Day 3 of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail the West Half

OAT Trip Part 3

We started our day with a hike at the Black Kettle Recreational Area Creek Trail.  We lost the trail not to far into the hike, but that didn't matter we just blazed our own.  The kids loved it and ran head of us.  As we got back to camp we packed up and said our goodbyes to Jack, Maggie, and their grandson.  We would miss them the rest of the trip and they would miss the best parts!

The trail was smooth the first part of the day.  We would drive through some ranches passing over cattle guards.  The ranchers were all nice and gave us big waves as we drove by them.  We made great time and put a ton of miles on this smooth part of the trail. 

As we entered the southwest portion of the state it amazed me how different it was from the northwest.  Even as we crossed over I40 we all could see that this part of the trail was going to be great.  The views were getting even better and the trails curved around hills and canyons.  We even got to hear a local Jeep group that happen to be exploring an area called Buzzard Canyon over the CB.  There was a report of a rolled Jeep, we all held our breath for a minute because Justin and I knew a few people that were out there.  The good news is that no one was hurt and they got the help they needed. 

We came up on an old abandoned school, Plain View School.  We decided to get out and explore the inside.  I was blown away that were still tables and other items left behind.  The textures were awesome to photograph and the gym was by far my favorite.  Part of the roof was missing and the old wood floor was still there, although very rough.  As I walked around the outside with my camera I noticed a building next to the school, I had to go explore.  I had just moved my camera from my eye when a large white owl came flying right at me.  I didn't get the shot and almost peed my pants. 

The dirt started to change colors, darker in places and almost white in others.  The trail also would get narrower and the roads rougher.  We made our way to Sandy Sanders Wildlife Management Area and no one in the group had ever heard of this area but we all fell in love.  It felt like we jumped into an old wild west movie.  As we entered in the area I couldn't help but think what it must have been like to be an Indian living in this area or a cowboy riding his horse all alone.  There are some open camping areas in Sandy Sanders and we all agreed we would need to come back and explore this area more someday. We found a private section of the trail that was posted but it also said as long as you don't stop you can pass through.  So far this day has been amazing and we still had more to come.
                                 

We found some more sandy roads that were dusty and narrow.  Mark and Justin had never done a real river crossing before.  This one would not be very difficult but we still got out and checked the situation out.  I showed the guys what to do before you cross water on the trail.  You need to check the depth, even if you have to walk it first.  You need to all be on the same page and have a plan if something goes wrong  The river was a wide but not very deep.  It was awesome that even this crossing, being really easy, brought us all together.  It was good practice because we would need it later.

We came across another old abandoned school, Ron School.  I know nothing about the history and it was completely gutted with the roof removed.  It was in a cattle field and I think it is now used as a wind block for the cattle.  We had to be careful because there was a bull in the field!  I thought the old house across the street was much more interesting and wish I that I could have gotten closer. 
We made our way to Quartz Mountains but not before we grabbed some beer for the camp fire.  As we arrived we were greeted by the mountains, well Oklahoma mountains anyway.  Showers were on the list as well as a good meal.  The girls were happy to go play on the playground and we even had deer walk through our campsite, the girls loved it.  We spent the end of the day around the camp fire drinking some beer telling stories of the day while the girls slept in the back of the Jeep.  It would be the last night of the trip and the best sleep as well. 

The trip was nearing and end.  Tomorrow would be our last day.  It would also be the most exciting day of the entire trip.  Make sure and keep an eye out for Part 4 and read about how I got the my Jeep stuck in the river, yeah way fun.  Thanks for reading my blog and remember GO ALL OVER!

The Oklahoma Adventure Trail-West Half Day Two

OAT Trip Part 2

Let me first start with this, the night before Justin went to take a shower and came back telling us the shower was not working.  He put in 50 cents and nothing.  No big deal, we can be dirty. 
So this is the second full day of the trip.   We stayed at Alabaster Caverns in NW Oklahoma.  The park is nice although the entire park was no open so we were limited on the camping spaces.  That was fine because the reason this State Park was on our list was so we could do the tour of the caverns and maybe see some bats!

