About My Outdoor Blog
Hi! This is my blog for all things outdoors. My family loves hiking, camping, and canoing so I decided to start a blog where I could share our passion! I hope that this blog helps encourage you to get outside and enjoy where you live!
Summer might mean something different where you live but here in Oklahoma it means heat, with more heat, and a wave of heat thrown in for good measure.
Get out and enjoy the weather while you can still look cute (or handsome) doing it!
I still hike when the temps are in the hundreds but it is not pretty….
I do not glow, I sweat.
So get out and enjoy it!
We went to Woolaroc during their Spring Traders Encampment.
I wanted to make sure we had as much to see as possible.
There was actually too much! This place is huge!
1st stop, Spring Traders Encampment.
So much fun!
I love events like this.
They have a lot of interesting things for sale.
My boys favorite things are the weapons of course…
I want a hiland cow!
So cute!
We of course took advantage of their nature trails.
They were very nice!
There are a couple of miles of trails.
One of our last stops was the museum.
It was very large with a lot to see.
There really is something for everyone!
It is located 12miles south west of Bartlesville, Ok.
Totally worth the drive!
The Jenks Herb & Plant Festival is coming up!
April 28th.
If you cannot make that one, Sand Springs has one on 21st of this month also.
They are fun and smell so good!
I love Lavender.
I dream of owning a field of it one day.
When my kids can take care of it…
These spices smelled amazing!
The boys loved these puppets.
Get out and enjoy some festivals!
I mentioned this trail in this post.
I could not just leave it at that though. I needed to go!
I am so glad I did.
It is a beautiful place.
Why do I not go here all the time?
We went a while ago when my youngest was still a baby.
Look at those little chubby cheeks!
When did he get so big?
I love swampy places.
Nice easy path’s.
An animal blind.
We might have seen some if I had not accidentally knocked one of the windows closed with a crash.
Beautiful way to end a weekend.
We got up at 5am on Saturday to start our trip west.
I was hoping to get to the Great Salt Plains State Park before the sun was too harsh.
I love my pillow too much to have made it there for the actual sunrise.
It is a 3 hour drive from our house to get there.
We started on the northern side of the Salt Plains at the Sandpiper Trail.
I love this place.
It is a pretty short, easy trail.
Less then a mile total.
I think it is just beautiful.
Next we went to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.
There are trails to walk and an Auto Tour.
This is a short trail that is right off the Auto Tour road.
I am really glad I never saw the movie The Birds.
I have only seen commercials for it and still all these birds flying in massive groups made me slightly uneasy.
Thanks, Alfred Hitchcock.
Next we went to the Sod House Museum.
It is pretty close to the Salt Plains and I have been wanting to see it.
They built the museum around it!
I love history and grew up reading westerns so I was fascinated to see what I have read so much about.
They did say that mud daubers and non-poisonous snakes were thought to be a good thing because they killed mice, rats, and spiders.
So they lived with you…
I do not think I could handle that.
Next door to the Sod House is the Little Sahara State Park.
I have been wanting to see this for a while.
It is mostly for ATV’s and that sort of thing but we did find a small walking path to look around some.
Lot’s of playing going on.
We could not stay and watch too long because someone(me) did not put sunscreen on anybody!
I burned…
My skin sees sun peek through the clounds and it turns red.
This is my youngest philosophy on life.
Fling yourself as fast as you can and don’t worry about falling until it happens.
He actually does not care if he falls.
He would do it again the same way.
Last stop, Gloss Mountain State Park.
We actually went there pretty recently but I could not help stopping while in the area!
I thought the people going up the steps gave it a nice sense of scale.
This was actually taken by Nick!
I took some also but did not like them as much.
This little guy had a full photo shoot while we were there.
He has not paid yet…
I love how diverse Oklahoma is!
So much to see!
While visiting family in Indiana, my husband and I went to McCormick’s Creek to hike.
It is a great park and I am not sure why I do not go more often while in the area.
First we took trail 5.
I think the last time I was on this trail I was 16!
I remembered some stuff, like being scared stiff about going through the wolf cave.
Unfortunately it was closed this time.
I was so happy, I mean sad.
It is the Wolf Cave trail and is a pretty easy loop.
