Eleven years ago when I was still working in downtown Tulsa. Many of the older art deco buildings were empty. They were not abandoned just empty. Many of them, including this building were remodeled extensively for apartments and condos. Downtown Tulsa used to be abandoned after 6 pm and on weekends. It is a hopping place now.
Son Logan on a hike with me on Turkey Mountain eleven years ago. He finally got old enough to “just say no” to hiking with me. I miss those days. I used to give him a steady dose of dad jokes which I loved and he didn’t appreciate.
Some old water infrastructure on Tulsa’s Reservoir Hill. I hid a geocache close to that building. The building is still there but now there is a razor wire topped security fence around the whole area. So that is a no go now.
Here’s the biggest shadow I have ever photographed. The lunar eclipse earlier this week. I made the image small because otherwise it is just kind of big and blobby. (Blobby is a word here in Oklahoma, just so you know.) Did you get to see the eclipse. Did you get a non-blobby photo of it!
Here is a Lost and Found shadow. Somebody at the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area here in Tulsa had the good idea put a lost and found basket at the base of map stand at the park. I think the drilled hole shadows are cool.
And here is a trailcam photo of our backyard. That is Sadie the rescue terrier in the sun and I am in the shade behind her. Both our dogs are sun dogs. They love laying out in the heat of the day. Note the temperature, note the burnt grass. Here in Tulsa we average eleven 100+ days a year, so far we have had 22 and we have a solid 7 day forecast for over 100F temperatures coming up this week.
The mornings are cooler though so I have been taking Sadie for a walk. I love dog walking shadows.
Here’s a variation on a dog walking shadow, a picket fence shadow overlaid on a dog walking shadow. Who says I cannot do two things at the same time?
You can tell it was early. Here’s a long morning shadow of a tree in our neighborhood greenbelt.
The sun is bearing down on Oklahoma hard these days. Every day is over 100F for the high and mornings are high 70’s/low 80’s. It’s brutal. It’s too warm for a dog walk in the morning especially with our little Pomeranian. I’m trying to get out early on my once or twice weekly hikes on Turkey Mountain.
Fortunately on the mountain it is very shady. And you you shadows make good photographs.
The new part of Turkey Mountain is “The Sanctuary.” It’s off by itself and has the newest trails, all single track and many of them fairly technical. You have to watch your feet is what I say.
This is one of the old landmarks on the Mountain. Everyone but me calls it the washing machine. I call it the clothes dryer cuz is what is if you look closely. But you can ignore me if you want, everyone else does, and call it what you wish.
This is the main trail to the Mountain from the lower parking lot.
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.
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.
I’m still way behind on my posting. This is about a hike I took on Turkey Mountain on the last Sunday of March.
Turkey Mountain is ultra popular now days especially on the weekends. So on the weekends I generally head to the northwest side of Turkey Mountain. The YMCA has the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA there. They have paved parking, flush toilets and their trails interconnect with Turkey Mountains. Plus I am a Y member, so I go there and check in. So I stopped at the lodge and checked in and on the way out one of their people told me that they had a barbecue lunch going on and I was welcome, and I didn’t have to pay. Oh, free food. Sign me up.
Smoked brisket, smoked sausage, corn pudding, potato salad, and a peanut butter cookie.
So I went in and got me a plate and it was delicious. I’m not totally into free food plus I love the Y. My wife teaches classes at two other Y’s in town and I use the Y’s also. Plus the Y on Turkey Mountain holds a special place in my heart. They hosted the first trail race I ran in (and a bunch more besides.) They provided a venue for the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition to host Leave No Trace when they came to Tulsa. Anyway the Herman and Kate Kaiser Y is a special place and they had QR cards around there where one could make a donation so I donated a modest sum. Talk about an unexpected meal, it was great.
So, fortified off I went.
I saw butterflies,
Birds like this robin
And more butterflies
and more, except this might be a moth.
And yet another butterfly. And a bonus wasp hovering over.
Some decent trails
Wildflowers
More Trails.
And a turtle at Pepsi Lake.
So almost four miles
Plus my Merlin App picked up: Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, and Tufted Titmice on my outing.
