Spring (such as it is)

Snow in May is not totally ridiculous, where I grew up, but it was unusual. But snow in May in Kansas City is pert'near ridiculous. Our lilac blossomed on Tuesday. It was snow-covered this morning.

As far as outdoor recreating goes, it's been a slim 2013. I didn't get my first leisure walk in until April, and only one since.

I want to plug Tulsa's Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness. Fantastic, family-friendly park! I walked the yellow trail, with its big views over the Arkansas River. I'm not sure it's the full 4.4 miles as advertised, but I know I got at least 3.3 miles out of it. Mind the official blazes: mountain bikers are easily bored with just one trail, so there are many unmarked side trails.

I haven't been taking photos, but I did do rough Google Earth sketches of my routes:

The first was a quick walk at Bushwhacker Lake Conservation Area near Lamar, MO. Nice walk. Quail, whitetail, beaver sign, standard SWMO wildlife. The walk along the bluff, and through the bottoms, was the highlight. Don't think of Buffalo River bluffs: these were much less dramatic, but  interesting still. I spent a good deal of the walk meditating on the history of MO/KS Civil War era border fighting. Messy times, which don't easily submit to clean categories. Ain't that history, though?

Here's my walk at Turkey Mountain Park in Tulsa. Top shelf!

What's the (Under)Story, Morning Glory?

Earlier this week I took lunch on the Courtois section of the OT. I started at the Narrows TH, and walked 3.2 miles south, almost reaching Lower Narrows/Chapman Road before dusk, and an unexpected patch of stormy weather, bade me return the way I came.

Of course the highlight of this stretch is the Huzzah Creek overlook. What a fantastic view! A gent could sling a hammock and soak it in all afternoon. I chased a great horned owl along the trail, and provoked a young whitetail to snorting and snuffing at my leaf-crunching ruckus.

A good deal of upper canopy leaves were already shed, but a fun string of yellow and orange understory color lit the whole length of my walk. It reminded me of dogwoods in the spring. The trail catwalks above a few hollows, spreading much of the show below me.

I find some of these photos highly evocative. One of my favorites is near the end: a patch of hickory saplings paw paw trees*, bright yellow, reminds me of a school of fish.



*Thanks to MOTRAILS Danny for the correction.

Paddy Piney Little Big River Creek Trail

I confess that I cannot, to save my life, remember what this place is called. I always want to call it Patty Cake.

But last week I made a morning visit to the Big Piney Trail, walking 1.3 miles up, then back, from the Paddy Creek campground. It's in the Paddy Creek Wilderness. I think. I don't have much by way of trail description or tales of high adventure. I only had time to hoof up to the ridge overlooking the campground, but it was a right pleasant morning walk. The trail has no blazes or trail markers, but it's a well-trodden path, easily navigated with the map from ouachitamaps.com.  I took 10 minutes to perch on the bluff outcrop, noshing a granolee bar, gawking at the autumn blaze of color for miles around.

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.