Miller Peak

What a day!

I got up at 6:30am to walk the dogs at sunrise (7:18am).  As soon as I got home, Kevin and I went out for breakfast at Chuckwagon down the street.  I had my biscuits and gravy and homefries, and even ate Kevin's homefries.  The meal filled me up, but that was the plan, as I was determined to hike up Miller Peak today, my last chance to bag a peak for January. I wanted to start at the southern trailhead from Montezuma's Pass (6575').  I had last bagged Miller from this trailhead with SteveT in April 2017 and with Ellen from Carr Peak in March 2018.  Weather in town was 66F for the high with minimal wind and mostly sunny.

I didn't leave for my hike until after 11am.  On the way to the trailhead, cousin Hank called to let me know that my stepmom Carol is back in the hospital, her fourth admission since August.  I wanted to call Carol before starting my hike, but got no reception at the Montezuma Pass parking lot, from where I began my hike.

I had no idea what to expect.  Would there be a lot of snow on the peaks?  There is snow visible on the eastern slopes when looking from town. Would I even make it in time?   Would I have the strength, stamina and energy to do this hike?  I hadn't done elevation since October 2019, when I hiked up Carr Peak with Nicole and Theresa. I started at 12:03 and this is at least a six-hour hike.  So I decided to hike until 3:30 and turn around if I wasn't at the peak by then.  I put my cellphone on airplane mode to save battery power and took off.

The first two miles from Montezuma's Pass is from a southern direction,  The trail is follows the hill from an eastern exposure.  The grade is comfortable: there is only a 200' elevation gain in the first mile, but then the grade increases to 1000' in the second mile when one passes three closed mine shafts.

I was doing surprisingly well.  My first stop was for Zeke at the highest mine, just below the wilderness sign, where a water trough provided some water.  I brought a gallon for us both, but I always use natural sources first.

The first evidence of snow was just past the wilderness boundary on the eastern slope, but the snow was iced and packed densely, so no postholing needed.  The old pine grove that once stood here is gone, destroyed by the 2011 fire, but a few new pines are coming up!  I won't live to see a new grove, but I enjoy any and all new growth after a fire. The scrub oak that came back after the fire is now about six feet tall and in some places overgrowing the trail.  The oaks were tall enough to give Zeke shade.

My pace was steady.  I wasn't feeling exhausted. At 1:50 hours I was 3.17 miles into the hike and now on the western slopes.  Zeke was looking good, too. I knew then I could bag Miller by 3pm and make it back to the car before sunset.

The last mile to the peak is a rocky section along the western slopes, with a few switchbacks.  Here is where I came across SteveW, a 70-year-old retiree from Skokie, IL.  He had retired in October and took several months to arrive in Sierra Vista, stopping every day to hike somewhere.   He had bagged Miller and was on the descent. I stopped to chat with him for 20 minutes, finding his optimism very infectious.  He praised Zeke for being so well behaved.  I told him his strength and speed would make him a great candidate for the Huachuca Hiking Club.  "Oh, I heard about that club!" Steve smiled, "and was told some of those guys take hiking a bit too seriously!"

Well, yeah, they do.

It was 2:47pm when I finally continued my hike.  The intersection to the peak from the Crest Trail is not that far from where Steve was resting.  I made it to the top at 3:27pm, drank some water, gave Zeke more jerky treats, and turned around.  There was no snow on the peak and just a slight breeze. I had two hours to get back down in daylight.  I could do this!

Clouds were forming and I kept my pace on the descent.  Steve was long gone when I got back to where we had first met, and I couldn't see him on the Lutz Canyon trail when I made it there at the 6.35 mile mark.  The longest stretch of snow was in this small patch of untouched forest, but I must say that I picked a good day to bag Miller.  Hopefully this is the first of 12 monthly peaks this year.

Once I crossed back over to the eastern slopes, I was in the cool shade.  I met one thru-hiker, Colbert, hiking to the wilderness boundary for the day.  He has until March 5th to hike the Arizona Trail and hopes to at least make it to the Mongollon Rim.

At the lower saddle in my final mile, I met up again with Charlie, a thru-hiker i briefly chatted with on the ascent.  I didn't recognize him now as he was bundled up for the cold night temperatures, but we chatted for five minutes.  I managed to take a photo of him before my phone died.  He was also a pleasure to talk to.  Sixty-six years old, he retired from government service in Alexandria, VA and travelled west with his wife for five months, exploring and hiking.  They settled on Sandy, Oregon when the wife developed an illness that required medical attention and the traveling "was no fun anymore."

