Tag Archives: Keystone Lake

Hiking

5 hikes around lake Keystone

03/22/2022 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

Two Rivers Trail

Just over two miles, this trail has easy parts and difficult parts.

This was one of the more difficult sections.

It is a fun hike though, right on the lake!

2. Ranger Trail ~Keystone State Park

A nice easy loop trail, it is just over a mile long but Keystone State Park is part of the Park pass system so there is a fee.

3. Keystone Mountain Bike Trail

You can do the large loop for over 4 miles or the smaller loop for 2 miles (that is what we did), there are other trails also that can cut it shorter I believe.

I have gotten lost here in the past but this time used the AllTrails app and it worked great! I love hiking here, a nice beautiful hike that still has enough challenges it feels like a hike 😉

This is right across from the Keystone State Park but is not part of the fee area so no charge to park there.

4. Falls Trail ~Keystone Ancient Forest

A difficult trail it is 3.5 miles long but takes around 1.5 miles to get to it from the parking lot.

My youngest had trouble finishing this hike but thankfully her brothers kept her distracted.

I would image that the waterfalls are only really there after some rain, there were not really any falls when we went this time.

Bonus ~ Wilson Hike at Keystone Ancient Forest

It is only 1 mile long but you have to hike on the Frank trail to get to it. The Frank Trail is a moderate hike though and less than a mile to reach the Wilson Trail, the Wilson Trail is difficult but beautiful. They also have other trails there but check to make sure they are open before going. They are usually only open on the weekends.

5. Washington Irving Trail

This is a very easy out and back trail that is just over a mile.

They have signs throughout the trail giving information about the area but some of them are too messed up to read.

We did all of these trails last week while we stayed in our trailer nearby and really enjoyed them!

I would love to live closer to this area to take advantage of all the great hiking every day!

Hiking, Recreation Area

1st Day Hike! ~2018

01/18/2018 Danielle Huddleston 4 Comments

Because it was cold, I ended up only taking one hiking with me this year for the first hike.

We went to the Washington Irving Scenic Trail at Washington Irving South Recreation Area.

The recreation area does have a $5 day use fee.

This swimming beach looks beautiful.

We did run into some sand burs while walking around though so you would want to be careful near the grass at all.

Ice!

The trail was located on the north side of the park.

It was a little hard for us to find but it is a pretty small park so not too bad.

There is a parking lot right next to the trail.

Some of the trail markers might be hard to find.

I liked reading the little bits of history along the trail.

Taking along another photographer was so fun!

It was hard to read this sign but it said something about treasure hidden in a cave that is now under Lake Keystone.

I tried to convince my son to brave the freezing temps and find the money for his Dad’s retirement…

He did not care about his parents happiness apparently.

The ice probably helps insulate it so that if he dove down it would be warm…

We lost the trail at this point.

I had already heard from someone else that it kind of disappears.

We ended up turning around so round trip was just over a mile.

I am so used to hiking with 5 kids.

This hike was so QUIET.

It was a nice way to start the year.

We saw a lot of deer!

Do you participate in the 1st day hike?

If not do you have another fun tradition for the 1st day of the year?

You can check out my video to see what the trail is like.

Hiking

Keystone Mountain Bike & Hiking Trail ~Keystone Lake, OK

05/30/2014 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

I asked my husband if we could hike the Keystone trail so I could get new pictures to do an updated blog post.

We visit this trail a couple times a year but recently we have been running it so I do not bring my camera.

It was nice to go through it at a little slower pace last Saturday.

The parking lot is located across from the Keystone State Park.

I realized when we pulled up that it can be a little hard to find unless you already know what you are looking for so I took a picture of the entrance.

Once you pull into the parking lot there are two main entrances to the trail system.

We usually do a loop so it does not really matter which way we go.

There is a map at the travelok.com site to help you out though.

This was one of the earlier hikes my husband and I did when we first got married, almost 10yrs ago!

We had gotten turned around a bit and went longer than intended(at least that is what I was told).

I remember thinking I was going to die…

My face was all red(I do not glisten, I sweat, and turn into a tomato) and I was breathing really hard.

My husband barely broke a sweat.

He almost got a rock thrown at him when at the very end he said “Hey! I am starting to sweat!”.

We were at slightly different fitness levels.

I fared better during this hike, it is nice to know I am in better shape than I once was.

There is an easy loop for beginners(green).

It is a stacked loop system with 8miles of trail total with the longest uninterrupted loop(with portions of each loop) being around 5 miles.

We saw two turtles nesting while out!

I had never seen this before!

Portions of the trail are really rocky so I try to make sure I have sturdy boots when hiking there.

I think the difficulty rating is geared more towards bikers but I am not one hundred percent sure on that.

The Expert portion does not seem as difficult as others we have done with a similar rating.

You can avoid brushing up against foliage for most of the trail so we were able to walk away with few if any ticks.

We heard a storm coming but thankfully it was not too bad.

I welcome rain while hiking(I was hot!) but I had not brought a bag for my camera and I do not like to hike in a thunderstorm.

His hair goes curly in the rain.

We ended up with over 5 miles!

Nick had been in China for a week so I was pretty happy to be able to get out and hike a longer hike!

I try to stay away from long hikes when I am alone with the boys.

It felt really good to push myself!

If you live in the area you should check out this trail!

It is a great hike!

If you want to find more local hikes I have made it easy for you.

Check out my Oklahoma board on Pinterest, I included the map feature so you can easily find hikes and events I have done or want to do in the area.