The night was cool and windy.  The wind was just strong enough to push my hammock so that it swayed and so I slept like a baby in a rocking crib.  We woke up to a beautiful clear sky.  We got breakfast ready eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee.  After we ate we tore down camp, packed it all away and headed to the office to see about the tour.  The staff was awesome and we got the tickets for the tour.  I also got Molly her bat wings, she loves them!  Before we left I told them about the showers.  They told me the work fine, I had said Justin put in 50 cents and it wouldn't work.  They laughed and told me it was 75 cents, and that it was clearly marked.  If you are wondering I did make fun of him pretty hard and I still make fun of him to this day, that is just what we do.

We all got out tickets and waited in line for the tour.  We were not allowed to bring in cameras so no pictures from inside the cavern, but let me say IT WAS SO COOL!  Did you know that if you are in complete darkness for 2 weeks you will become blind, forever!  We did see bats, way to may to count.  The guide had some awesome information about the history of the caves and what they have been used for over the years.  I highly recommend you bring your family and take the tour. 
For the second day in a row my battery was dead, a jump later and we were back on the road, dirt roads!  The roads that morning where fairly smooth but the view more than made up for that.  We drove for awhile and I decided that the battery had to be changed.  So off to the closest Wal-Mart for a quick fix.  It wouldn't be a real overland trip with out some type of repair, right?  We got the new battery and head off back on the dirt roads of the OAT. 

This area had been under wild fires for a few weeks.  We almost had to postpone the trip, but the firefighters were doing a great job so we felt it was safe to go.  As we traveled south we did come across a small fire.  We came up on a firetruck making a u-turn and asked a few guys if it was safe.  They said stay straight and you are clear.  It made me think of the loss of land, homes, livestock, and a couple of people had even lost their lives for all the fires in the area.  The firetruck turned to the East and we stayed heading south and told the men at the corner to be safe.  With the fire behind us we found an incredible view and decided to stop take some pics and stretch our our legs.  We needed to get out and get some fresh air after all of the excitement from the fire. 

The next section of trip was some of my favorite so far.  We had to remind ourselves that we were still in Oklahoma.  The trail unlike anything I have seen before in Oklahoma.  We were able to get more great pics and videos.  We turn we made was even better that the last.  Each path was deep with walls on each side craved from years of use.  I was happy to be in a group of 4x4 vehicles with aggressive tires.  It was sandy and slippery, I can't image what these roads are like after a rain.  At one point I kicked DJ out with the video camera to record all of us going down a part of the trail, a long part of the trail.  The last vehcile radioed if he needed to pick him up, I told him no but he did anyway.  We stopped and DJ got back in my Jeep, I glad he thought it was as funny as I did.
We did get our first pucker experience of the trail.  It was on a steep narrow section and the sand did not make me feel any better.  We picked a line stayed on it and made it out just fine, no issues at all.  Again I'm glad it was dry because add just a little bit of rain and we would have a different story from this part of the trail. 

I got us lost.  I blame the girls they were just having too much fun laughing and being funny.  We all stopped regrouped and found out where I went the wrong way.  It wasn't long before we were back on the road and headed to camp.  We would stay at Black Kettle Recreational camp area.  It was a small campsite with only a couple of other people.  So we had a big area to ourselves.  We had mac and cheese with hot dogs for dinner. 

We were able to make a camp fire since we were far away from the wild fire area.  We talked for hours until we finally settled in for the night.  The next day would be one of my favorite days ever out exploring in the Jeep.  Keep an eye out for Part 3 and see what we find, I got so scared I almost peed my pants.  GO ALL OVER, in a clean pair of pants of course. 

The Oklahoma Adventure Trail-West Half Day One

Oklahoma Adventure Trail-The West Half

The Oklahoma Adventure Trail was created by The Adventure Riders in 2012.  The Adventure Riders had an idea of a long adventure motorcycle trail that would connect must see places and loop around the entire state of Oklahoma.  Being in Okie I felt I needed to do this trail.  There are a couple of different places to find information about the trail.  Some of the sites I found had somewhat updated information about the trail.  So I started planning and started to gather a team.