My Honda was the last car in the parking lot.  The hike had taken me six hours.  Stopping to talk to hikers cost me 30 minutes, but it was so worth it.

It wasn't until after 7pm, while talking with Kevin in bed, that I read that Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant, who just retired  after 20 years with the Lakers, died in a helicopter crash that also killed his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.  The helicopter crashed in dense fog near Calabrasas, CA.

San Pedro River

Time flies when you spend it in bed reading.  At 3pm I finally decided to get active and took all four dogs down to the river.    I wanted to get some distance today.  Yesterday I was down here with Susan and the pack and met Bob on the return stretch, but a dog fight between his dogs Cooper and Baxter, and then Sweetie and Minnie, ruined the peace.   The fight caused cuts on Bob's calf and left hand, but we don't know if my dogs were responsible for his cuts.  I do know Sweetie attacked the older dog Baxter and cut him above his left eye.

So today I would go alone, avoiding any confrontations.  The fight started between Cooper and Baxter over the stick I was throwing and they were retrieving.  Cooper, the spry three-year-old, competes with eight-year-old Baxter.  Bob and I were able to pull the dogs apart by their hind legs, but not before my dogs joined in.  I think they joined in because they wanted to protect me from the other dogs.

I parked at the Casa de San Pedro B&B and walked north along the river for a mile, then got on the official path to what Susan and I call the beaver dam, but from where no beaver dam is visible anymore although the tree damage is.

Dead grass is still overturned and leaning north, all from that winter storm that blew through in late December while I was still in Indiana.

It was overcast and calm and in the low 60s.  I only had my tshirt and hiking shirt on as top, and the jeans I wore yesterday.  I never came across another soul.

It's 1.85 miles to the "beaver dam," where the water is 2-3 feet across the bank.  I stopped here and rested for 15 minutes while the dogs splashed around in the water.  I could hear various birds chirp but only saw hawks and ravens.

Minnie did well on this hike.  Having the water nearby helps her.  Once we got on the path for the return hike, she quickly panted again until I stopped one more time at the river before that final last mile back to the car.

Sweetie has been slowing down this past week.  She is normally up front ahead of the pack, but this past week she has been in the rear with Minnie.  I will try to watch her to make sure she is not suffering from an injury or illness.  She is due a health check and will get that done in March when her shots are all due.

"Wanna go out for breakfast tomorrow?" asked Kevin later in the evening.
"Yes, after I walk the dogs at sunrise.  I'm also wanting to hike up Miller Peak.  I decided to do Miller after a lazy Saturday.  The hiking club went up Mercury Peak in the Whetstones today and I didn't go because I don't have a high-clearance car anymore.  It's a pleasant bushwhack with views of the valley but getting to the trailhead is challenging.

Molino Basin Trail

Oh my, was I feeling weak in the morning!  I was up just before the 7am Reveille.  I had some left-over pizza  while in the car, and then drove to the Molino Basin trailhead , a 35-minute drive. Traffic was light due to the holiday. Weather was forecasted to be breezy and cloudy, but the clouds didn't form until the early afternoon.

I was one of the first cars in the parking lot, but other hikers and mountain bikers quickly followed.  It took me another 45 minutes before I got started, though. The trailhead to the Molino trail isn't well marked at all (the trail begins just past the dip in the road as one enters the campground), so I decided to try the Bellota trail.  The Bellota trail is also part of the Arizona trail and travels Southeast, up over a saddle and then down into a valley.  I made it to the saddle, enjoyed the views of Mica Moutain and Agua Caliente Hill, and then turned around.  I could see the Molino trail from the saddle two miles away.  Had I stayed on the Bellpta trail, I would have had to climb back up over the saddle.

It took me two miles to feel energized.  I had hiked 2.2 miles before even starting on the gentle Molino Basin trail.  This trail, I discovered, is popular with mountain bikers speeding downhill from the north.

A late October fire has burned the south side of this section.  This fire started from a tossed cigarette off the Catalina Highway.  Burned agave and sotol dot the hillside, but luckily damage was restricted.  Water was still flowing in the creek and I encouraged Zeke to drink at every possibility.

A half mile north of the campground one can see a Chevolet Malibu that had rolled off the highway and landed in a narrow ditch.  The car is upright but totalled.  Wonder what the story behind this car is!

