Deep In The Heart of Oklahoma - State & National Park Series
The traditional sign photo at sunrise.
We are driving along an Oklahoma road through Hinton and we could see a few mesas in the distance, flat prairies, and evidence of the 1920's Dust Bowl era all around us. However, if it were not for the Red Rock Canyon State Park sign, we would never have known it was there. This canyon is hidden about a quarter of a mile from the main road and the road into the canyon drops down 150 feet in switchback style.
Balancing Rock standing away from the canyon wall.
Here we were greeted by large slabs of a dark brownish red slab of sandstone from the Permian Age. The sandstone walls are part of what geologists call the Rush Springs Sandstone Formation and these colors are caused by the oxidized iron minerals in the individual sand grains naturally cemented together making up the old sandstone. Because of the dark red color of this layer of rocks, it is said that this area is the heart of Oklahoma.
Scott taking photos in the golden hour of the morning
Once, in the canyon, we found these amazing 40-60 feet high walls of red sandstone. Because we arrived at sunrise, a planned two and a half hour drive, the light was perfect and enabled us to take photos showing off the beauty of this canyon. Here, high canyon walls towered over the flat two and a half mile canyon road. From my research, I learned the ground is completely from the eroded Permian Age sandstone.
A road in the canyon has many trees and wild grasses growing along side it.
The canyon floor area is completely different from the prairie 150 feet above. We were not expecting to see the brilliant green colors throughout the park; this trip was in July, one of the hottest months of the year for Oklahoma. Normally it is extremely hot with temperatures in the upper 90's and everything dry enough to warrant fire danger warnings; however, in this park, you found nothing of the sort. It was pretty amazing to see this oasis below the prairie.
One of the interesting features we found on these cliffs were some vertical lines etched into the stone. We were unsure what these lines were and wondered briefly if they were graffiti. However, it was not graffiti, but decades of use by Rock Climbing and Repelling Clubs throughout Oklahoma. The rock climbing is only allowed in this one specific area to keep the damage in one spot.
One of the things we do as we visit a state park is to drive the full length of the park. This means we drive through each camping loop to see what there are for tent and RV campers, take a peek at the facilities to see what's available, and find the trailheads to do a short hike or two. This park has three hiking trails: The nature trail which takes you past the pond and in towards the front of the canyon. This pond was used as a water source for the Cheyenne Indians as they wintered in this canyon.
Simply called "The Pond."
Simply called "The Pond."
The California Road Natural Trail which is where you will find the ruts left from the wagon wheels of those traveling to California back in the early 1800's. This was the path the California bound pioneers used this path to get their wagons down to the canyon for protection from the elements and find water, much as the Cheyenne people had done.
The trailhead for the California Road Natural Trail.
The trailhead for the California Road Natural Trail.
Unfortunately, Scott was having issues with his foot and he was not able to explore the trail I found hiding behind a large grove of Caddo Maples. I did not go far, but I just had to see where this these stairs led. They started out with steps made from railroad ties and then turned into a natural set of stairs around a tree's roots. Suddenly there was a large slab of sandstone with an indention from thousands of feet climbing up the trail to look down into the canyon.
Stairs to adventure.
Nature's pathway.
Stone pathway.
Stairs to adventure.
Nature's pathway.
Stone pathway.
This park is a place that we will be visiting again. It has good electrical and sewer hookups, plenty of places to explore, and a swimming pool to cool off in on those hot summer days. Our time here was almost magical, in away. Between the spring feed stream, lush canyon floor, and the red rock wall, we felt it was another world. However, it was time for us to move on to our next destination, another state park so we could share that one with you too.
Wish you were here.
Wish you were here.
Safe travels friends,
Dinosaur Valley State Park - In Path Of Dinosaurs
https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@xcountytravelers/dinosaur-valley-state-park-in-path-of-dinosaurs
Join us as we show off one of our favorite state parks. We will show you dinosaur tracks and explain the ancient and recent history of this amazing place. This park is located about an hour southwest of Fort Worth, Texas, in a beautiful town named Glen Rose.
Thank you @penderis for such great artwork!
Explore the Talimena Scenic Drive
https://steemit.com/dlive/@xcountytravelers/1efc81fb-b22d-11e8-91f1-0242ac110003
Even though this is a National Scenic Drive there are two state parks within the 59-mile drive; Talimena State Park on the Oklahoma side and Queen Wilhelmina State Park on the Arkansas side. This drive is just beautiful, especially in the fall. There is a video and a short write about.
Thank you @penderis for such great artwork!
You definitely have interesting travelogues! Your photos are wonderful, too! Great job on this! 😊
Thank you so much. We try really hard. We want to entice ya'll to get out there and try something new.
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=xcountytravelers
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=deep-in-the-heart-of-oklahoma-state-park-series
Want to have your post on the map too?
Looks like an interesting place, lovely to hear you on PYPT. :)
Thank you so much @linnyplant. It is a beautiful place. We just fell in love with it.
Ren
This looks like such an interesting and beautiful place, Ren :) I know it is probably 100 better in person. We might even be able to do a trip like this.
Thanks for sharing such a beautiful place
Oh you should! If you ever decide to go, let us know! We are looking for a reason to go back.
Ren
Congratulations @xcountytravelers! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Congratulations! Your high quality-travel content caught our attention and has earned you a partial upvote. We love your hard work and hope to encourage you to continue to publish strong travel-related content. Thank you for using #travelfeed
Learn more about our travel project on Steemit by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord.
Congratulations @xcountytravelers! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCongratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 22 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 5 SBD worth and should receive 119 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.
I am
TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
TrufflePigThank you so much piggy! I have been hoping you'd get around to us.
What a lovely adventure! I've never been to this particular red rock site, but have done a lot of exploring in Utah and other areas with red rocks. Loving your blogs. Steem on! :)
I some day want to visit the Red Rock location in Colorado. I have heard there are two other Red Rock parks but not sure where. I had no clue there was one in Utah. Guess I need to look that one up!
Ren
@xcountytravelers
😁Holy mac & cheese! Yet another list to collect!