Mark

Mark my uncle and a big reason I love 4x4 vehicles was the first person I contacted about the trip.   He is a mister fix and worked may years as a mechanic.  He has also taken several nursing classes which made him a very valuable member of our team. 

DJ

DJ a friend from church that has years of backpacking experience and serves in the National Guard.  He would be my lean on man for navigation and rode next to me in my vehicle.

Justin

Justin is a Jeep friend and he came with the most capable vehicle for the trip.  A Jeep Rubicon on 35in tires, tons of recovery gear, and a willingness to do anything for the team.

Jack

Maggie

Jack was interested in coming with us on the trip.  I think he had the most experience of all of us.  He and his wife Maggie have both spend several years as adventure motorcyclist as well as going on Jeep adventures.  His knowledge of camping gear is second to none. 

We also had three kiddos with us, Jack and Maggie's grandson, DJ's daughter, and my daughter Molly that comes with me on most of my overland and camping adventures.  It was great having kids with us, it just helped keep everything fun. 

The Kids

We all met at my house a few weeks before we left.  We talked about what each person's expectations were and what we wanted to gain from the trip.  We talked about food, camping, and the trail it's self.  A lot of the time was spend talking about our vehicles, experience, and what items we each needed to bring.  We all agreed on where and when to meet.  The time was set the place was marked and we were ready.  The trip was going to start spring break 2017.

It was a Wednesday evening when we met at Lake McMurtry in north central Oklahoma.  From here we would drive counter clock wise to the west.  I arrived just before sunset.  Jack, Maggie, and Justin where already there and had their camps all set.  DJ and I worked at getting our hammocks setup.  We both had our daughters hammocks right above ours so that nothing could get to them without us knowing.  They just liked being up higher than us in their hammocks.  We sat around telling stories of past adventures and sharing our excitement about this new adventure we were starting. 

That first night was cold.  The wind blew off the lake which didn't the fact I couldn't sleep anyway anticipating starting the drive in the morning.  I did manage a couple of hours of sleep, Molly slept all night and stayed warm.   When we all woke up we made breakfast and broke down camp.  Mark arrived, and the last piece of the puzzle was here and we were ready to start.  Packed and ready to go we all got in our vehicles and started them up, well everyone but me.  Seems the girls game of opening and closing the doors all night, with a few times the just kept them open drained the battery in the Liberty.  No problem we just give it a quick jump and be on our way. 

Me freezing the first night

We met dirt roads right at the start.  A lot of the roads we traveled on where not well maintained, just the way we like them.  It was in the first hour that we had our first very small water crossing.  Not very far from there we found and old building.  We guessed that it was well over 100 years old.  The roof was gone and it was falling apart, and another photo opportunity.  Shortly after that we came across a couple of camels, yes a camels on the side of the road.  Of course we had to stop and take a few pictures.The trip was in its first two hours and already it was a blast. 

We travel on more dirt roads some smooth some not so much.  We traveled along a creek and was stopped by a bridge that was out.  We back tracked and found another way around.  A big part of trips like this is the ablilty to adapt to changes.  This is more of a mental thing then anything else.  Not getting worked up over lost time backtracking is key.  We decided to stop and eat lunch at a diner in Pond Creek, Pepperment Pad this was a cool little burger place.  They had tons of history on the walls.  We wanted to eat together in a restruant early on the trip simply so we could talk and not worry about making lunch.  It was a great place to laugh and get closer as a team. 

After lunch we head out to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.  We would start on the east side of the Great Salt Lake.  We stopped a couple of times and watched several different species of ducks gather in the ponds around the lake.  We would travel around the  northwest corner of the lake and head to the Great Salt Plains.  I had heard about being able to dig for crystals on the Salt Plains.  As we approached the area where you could drive on the Salt Plains we found that it was closed and would open in a week.  The kids were almost as upset as us adults.  I did see that the parking lot which was dirt had a lot of sparkles in the sun.  So we told the kids to start looking for crystals.  They did find several small ones. 

As we left the Salt Plains we ended up on the longest paved road we would drive the entire trip.  So we put the petals down and headed to Alabaster Caverns State Park.  It took us a while to find and campsite.  We did not get one we liked but we got one that worked.  Most of the park was closed due to it not being the high traffic season.  We all cooked our meals and sat again telling stories, but this time we started talking about the events of the day.  We stayed here because we wanted to tour the caverns and hoped to see some bats! 