I continued the hike on the Soldier Trail a half-mile from the end of the Molino Basin trail, finishing the hike at a vista overlook of Tuscon.  I could hear canyoneers below along the creek, but Zeke and I rested in the shade of an oak.  I had my tangerines, he had his chicken jerky.  The hikes this weekend have tired both Zeke and me.  The return hike was quick in comparison.

Clouds were finally overhead as I headed back home.

I hiked 7.5 miles when I got back to the Honda.  This concluded my long weekend hiking adventure.  Now it was time to head back home and get ready for another workweek. 

Agua Caliente Hill

Distance: 8.5 miles
Elevation gain 2880'
Significance: a challenging hike with vistas

This is one tough hill at 5375.'  I had done this hill back in 2011 with the Huachuca Hiking Club.  All I remember is how steep the last half mile was.  It was time to do it again.  I only wish it was cloudy and cooler for this hike, as this is a very exposed trail.  It was 44F and breezy at the start and 75F and calm when I finished this hike seven hours later.

I got to the trailhead early, parking under a mesquite tree for afternoon shade.  The trailhead has a dedicated parking area with signs. There were already locals coming down the trail when I started my hike at 8:30am.  The trail meanders among the hillside saguaros and quickly ascends.  I knew then that this would be a tiring hike, as the steps up the hill in the first mile are rather steep.

The first two miles are rolling hills.  At 1.7 mile I reached a stockpond,where I rested for 20 minutes to give Zeke a break.  This hike offers little shade and the only shade I had was from the shade casted by the hills in the early morning sun.  There was much less shade later in the day.  At the two-mile mark was more water from a creek and here we stopped again.

Most people I met going out went to the saddle at the three-mile mark.  Only four made it to the summit and two were coming back as I was going out.  From the saddle one can see Agua Caliente Canyon and parts of the hike Steve and I did yesterday.

Agua Caliente Hill is still 1.5 miles from the saddle.  The trail here follows an ascending ridgeline, going around one false summit and then a half-mile along a grassy ridge with more views into the north canyons.

The toughest part of this hike is the last 0.4 miles.  Here the trail is steep and loose rock, requiring one to watch one's step the entire way.  We saw a glistening spring off the trail and this water break was a godsend for Zeke.

It took me 3.5 hours to get to the top.  It was 12:07pm. An ammo box for hikers and a benchmark are here.  I signed my name and then sat in the shade of an oak tree and ate tangerines while Zeke ate chicken jerky.  Another couple rested under another oak tree but they left before I did.  I was tired and knew I needed more energy for the return hike.  It was now warmer and less breezy. I started my return hike at 12:37pm.

I stopped at the spring again on the return hike and then took a forward fall when I got back to the trail, cutting up both hands, my right knee, and ripping my jeans.  Luckily no permanent damage, but I sure did cuss a lot at this point.

I stopped at all the same water spots on the return hike.  Zeke was tired, too.  The crowds from the morning were now gone, although two young men were heading out as I was nearing the parking lot.

My thighs were sore.  I was relieved to be back at the car and I'm sure so was Zeke, who went straight to the back of the Honda.  My next destination was Old Chicago Pizza and Pub on North Campbell as I was very hungry.

I like Old Chicago.  My first visit at this chain was on New Year's Eve in Merrillville, IN.  The location in Tucson is larger but offers the same food.  Only the craft beer list is different as this chain focuses on local craft beer.  I got the medium deep dish pizza offered to birthday people and requested the Veggie 7 toppings.  The pizza was big enough for two people!  I sat at the bar between two your women who shared photos of their cats.  One was from Minnesota, the other from Iowa.  I joined in the conversation, but I didn't share any photos from my phone.  The Green Bay Packers were playing the Kansas City Chiefs for the Superbowl semi-finals, which is perhaps why the restaurant was crowded.  I found the conversation about cats more interesting. The Chiefs won so now they will be playing the San Francisco 49ers for the Superbowl in two weeks.

There are a lot of interesting restaurants on North Campbell Avenue.  After my filling meal I went to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for the night.  The RV park was full, so I found a dark and secluded spot in the Lodging parking lot where I went to sleep right away.  It was a warm night but I slept well all night long.

La Milagrosa/Agua Caliente Canyons Loop hike (Tucson)

The three-day weekend is here!  I have a few hikes planned in the Tucson area.

