office building and went over to my old cubicle and took a few shots of the western sky with the Arkansas River. I never get tired of this view.
This is [photo of the Arkansas River as seen Turkey Mountain on the river’s west bank. The river is quite full due to recent rains. You can’t hardly tell it but the other bank is south Tulsa. If you look close you can see cars and a couple high rises on the horizon.
I used a new app on my Ipod Touch called Stackables to edit this photo. I tried to give it a kind of a 19th century wilderness aspect to the photo. The photo was taken with with Nikon AW110 point and shoot. I posted it on Instagram a week or so ago.
The number of editing apps and their capability is exploding. Many are free and most are $3 or less. Incredible time for us picture takers is what I say. I’m wondering when we are going to see high quality cameras with downloadable and updateable apps and wifi capabilities. Many cameras now have many different effects available but they are not near as good as what is available on portable devices. Many cameras have wifi capability but I can tell you I have two cameras with wifi and it is very clunky working with them.
Oh well, for now I’ll just keep on doing what I am doing.
Linking with Digital Art Meme today
Busy, busy, busy that was us this weekend. Friday was my 9/80 day. I work 80 hours over nine days and get every other Friday off. It makes for long hours when I’m working but I love having the extra days off. Friday, Heather and I dropped my car off to get tires and then we went to breakfast and then on to the movies. We decided to see The Revenant.
Heather went to see it as a favor to me and I don’t think she liked it as much as I did. The Revenant is a powerful movie and very raw and incredibly brutal at times. I was worn out by the time it was done and I can see why it was nominated for a bunch of Oscars. I can’t really say much about it because almost anything would be a spoiler. I’ve some research I need to do and then maybe a dedicated blog post.
Friday night Logan’s Improv group put on a new show. Logan loves Improv and I love watching him light up when he is onstage. It is great watching his fellow performers also, some of whom have been in the group for years and I love watching the kids grow up. Logan and several others are seniors this year so they will be aging out of the group. We’ll have to see how Logan can continue doing Improv.
The nature of Improv is that you have to have a quick wit and you have to move on. Some skits work and others don’t and you don’t look back, you just go on.
Saturday morning I went for a trail run on Turkey Mountain. It is a great place to get my head on straight.
I saw this note card stuck in a tree. It’s a nice gesture and all that but the first rain this will turn into mush or the wind will blow onto the ground. I’m such a cynic.
Saturday night Logan got all spiffed up for his school’s Winter Ball. Heather and I were the chauffeurs for the night. We drove him to a country club where the Senior Dinner was and then later picked him up and took him to the dance venue and then picked him up. We were glad to do it. It was great seeing the young men and women being all dressed up, excited, and glowing for the event.
Heather and I went first class. I took her to one of the finest convenience stores in the country and offered to get her anything she wanted. I was even prepared to get here the X Large Pizza. Nothing but the best for my wife. She opted for a bottle of water.
Umpteen years ago, who knows how many, somebody tied these two trees together at two levels with a very stout and thick cable. Now the trees have grown and the cable is part of the tree. Who knows why? Turkey Mountain is now a popular park in Tulsa but formally it had lots of oil wells, and hardscrabble rocky farms, and by legend alcohol stills. Many relics of its past are still on the mountain, foundations for oil well pump jacks, farmhouse cisterns and foundations, old flow lines and such.
I just love finding clues to its past and wondering what in the world happened.