Category Archives: Parks

Robbers Cave State Park ~Wilburton, OK

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!

Devil’s Den State Park, Arkansas

I have wanted to go to Devil’s Den State Park for a couple years now, I had heard it had great hiking.

I finally made it out there and the best part was that a friend watched my boys!

That is right, just Nick and I.

This meant I wanted a harder hike. We do a lot of easier hikes with the boys.

We chose the Butterfield Hiking Trail.

It is a 15 mile backpacking trail that goes into the National Forest also.

Because it does not stay inside the park you have to fill out paperwork before hiking so head to the park office and be prepared with your license plate number.

It might take a while to fill out the paperwork. It took 20-30min. to get everything squared away for us.

It was a really busy day at the park though and the park ranger that helped us spent 15min talking about the trail.

We did finally get going though!

We obviously did not take the bridge across.

We did not do want to do the whole 15 mile loop so we cut across one of the horse trails.

The part of the Butterfield we hiked (northern section) was pretty rocky but the horse trail was extremely so.

Really hard on your feet.

 

We did about 6 miles and had a pretty good time.

I do not know if I will go to this park again any time soon because of all the hassle with the paperwork and the amount of people.

It was packed.

We did go on fall break weekend though.

Maybe if you went when the weather was not so nice or a weekday it would not be so crowded?

Once we got about a mile out we hardly saw anyone so the hike itself was pretty quiet.

 

If you go on the Butterfield be mindful that they are not always consistent with their trail blazes/markers.

Sometimes we just guessed which way to go.

All that said, it was a beautiful hike and I had I a great time ALONE with Nick!

 

Gloss Mountain State Park ~Oklahoma

At the Gloss Mountain State Park.

There is a hiking trail that leads up on top of Cathedral Mountain.

The only difficult part of this hike is getting up the stairs. It is nice and flat after that.

The trail is under 2 miles in length and is the only trail that I know of in the park.

My little climbers.

Beautiful view.

My boys realized that mommy was too close to the edge.

I am klutzy, I think they have figured that out about me already.

I actually stayed far away from the edge. I have found that when I take a picture anywhere near a ledge I feel like I am falling.

Not a pleasant sensation.

I made them come back so Nick could carry my extra lens for me.

I am awesome like that…

Why is it that boys always find playing in dirt to be the highlight of any time spent outside?

We are on top of a Mountain (albeit a small one) and still they just want to dig in the dirt.

What is he looking at?

This little guy.

The poor little thing was scared.

The sunlight started to do amazing things.

I could have stayed up there until the sun was completely gone.

Of course, then I would be stuck on top of a mountain with a spider in the dark…

The plaque talked about the naming of the mountain and the confusion about the name.

I really enjoyed visiting this park.

That being said, it is a very short hike so for next time I will plan on doing other things in the area before going here.

Here is a list of a couple places I want to visit for the next time:

Great Salt Plains State Park

Sod House Museum

Little Sahara State Park

I loved being at the Gloss Mountains at sunset so I will probably save it for last.

Get out and enjoy where you live!