I took all the dogs on a quick 1.5-mile hike before taking off with Zeke to Tucson.  While I wanted a weekend of solitude, today's hike was with Steve and his dog Trace.  I stopped by his place and we drove in separate cars to the first hike in the northeast side of Tucson.  We drove separately because he had to drive back to his place afterwards.  And because of this, when we got to Houghton Road, the most eastern major north-south road in the greater Tucson area, Steve parked his car in the southern Walmart parking lot and rode the rest of the way with me.  This way he saved gas driving another 16 miles one way to the trailhead.

We got to the trailhead at 12:40.  The trailhead is on a residential street and there were plenty of cars out.  It was a perfect day for this hike, with temps in the upper 60s. There are no signs indicating that this is the way to the canyon.  One simply must know it's there.  This is why I like the Alltrails app so much: the directions to trailheads is accurate.

The first 0.6 mile is straight east.  Dogs were on their leashes until we got to the single track.  Most hikers seem to take the northern route out and back.  We crossed the Agua Caliente creek at the mile mark and then quickly ascended among the saguaro up the big hill.  Steve kept a steady pace and I made sure I had him in sight.  He doesn't do well on uphills.  And while I had done this loop once before many years ago with the hiking club, I remembered nothing from this southern loop at all.  All I remember were the scenic vistas and drops into the canyons.  There is plenty of up and down on this hike.

After the second mile there is also water for the dogs, beginning at a creek near the top of the first hill, and then a stock pond that both dogs enjoyed.  There were plenty of other dog walkers out today.

The high point on this hike is the first big ridge and hill.  From there one can see both canyons and the glistening water trickling from the creek beds.  The trail that continues on to Agua Caliente Hill, tomorrow's hike, is also here.  From this cairn intersection, the loop trail goes downhill to the creek for the next mile, meandering slowly down.  I remembered this being a watering hole, but perhaps we weren't along the creek far enough.  Water was shallow and easily forded.  If we hadn't had such a late start, resting here for an hour would have been ideal, but we had two hours of daylight left and three miles to go.  At the pace we were going, we would make it back to the pavement at sunset (5:34pm)

The northern section of this loop is lower in elevation.  Hiking this loop counter-clockwise was a wise decision on Steve's part, as this section was easier on all of us.  There was also more water for the dogs.  This section dipped briefly into the creek before rising up a second time, before finally descending into the neighborhood.  Other hikers and mountain bikers were also rushing back before dark.

I had been ahead of Steve the entire hike, stopping or slowing down to allow him to catch up.  But on the last stretch, where the singletrack becomes a wide dirt road, I did not make sure he was still behind me.  He made a turn to the south and crossed the creek again. He should have stayed west on the wide path.  This error delayed us by 15 minutes, which meant we got back to the Honda at 6:20pm.  The good thing from this was witnessing a nice sunset. My car was the last car on the street.

Steve wanted to treat me to a birthday meal, so I suggested Hops and Grill, a sports bar/ beer pub on Houghton and Broadway.  This way we wouldn't need to drive another 15 miles back into Tucson.  There are plenty of good restaurants on Tucson's east side and I had been to the Hops and Grill before and had a positive experience.

Tonight the sports bar was busy, though, although it wasn't as loud as it could have been for a Saturday night.  I had a Mushroom Chicken sandwich and three beers, while Steve had a bland-looking order of nachos that only had ground beef and jalapenos and fake orange cheese in it. It had no pico de gallo, the picante sauce that really give nachos its zest.

We were at the Hops and Grill for 90 minutes.  I was full now and despite the three beers, feeling fine.  Steve and I went our separate ways by 9pm and I didn't even leave the Walmart parking lot until after 10pm

Storms across the nation

January so far has been very active across the country.  I'm so glad I didn't have to deal with snow and ice on my drive to Chicagoland over the Christmas holiday.  All the treacherous weather came a week later.  The Midwest is especially affected.  As for us here in southern Arizona, today was a very wet day all day long.  Thick clouds covered the sky from before sunrise that lasted well past sun set.  It was a cold, damp day. Others may complain about the wet cold, but I enjoy them.  Our mountains need the water.

Despite all that, I still took the dogs out for a walk after school along the maintenance road, managing 3.25 miles under a very slight drizzle.  The wind picked up but we still made our goal.

Weather this weekend looks to be sunny again, but I hope Tucson gets clouds so that I can do two very challenging hikes.  I'll spend the night in Tucson at the air force base.

