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.
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?
I follow the Turkey Mountain social media pretty closely and had been reading with interest the news that they have been using goats to manage the invasive plant species on Turkey Mountain. They are provided by a third party who monitors them and they are guarded by a special guard dog. I knew roughly where the sheep were supposed to be but I had never run into them.
On of my recent hikes I started smelling what I would call a barn smell or a ranch smell The smell of animals and their manure and a little ways later I ran into them on a legacy trail.
They were totally chill, some were eating, some were resting. None of them looked stressed in any way. I thought this is cool. I have volunteered at Turkey Mountain and other places and sometimes we work on invasive special removal. It is hard work!! Other methods such as controlled fires are great but require the right weather and the availability of a crew to manage it. Mechanical mulching works well but is expensive and it really tears the forest up temporarily.
These goats were happily munching away. I found a source, goat foraging dot org, and they discuss that the manure that goats poop out also builds up the soil, their hooves help break up the soil and mix the manure in. The goat’s digestive systems also destroy the seeds as they pass through the digestive system.
It’s all pretty low cost and sustainable and provides another tool in land managers’ tool box to help manage the land.
I didn’t see a guard dog, nor a shepherd and no fencing but I’m assuming they maintain control over the herd somehow. I’m all about stuff like this.
Seen on a hike on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area. I used the Hipstamatic app on my phone to take the photo to enhance the texture and emphasize the age of the formation.
To recap, about two weeks ago I slipped and fell while hiking. I’ve done that a lot but this time my knee and the rest of my body went different directions and I was sore. So I hiked back to my car, went home, took a shower and then my wife took me orthopedic urgent care where they took xrays, said that my new knee was in good shape, wrapped my knee in a wrap patted me on my head said go see your surgeon.
I talked to my surgeons PA and said no damage to the knee so released me to do whatever as I felt able. I didn’t do much for a couple days and then gradually started getting more active.
My first hike was a mall walk where I saw that rugby shirts are a thing again, along with earth colors. Oh well.
I graduated to slow walks at local parks. Much better!
I love this fence.
And then back to Turkey Mountain for hikes on trails that are flat and don’t have technical feature.
This is the best vista on Turkey Mountain.
And then little bit longer hikes on more challenging terrain.
I found this bike jump on my a hike. Mountain bikers are crazy. You jump over the trail and onto a very steep slope on the other side. That’s a big nope for me. I have yet to ride a bike on Turkey Mountain.
I love this trail bridge over the dam at the YMCA at Turkey Mountain. Tulsa has the best fall weather of any place I have ever lived. Cool night, warm days, blue skies. Sign me up for all you have.
My beautiful wife Heather had an afternoon free, so we did a two mile hike at Turkey Mountain on the Sanctuary area.
I love old appliances on the trail. Turkey Mountain is an old farming, ranching, and oilfield area so there are lots things to look at that are interesting.
And at one spot, there is an old oil well with rods sticking out of the ground. I reminded Heather that we had been here before, 11 years ago. We were on an outlaw trail. The land was private but some bikers and hikers blazed a few trails through the tract and Heather, Me, and son Logan checked it out.
So this is wife and son from nearly eleven years ago. Except, now RiverParks owns the land and it is legal to be on it.
A robin I captured on Turkey Mountain Friday afternoon.
Another robin in the same area on a different pass yesterday.
Ducks on the fishing pond at Lafortune Park earlier in the week.
Two separate sculptures working together at the Scheel’s Store at the mall.
Lizzie the cat, grooming Sadie to dog in a tender moment.
Kodie and Sadie wanting in!!
Sadie on my lap while I was watching television the other night.
Finally a 21 second video of other critter moments during the week. Featuring the bird cam, a sparrow, a dove, an angry squirrel, and me and Sadie playing fetch. Yep, all that fits in 21 seconds so pay attention!!
