Travels of Geo Nova: Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Before we go on about Oklahoma we have to share our last stop in Texas, Palo Dura State Park. This canyon park extends 11 miles through a beautiful red Rock Canyon. Texans feel it is the grand canyon of Texas. The canyon was the site of a famous battle between the Comanche Worrier Quanah Parker and the US Calvary.

We are out of Texas and into OK. Our first stop was Boiling Spring State Park in Woodward OK. It reminded us of the parks in FL with the water boiling out of the ground. Here though only about 30 gallons/minute, not the thousands like in FL. We enjoyed the trails in the park and did lots of birding. We also went to the Lesser Prairie Chicken festival. We were going to go out at 4 in the morning but because of the high winds they couldn’t set up the bird blinds. Instead we met at 5:30 and went out in a van. As dawn came so did the birds. The male Prairie Chickens do a dance; puff up a sack on the side of their head and dance around trying to impress the hens. We also had 2 other trips to see birds and prairie dog towns. On one trip it was just David and I and our guide. Alex was a wonderful young man and so enthusiastic about birds and plants. Our personal tour was memorable.

From here we went to Salt Plains State Park. This is the home of Great Salt Plains National Wildlife refuge. This unique habitat is an excellent stop over for birds migrating to their breeding grounds in sub arctic region. We again went on many hikes looking for birds along the way. At one site we watched a 5 ft rat snake use downed trees to get to a man made bird house set up in the water. It avoided the snake guard and slither up the post to the house and got inside. Over time all 5 feet disappeared. I’m sure the eggs inside did too.

We are now in Osage Hill country. For 2 nights we camped in the Osage Hill State Park. We again hiked all around the park birding along the way. In Bartlesville we went to the Woolaroc museum. The founder of Phillips Petroleum established it, Frank Phillips. It is on 3800 acres. When you arrive you have a 2-mile driveway, along the way there were 3 kinds of deer, a zebra, water buffalo (not bison) and an emu. He established this because he wanted children to remember the past. His collection of Indian relics went back to 200AD. The collection of Indian chief portraits, clothing, blankets and jewelry was just stunning. The cowboy saddles, one studded in diamonds, sapphires and rubies, was beyond belief. The collection of great western paintings, breath taking, Russell, Remington, Lee, Moran and Johnson just to name a few. He had a collection of Colt guns of all makes. I didn’t know they made that many. There were bison, elephant, deer and even a moose head on the walls.

Mr. Phillips started out as a barber, owned a bank and got into oil. There is a story that his banks never were robbed because the bank robbers kept the money they stole from other banks in his. He would have huge cookouts for eastern big wigs with cowboys, bank robbers and sheriffs. They would all come together because Frank would make the law agree to let the gangsters have a 24-hour head start when the party was over.

We moved on to a private campground near Pawhuska. This was so we could get to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. It is about 40,000 acres protected by The Nature Conservancy. At one time there were portions of 14 states and over 142 million acres of tallgrass prairie. This preserve also has a heard of about 2,700 bison that roam free over certain parts of the range. They have been genetically tested and are about 99.9% bison/ 0.1% cattle. Besides driving through the park, visiting the Barnard ranch, which is now the visitor’s center, we did a 3-mile hike. Ben Johnson Jr., the Hollywood actor, grew up on this ranch. His father was foreman. You may remember him in the cowboy movies, with John Wayne. Before getting into the movies he was a nationally known Rodeo cowboy star. He started out in Hollywood training actors how to look like they could really ride a horse.

We also came to this Prairie so we could see the Greater Prairie Chicken. We were able to find out where on the range to hopefully see them. Early this morning we lucked out. At first we only heard them but eventually they showed themselves. Again the males strut around to look impressive for the chicks.

We plan to go into Tulsa to a museum tomorrow then move on come Monday.

While doing laundry today our campground host informed me that we might have a tornado tomorrow night. She said there is a sever weather warning for this county. I was shown where the tornado shelter is and she was going to clean out the cobwebs and put new flashlights in them. She said the Indians picked Pawhuska to live because they felt the way the land is it wouldn’t have a tornado. When I asked if there has ever been one in town she said no but we aren’t in town. I guess there have been some 30 miles to the north and south of here. Well as David and I say it’s just like being on the boat in a storm, just be prepared. We have a storm cellar right next to our campsite!

Oklahoma has been most enjoyable. The scenery has been great. There is a great difference from west to east. It is anything but a flat featureless landscape. That description would better fit the panhandle of Texas. Furthermore the people of Oklahoma couldn’t be friendlier.