South Fork of Cave Creek, Chiricahua Mtns

Today was my final drive home.  I opted to stop in the Chiricahua Mountains and do a quick hike of at least four miles before continuing on home. I had forgotten how beautiful this mountain range is.  Snow was still obvious in the higher peaks when I turned off NM80 to get to the eastern trails off Portal Road. 

It had been over ten years since I last hiked this trail with Kevin and dogs Sara and Sammy.  The 2011 Horseshoe fire and then 2014 flooding from Hurricane Odile have changed the character of this trail quite a bit.  The creekbed by the trailhead is much wider and rockier now . Volunteers are still working on removing snags and fortifying the river's many boulders.  In the summer this is still a popular trail for birders looking for the Elegant Trogon as one hikes among the oaks, sycamores, ash, maples and pines and high crags envelope the canyon.  In the winter it's best to turn around when snow and ice make hiking treacherous.

My Alltrails app says this is a 4.1 mile hike.  This mileage is roundtrip to the intersection with the Burro Trail at the two-mile mark, which turns left and meanders uphill.  I stayed along the creek.  The original trail continued for almost seven miles to the Crest Trail, but now the upper reaches are still badly damaged.

I started at 8:06am when it was 27F.  The sun was just starting to light up the tops of the crags, but the canyon was chilly and shadowed. Rocks in the creek were still iced over, so fording the creek was quite a challenge.  Icicles hung off the rock walls. I wasn't dressed for a serious hike, thinking I'd get the four miles done within two hours.  I even left the backpack in the Honda. Ha!  I ended up logging in 8.3 miles in 4:54 hours.  The many snags and overgrowth in the last mile slowed me down even more.  Snow was two to three inches deep in the shade. I turned around when the trail got too overgrown and started to climb.  It was approaching 60F when I was done.  On a warm summer months with more sunlight and warmth, this trail would be more enjoyable. There are still original sections of the trail in the higher elevations.

I didn't come across anyone until on my return hike, when I met two Coromado Nationl Forest volunteers who were sawing through blowdowns.  By now the sun was high enough to warm up the lower section of the trail, melting the ice on the protruding creek rocks and lighting up the forest.  I stopped and chatted with these two men and somehow the topic of craft beer came up.  I didn't want to take time away from them, thanked them for volunteering, and the in quick succession met two women, one single man, a group of three older women and a scared wired-hair terrier.  I was the first car in the parking lot, but there was at least seven cars when I got back and many more people just walking along the forest trail.

What had been intended to be a two-hour hike ended up being a long five hour hike.  I didn't come home until 4:15pm.  Zeke was happy to be with his pack again and the other dogs were excited about finally going on a walk again.  I couldn't disappoint them, so I reluctantly took them all down the maintenance road for a quick 1.8-mile walk.  The stock pond off the maintenance road is still very full.  Minnie got a few laps in the water as I threw sticks into the water for her to fetch.   I had logged in just over ten miles today and my calves felt it.

Christmas break is over.  It's back to school tomorrow.  I started the first weekend of 2020 with a decent hike.  May there be many more!

http://www.chiricahuatrails.com/trails/south-fork-trail-243

Turkey Mountain Urban Park and Route 66

I like stopping in Joplin.  The town has every big restaurant chain and plenty of local diners to chose from.  It also has a pretty section of Route 66. But today I just stopped at McDonald's because I like their cappuccinos.  I had plenty of leftovers from my time in IN to consume for the rest of the day.

It was considerably colder in the morning.  Winter was back.  The drive-through lane at McDonald's snaked around the building.  I needed my lowfat milk cappuccino flavored with hazelnut syrup.  NPR news talked about the assassination by drone of Iranian QUDS military commander Quassim Sulaimi, commander of the elite Quds forces and mastermind of recent terrorist attacks in Syria and Iraq.  While he did focus on ISIS troops, Trump said he needed to be dealt with because he was planning a big attack on American forces.  Killing him, said Trump, saved American lives.  I'm normally a news hound and can listen to NPR all day long.  After hearing this news, I opted to resume listening to audio books.  My choice today was David McCullough's "Truman."

My plan for today was to tour eastern Oklahoma's Route 66 and to hike around Turkey Mountain in Tulsa, an urban park I discovered in July.  Driving on the designated Route 66 also takes one off the Tollroad on I-44, perhaps one of the worst tollroads besides New Jersey's Turnpike.  Tolls don't seem to go toward maintaining either highway.

