Category Archives: Wildlife Preserve/Reserve

Simple, Beautiful Moments

I have been focusing more lately on savoring all of those beautiful little moments that make up life and last Sunday was filled with them.

boardwalk

We visited the Deep Fork Wildlife Refuge in Okmulgee after church.

turtles

The sun was shining, the kids ran, it was beautiful.

boardwalk2

path

snakes

animalblind2

animalblind

railroadtrail

Nick and I held hands as we walked on the Railroad Trail to the River Overlook.

I just kept sighing.

That moment was perfect.

himandme

This man is amazing.

bubbles

We came home and the air filled with the sounds of kids laughing as the day faded away.

boys

Of course the day was filled with normal stuff also, correction, fighting, and so on, but I feel like that stuff just makes the beautiful moments stand out even more.

hang

swing

Kids playing on a rope swing while the sun sets behind them.

I did not want to go inside and make dinner.

I felt like I would miss something.

Life is filled with so many beautiful moments, I want to cherish as many as I can.

Day 2~Mt. Nebo, Holla Bend, and Petit Jean, Arkansas

We started off the second day of our stay at Mount Nebo State Park with the Bench Trail.

mt.neboday2

We again hopped on the summit trail from our cabin and took it down to the bench trail.

summittraildown

Lot of down…

tree

fernlake

Fern Lake, I believe.

trailbench

When we actually got on the bench trail things got a little uncomfortable.

I had no problem with little pests the evening before and thought the bench trail was a little lower but just as open as the Rim Trail.

It is not.

springs

It has many springs, which probably should have clued me in.

I got eaten alive.

Mosquito’s love me.

I thought it was pretty ironic since this same thing happened on our honeymoon hike and we were celebrating our 10yr anniversary.

benchoverlook

I think I could have done without the nostalgia.

look

Here we are enjoying open spaces(less blood suckers) at the Bench Overlook.

nick

I am his natural bug repellent.

They love me so much they leave him alone…

us

We decided to go ahead and finish if they were not as bad after this.

They did let up.

The gnats moved in.

I think I could have done without this trail but that is okay.

We usually have one flop every once in a while.

benchtrail2

turtlefight

We did get to see these two little guys trying to duke it out so it was not a total loss!

We watched them for a while and then I followed one of them around on my hands and knees while shooting a video.

It is one of my favorite videos I have done.

Totally worth the crawling around.

refugesign

After the bench trail we drove over to the Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge.

It is only about 20+mins east of Mt. Nebo.

It does have a small entry fee but there was a fishing tournament going on so it was free for us!

hollabend

I was hoping to get there early morning or late evening since that is the best time to view animals but there was a storm coming so we went right away which ended up being late morning.

We did see a massive black snake(no picture) and a deer though!

green

We stopped and walked along the Levee Trail.

It was really pretty.

leveetrail

I really like tree tunnels.

me

turtlephotog

This little guy was in the road so we stopped to take a look.

hollabendturtle

safe

We moved him off the road before we drove on.

viewing

We stopped at a lookout tower that looked over a lake.

waterfowl

shirtless

withdad

After we were done at the wildlife refuge we headed to Petit Jean State Park(another 20+mins east).

overlooktrail

We stopped at the Cedar Falls Overlook and ended up taking the Cedar Creek Trail to the Rock House Cave Trail from there.

We did not have a map and were hoping that it would lead to the bottom of the falls.

It did not but it did take us to the Rock House Cave!

iceboxcave

I had no clue about this place when I planned our trip!

I just knew that I wanted to go to Petit Jean for some reason(I read about a lot of trails).

Petit Jean State Park is also Arkansas first State Park.

cavepaint

If you look carefully in the back of the cave(technically a rock outcropping) on the ceiling are some really old cave paintings!

drawing

They ones we saw were red but very faded.

iceboxcave2

We then started the hike back.

There is parking right near the cave also.

climb

It was a pretty short hike(1 mile) but hot and we did not bring water so I was pretty happy to see the vehicle.

We headed to the visitor center and then to an overlook drive.

I saw that a thunderstorm was heading our way so we hurried to the Mather Lodge and Cedar Falls Trailhead right after that.

cedarfalls2

It is only 2 miles round trip but can be pretty strenuous.

cedarfalls3

It is worth the hike to see the 95 foot waterfall!

climbwaterfall

They do not allow swimming at the falls but the park ranger told me that you can go behind it.

Nick took the boys while I sat and took pictures.

I knew I had a bit of a trip back up waiting for me and a storm coming so I did not add to it…

waterfall2

When they started heading back I checked the radar and then started putting anything I could into ziplock bags, including my camera.

No pictures of the climb back up.

rain

We did not beat the rain.

We were almost to the top when it started hailing!

The boys decided we should run up the rest of the way.

They are better at uphill than I am.

hail

We got wet but everything that needed to stay dry did so it was a good hike.

sunset

We headed back to our cabin for dinner and then I went to watch the sunset.

sunsetgrass

sunsetfeet

sunset2

sunsetcabin

All in all it was a fun, gorgeous day, and I got to do everything I wanted to.

I would recommend lots of bug spray if you are going to take the Bench Trail though.

Day 3(our final day) next!

Wilson Trail, Keystone Ancient Forest ~Prue, OK

trailAfter we heard that the Keystone Ancient Forest had a new trail open we decided to go check it out.

We had gone last year when everything was dormant and were not sure it was for us because the trails were just too easy.

treesThe Wilson Trail was listed as very rugged though so we were pretty hopeful.

trailentranceTo get to the start of the Wilson Trail you first need to go on the Chandler Trail and then the Frank Trail.

The Wilson Trail is on the left where the fire access road and the Frank Trail intersect.

wilsontrailIt is a .90 mile loop.

wilsonwarningI thought the warning sign was good.

We really like rugged trails.

trailwoods

rocksIt started dropping and having a lot of rocks.

In other words, fun!

rocks2

goingdown

rocky

beautifulThis was an absolutely beautiful trail.

day12I did not want to leave.

Plop a cabin right on the that hillside for me and I would be happy as a clam(why is a clam happy?).

happy

upWhat goes down…

trailmarker

rockwall

sunlightWe will definitely go on this one again!

theway

mapWe went ahead and went to the end of the Frank Trail, it ends at an overlook with information about Washington Irving’s exploration of the area.

ringneckedThis little Ring-Necked Snake was sunning on the trail.

study

Yes, I laid on the ground with the snake to get a shot…

onthegroundSince we did all three trails we ended up with over 4 miles total.

They are only open on Saturday’s so be sure to check out their site before you head out.

 If you want something easy be sure to check out the Childers Trail, it is paved and only .60 miles.