Around 2 miles total.
I think there was only one creek crossing on this trail.
Across from trail 5 is these steps…
What goes down must come up.
Those were my thoughts as I went down, down, down.
We wanted to get on trail 10 but took a little detour first.
That is what usually happens when I have the map.
I get turned around easily.
I think our hike was somewhere around 3 miles.
We took 2 to get to 10.
I call it the scenic route.
When we finally got on trail 10 there were a lot of water crossings.
It seemed like that was all we did.
I did not mind though.
I would have minded if I had fallen.
Thankfully I did not.
It was a miracle really.
You do not have to cross this.
He was just showing off.
Then came the moment I was dreading.
We had already gone down these, up, and down another set of stairs at this point.
My legs were begging me to find another way.
I tried to jog up but that only lasted 6 steps.
I kept saying over and over, “I want to be a contender!”.
I have never seen Rocky, so it always confuses me when I try to make a reference to the movie.
I am sure Nick found it adorable though.
Sure.
Any Hoosier’s our there?
Go to this park and run up the stairs humming the rocky theme song for me!
The Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge is located around Okmulgee.
The walking and hiking paths are south of town.
There are three different ones to choose from but I cannot remember the names and the lettering is too small to read on the map they have on their site. So I only know the name of the one we went on.
This time we went on the trail farthest south on their map called the Railroad Trail River Overlook.
It leads to a observation deck overlooking a river.
It is only 1/2 mile to the overlook but we kept going after that and walked around the refuge.
Playing ring around the Rosie in a clover field.
I love Oklahoma sunsets.
There is a short trail right off 75 that just goes to a lake and another one that is stroller and wheelchair friendly.
The stroller friendly one is the boardwalk trail.
Sorry I do not have all the trail names!!!
It is a beautiful place to go and if you are quiet you might see some wildlife.
We first went to Ouachita National Forest in 2007.
I was about 6 or 7months along with our second at the time so we did a nice easy walk at the Kerr Nature Center.
I fell in love.
We went back the next year with two little ones and hiked Horsethief Springs.
It was beautiful!
I love driving the Talimena Scenic Drive.
The fall is the best time for that in my opinion.
This is in Oklahoma people!
It is gorgeous!
I went in 2011 with a friend of mine.
We did the Winding Stair Mt. hike for a couple miles.
You need to get out and visit this beautiful forest!
Take the Talimena Drive and enjoy living in a beautiful state!
We first went to Robbers Cave State Park in 2008.
The cave area is a lot of fun, with lots of rocks to climb, and trails to explore.
We went back in 2009 and had my oldest little man walk for a lot of it.
We took the trail that goes up past Lake Carlton also that time.
The climb was a little intense but we made it to the top!
I wanted to give up several times though…
My husband and I went in 2011 by ourselves for our Anniversary.
More about that, here.
I think I look really sporty in the above picture but in truth I was getting down.
Nick was backing up to take a picture and I thought he was leaving me…
Then I felt silly.
My husband and I recently visited again all by ourselves.
It always feels odd coming to this park without the kids because they love to climb so much.
We checked out the cave area again then took one of the trails leading off around the cave.
It was pretty short, I think around a mile.
If you do the whole loop it is closer to three.
Then we went over to the area around the Nature center. If you drive North of the center you will see a bridge with a Gazebo and some board walk. It has a great little nature trail that would be really fun for little kids.
It is only about 2.5hrs south of Tulsa, so take your kids, get out, and explore!
We visited the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge while up in Minnesota visiting family this Christmas.
On the friday before Christmas we went with my husbands parents, some of my nephew’s and my niece.
Be sure to visit the visitor center if you have kids.
They have a lot of stuff to touch and lot’s of buttons to push.
My husband and I decided to go back the next morning to hike the Old Indian Trail.
The brochure says that it is approximately 2 miles.
Our GPS said it was close to 3 miles.
It is a nice easy trail that goes through some beautiful woods.
Beaver Lodge.
We “had” to get out on the ice for a couple shots.
See, I needed this shot.
There are more trails to go on but some of them are only open Sept-Feb.
If you live in the area you really need to check this place out!
The animals are waiting for you to come see them!