Our first full day was over.  The next day we would need to do a quick repair, we would get lost, and we would be amazed how different our home state would be mile after mile. 

Come back and see what happens on day two of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail-West Half, and remember to GO ALL OVER. 

A response to the last blog post.

Let me start by saying I did not intend to start the firestorm I did with my last blog post.  It was a look at the extremes of both.  It seemed to some that I did not shed a positive light on the Offroad world.  That was not what tried to do or say.  I enjoy both activities, a lot.  I have spend many years doing both as well.  I have planned and gone on long distance overlainding trips and I have been a part of the planning for fun day trips to the local offroad parks.  The mind set of each is completely different.  I am sorry if you ddon't not agree, I am also not saying anything bad about either one.  I am passionate about both and will defend each activity.  I don't mind the bad comments and  read every comment good or bad.  I try my best to respond to most.  I even try and use the comments as fuel for future post, as I did with the last post.  The argument has gone on forever, so I tried to put a different light on it, some agreed some did not.   I did not intend to fix the argument or change anybody's view.  Just tried to get people to think about how we Overland vs how we Offroad.  I didn't mean that we don't go offroad and push our vehicles when we Overland,  we do.  For those unhappy about my last post I am sorry and will do better at explaining my views.  I don't pretend to think that everyone will agree, but I can promise you I didn't not plan to make anyone mad.  We may tag different labels for Overlanding, rock crawling, muddling, and off-roading but the public sees it all as the same.  It is our job as a whole to create a positive image for what we do.  I hope this helps.  Please let me know what topics you would like to see in the future.  And as always GO ALL OVER!

A big thank you to the FaceBook groups that allow me to post these Blogs.
Texas Overland
Overland, Offroad, Expedition, and Camping 4WD Vehicles
OFFROAD VEHICELS and Camping
Natural State Overland
On-Torc
And several others.

Overlanding vs Offroading

Overlanding vs. Offroading(Rockcrawling, Mudding, Extreme Stuff)

I have had several people ask me about Overlanding vs Offroading.  They are in my opinion ultimately separate activities, ultimately.  I guess the confusion comes from the fact that Overlanding is primarily done on dirt roads and not on pavement, for the most part.  Overlanders do travel on trails and we enjoy scenic drives far away from where most people travel.  Offroading is taking your vehicle to the limits of its capability, and sometimes its breaking point.  Now lets look at each one.

Overlanding-We have beat this one until it is dead, but lets look at it again, differently.  Overlanding is beauty.  The entire object of an Overlander is to reach a beautiful spot and on the way enjoy everything the travel brings to us.  Overlanding is a relaxing break from the loud everyday craziness that is all around us.  We strive to find a way to survive on our own and in the process we bring ourselves closer to God, nature, and our true self.  We need our vehicle and our equipment to sustain us for multipule days, weeks, months, and for some even years.  We are not reckless but instead controlled in what we do.  We take care of the land and even leave it cleaner than when we arrived.

Offroading-Adrenaline is the word I would use first for Offroading.  It is a mixture of gas, metal, rubber, and dirt.  It is the sounds of a motor screaming, tires burning, metal breaking, and gears twisting.  Offroading is creating your own path, one that takes a special vehicle.  One built to rip and tear its way up and through things that seem impossible.   We Offroad to challenge the vehicle and to take it to it's breaking point, to find the weak point and to make it better.  Some Offroaders often trailer these vehicles because they know it will be tested to the limits.

We need to do both, to learn about ourselves and our vehicles.  Overlanding is like a graceful long distance runner, where Offroading is like a powerful sprinter.  As Overlanders we need to take our vehicles Offroading.  We need this so we can learn how our vehicle will react to the environments we put them in and so we can make it out and make it home.

They each have their own place and time.  Please do not confuse Offroading with Overlanding.  Stay on the trail and always Tread Lightly when Overlanding.  Please only Offroad at places that allow it, such as Offroad parks.  We must work together to keep our sports available. 

GO ALL OVER, or at least where allowed.