What a special day. Thank you to the nice people at the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA for making the day special.
Here is Lizzie, the queen of the household, in one of her cat poses. She often crosses her paws when in cat pose and I had never seen one paw pointed up.
Sadie, the rescue terrier and Lizzie.
https://flic.kr/p/2s9BXr5
I was cleaning out the bird camera the other day and I noticed Kodi the Pom and Sadie wanting in. The bird camera was live so I got these two live on the bird cam. Kodi is good about going outside and “dogging” by himself. Sadie doesn’t dogging by herself, she’ll dog with a human or with another dog. They had had enough dogging and wanted in.
I went on a hike on Turkey Mountain the other day and came across this guy. A Giant Redheaded Centipede according to google images. Kind of a fearsome looking critter and is supposedly venomous. We let him go on its way. It was in its home and we were just visiting.
I found this dragonfly on Turkey Mountain as well. When I was a kid in Utah I was scared to death of these things and I can’t remember why now.
I also found this white tailed deer on Turkey Mountain as well in a small meadow. Very curious. You can see the hindquarters of another deer to the right.
And this squirrel I found while hiking at Ray Harrall Nature Center.
And a one minute twenty second video of the various critters on the bird feeder recently.
After I made the youtube video above, an eastern bluebird paid a visit. Only ten seconds. Playing flickr videos is a little awkward you have to go way below the video to see the play button.
A few critters I have taken photos of on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area
A turtle on a stick at a pond.
A beetle on a rock
A robin on the ground. Robins are the only birds polite enough to show themselves and pose until I can get them in focus and snap a photo. The other little buggers flit here and there in the brush, never stay in place very long. They are aggravating.
A butterfly. Google lens tells me it is a “Question Mark Butterfly.” I have never heard of such a thing.
Google Lens tells me this is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly.
This turtle was on the edge of a trail trying to climb that rock in front of it. I decided to help the little bugger out and lift it up and over the rock. After I did that it acted all kind of perturbed like it didn’t need my help. Deal with it is what I told him.
Me and a friend continue to hike on Turkey Mountain and other places. This is a moon gate leading into The Sanctuary section of Turkey Mountain. I go right through it, my friend goes around it. I don’t know why.
Turkey mountain has maybe nine lakes on it, plus two or three more in The Sanctuary. Anywhere else they would be called ponds. Three interesting things about the lakes (at least they are interesting to me) is, first, that the Wildlife Department stocks the lakes for fishing. Second there is a big colony of beavers on the mountain and they move as a group from lake to lake cleaning out all the fish in each pond. I think that is hilarious. Third, the beavers move up and down the Arkansas River and migrate to and from Turkey Mountain via Mooser Creek which is the northern border of Turkey Mountain. They know this because the wildlife has tagged a bunch of beavers so they can track their movements. I have a feeling that beavers are going to outlive humans.
This is a pipeline for one of my former employers running through Turkey Mountain. Last year another former employer of mine laid a pipeline adjacent to this one but they drilled the little swale you see instead of putting in a span like the one above. Drilling pipelines across tough spots has been all the rage for years. Contractors can now drill across the Mississippi River for large pipelines and hit the other side a mile away within a few feet of their target. They also do it in culturally sensitive areas like ruins and such. They can stand off a few hundred yards and drill way underneath the ruins instead of having to go around. The problem with going around is that you often run into more ruins.
The tree house in The Sanctuary. If you look close you can see a couple of swinging porch benches underneath. A nice place to wait out a rainstorm.
Anyway on this hike, it was almost exactly five miles. That’s my sweetspot.
Switching gears to the backyard. Sunrise!
Mid-day from my front yard looking east.
And a late sunset, looking west.
Later that night, the Full Snow Moon. I love full moons on a clear night.
And a shot from the neighborhood green belt.
I’ve continued working on jigsaw puzzles on my ipad. I love beach scenes.
And a windmill jigsaw puzzle. The windmill is cool and I love the house. except not many windows upstairs. I like the lightning rods though. Random thought, I am sure that windmills get hit with lightning. Do they burn down?
