Backpacking/Hiking in Oklahomaaaaa

[SiGArmed]

Kbolt has inspired me to make this thread.

Needless to say I've always had an interest in backpacking/hiking and wondered what people's experience was here in the great state of Oklahoma. Im like, 100% amateur at this being my only experience is Army training and field exercises, etc.

Cliffs:

Want to hike/backpack.
Where you go/been?
Tips?

 

[SMS]

Check out the Charon's Garden Wilderness area down in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge...remote enough to get away from the masses (only 10 people are allowed to overnight in the backcountry area at a time) yet close enough to civilization to test out your gear and 'get your hiking legs'.

Tips?

Get a good topo (even though Charon's Garden is probably small enough to use dead reckoning and visual navigation), but don't trust the 'blue lines' for water sources...nearly every blue line in Charon's Garden was empty. Bring a filter AND purifying solution to refill off puddles and pools

 

[Old Fart]

Check out the OK. tourism site.

Another great hike is the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas.
For the most part there is water available all year.
Just be sure and have a good filter.
There is some spectacular scenery on it.
Especially this time of year.

 

[BadgeBunny]

You haven't lived until you have hiked the Kiamichi Mountain Wilderness area. This would be a good time of year for it ... the foliage must be spectacular right now.

For me that was 30 years ago so I don't have any current info. The Tourism Guide would be the first place I would look though.

 

[Old Fart]

You haven't lived until you have hiked the Kiamichi Mountain Wilderness area. This would be a good time of year for it ... the foliage must be spectacular right now.

For me that was 30 years ago so I don't have any current info. The Tourism Guide would be the first place I would look though.

Man that brings back some memories.
<Spell Check> San Bois mountains down there are where we used to get away and BB is correct absolutely lovely down there.
Where I met my first mountain man.

 

[Poke78]

Check out the OK. tourism site.

Another great hike is the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas.
For the most part there is water available all year.
Just be sure and have a good filter.
There is some spectacular scenery on it.
Especially this time of year.

A combo OK-AR hike in SE OK is Ouachita National Recreation Trail that starts at the Talimena State Park near Talihina OK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouachita_National_Recreation_Trail

 

[kdlong]

You haven't lived until you have hiked the Kiamichi Mountain Wilderness area. This would be a good time of year for it ... the foliage must be spectacular right now.

For me that was 30 years ago so I don't have any current info. The Tourism Guide would be the first place I would look though.

If anyone is interested the trees are really starting to change.I think the peak will probably hit in the next week or so if we have any hard freezes soon.there are slot of hiking trails along winding stair mountain now.be sure and take something to keep the bears at bay. there is slot of them around now.

 

[jcbarlow]

I have always gone to Arkansas to hike with my brother. I can't tell you exactly where we always go but it is beautiful and (almost) mountainous.

 

[sesh]

I've done portions of both the Ozark Highlands and the Ouachita trails. Absolutely georgeous scenery. I agree with getting some good topo maps, I put mine on gps. I also recommend buying a forest service map of the areas, they usually show established campgrounds where you will absolutely have water. I plan most of my trips around water. There are creeks and springs along the way but there's no guarantee you'll run into them every day so make sure and scout it out and carry plenty of water with you. I've been backpacking and hiking all over the Rockies and I will tell you that there are portions of the Ouachita Trail that will test your endurance every bit as much as some places I've been out west.
Also, good footwear is a must. I won't make recommendations on brand or anything but if you are going for several days at a time, make sure the boots have a good stiff sole on them. After a few days of having rocks *** into the bottom of your feet it will fell like someone was stabbing your feet all day.
Just FYI on some shorter stuff that I like to do with the kids, Robber's Cave has a decent trail system and you can camp in "backcountry", and Greenleaf State Park has a good trail system for short trips and you rarely see anyone.
Have fun!

 

[ez bake]

Oklahoma is perfect for day hiking and even has some areas for a 2-3 day backpacking session, but nothing really hardcore.

Here's a few to get you started:

Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge - There's a lot of cool (what I call) "Nevada-style mountains" over there - very little trees and a lot of canyon/cliff rocky areas to hike in. I don't think you can backpack camp in the cliff area very often (its by permission and they don't like a lot of traffic in there over night), but its pretty cool for day hikes.

Quartz Mountain State Park - This place is cool and you can free-hike up on the mountains. There's a huge state park below and an awesome lake (and a lodge, RV hookups, cabins, tent-camping, etc...), so its not secluded or anything, but the mountains are pointy nevada-style mountains (very little trees/brush - open view at the tops of all the mountains). Watch for rattle snakes.

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Love this place - sort of smaller (south of Hinton) and its a state park, so its not too exciting, but you can get up on the canyon rim and free-hike. Really only a day-hike's worth of hiking, but there's also some repelling in the middle of the park.

Winding Stair National Forest / Ouchita National Forest - Winding Stair Campground is a nice out of the way tent-camping area, but you can hike up and down the trails all the way into Arkansas. This area has what I call "Ozark-style mountains" with a lot of tree cover and good nature to look at, but there are places to poke through and look out over the landscape every now and then. If you want to do a 3-5 day hike, this is one of the few places to do it with actual trails in OK - there are lots of horse-trails around the area so be sure to hook up with a game ranger and get a map with all the trails or you risk getting crossed into a trail that's not on the hiker's maps. There is a dedicated backpackers campground near Winding Stair's tent-camping facility.

Robber's Cave - Has a trail that goes all the way around the park and its good for a day-long or overnight backpack (don't start too early or you'll just make the entire loop in a day). The cave-side of the park is cool to spend some time playing around in, but its not that large. They have a dedicated backpackers camp-site too, but its not much. Also beware of the water in this area as there are a lot of horses and animals in the area near the lake so filtering probably isn't enough by itself - use chlorine tablets or boil / use iodine (bleh).


Devil's Den (in Arkansas) - few trails and pretty good for a day-hike maybe an overnight backpacking session. Lots of cool stuff to look at.

Petite Jean State Park (Arkansas) - very cool place with quite a bit of trails and some nice camping - be sure to go all the way around the flat-top mountain looking for trails as there are some pretty cool spots out of the way.

Mount Magazine State Park (Arkansas) - Lots of good stuff to do around there too - staying in a Cabin on the edge of the mountain and waking up in the morning and going out and getting into the hot-tub first thing is an experience like no other - one of my favorite family camping spots and plenty of day-hiking trails.

Mount Nebo State Park (Arkansas) - Very small, but more than a few trails to get you up and down the mountain. They do hang-gliding off of the mountain and if you're there when they are doing it, its very cool to see.