What Oklahoma lacks in beauty it more than makes up in roadside attractions.  Its 374 miles of Route 66 is the longest stretch of intact Route 66 of any of the eight states it travels through. I wanted to see parts of that route that I hadn't seen in previous drives through.  Most of the attractions are of old gas stations and old gas pumps that remain as living museums, but there are also old man-made attractions that were meant to lure people in cars to get to them and spend money.  Most of the road between towns is now frontage road off I-40, and Oklahoma has the longest stretch of intact Route 66. Some sections are worthwhile.  A few have fallen along the roadside, some get modernized, and a few are worthy of a stop to enjoy and walk around.

Route 66 originally was nine feet wide, just large enough for a car of the 1920s.  This old section outside of Affton was completed in 1922. It is now known as the "Ribbon Road" or "Sidewalk Highway" as only cars can traverse it now safely.  The marker stands off the road facing US 59/69 north of Miami, OK.  The road is now a little-used farm road.  Two large Trump signs are a few miles south of that marker on the busier highway.  I'm sure the cows are pleased.  By now it was light enough to see detail.

Traffic on US 59/69 was now picking up.  My first stop was in Miami to see the new Mural park.  Party lights hung across the walls made the bright colors even stronger. Stores were still closed and parking was plentiful on a back road.  Zeke and I took a brief (and very chilly!) walk around the block.  The bright mural stands out among the much older buildings.  I' sure the public area once was the location of a building that got demolished, as it's now a walk-through area to the public parking lot.  There are other murals in Miami, but this one depicting a masked dog, stands out.  It was this mural that made me stop in town.

I still had 88 miles to go to reach Tulsa and traffic was building up.  I was looking for the Blue Whale of Catoosa, a giant cement structure I saw on my last drive through the area but didn't explore because it was still too dark.  This giant blue whale was built in the 1970s by a local man for his grandkids to play in, so it's not part of the original Route 66 history, but like many roadside oddities along the way in Oklahoma, has become a roadside attraction.  It was 8:33a when I stopped here, walked a short trail that began by the whale and then went into the woods, but then realized it ended on private property.  This was a short 0.6-mile leg stretcher, and I can see why people would want to stop here to grab a bite to eat at the snack shop (that wasn't open yet) and relax by the pond while resting at a picnic table before resuming the drive across the state.

I enjoyed the short walk with Zeke, but noted how trashed the woods were.  I saw trash all along my route today: plastic bottles, plastic wrappers, beer cans and bottles.

My next stop was Turkey Mountain Urban Park in Tulsa.  I discovered this park on my last drive through the state, but got there in the early evening and only walked part of the paved trail. My experience during my first visit here was a positive one and wanted to experience the park during the day.  There is ample parking here and Tulsa police do patrol the area.

I got to the main parking area off S Ellwood Avenue I was at back in July and took the first dirt trail heading north.  This was the trailhead of the Blue and Yellow trails.  The Yellow trail is marked at 3,7 miles long, the Blue trail a mere 1.4 miles.  I wanted the longer distance by hiking the 5.7-mile long Pink Trail, but ended up doing a variation of the Yellow trail when I realized both trails were crowded with groups of people.  The Pink trail is a half-mile farther north off Ellwood Avenue. There are also many unmarked trails on this hill, so I got off the Yellow trail and got back on the paved trail that followed the Arkansas river.   This trail is part of the River Parks Authority of Tulsa and goes into downtown Tulsa.  I will explore this section on my next drive.

The Arkansas river looked like it was drying up.  It was flowing much stronger in July.  Sand banks were visible in parts of the river.  The paved trail was busy with joggers and cyclists and went past a waste water treatment facility before going under I-44 into town.  This is where I got off the trail, found an unmarked trail that took me back up Turkey mountain, and resumed my hike on the Yellow Trail.

The Yellow Trail is popular with mountain bikers.  The eastern part of the trail follows a ridgeline along the mountain, with views of the river, before it turns sharply back south.  Many more unmarked trails traverse the marked trail, allowing me to get off the trail to make way for the mountain bikers and others walking with the dogs.

We ended hiking 4.5 miles here, a decent distance on a road trip, and spent almost two hours in the park.  I enjoyed the park and would stop by here again.  There are so few options for hikers in Oklahoma along the Route 66 corridor, but this park deserves its merit.  Maybe next time I'll actually go into downtown Tulsa.  It was now noon, and my lunch was left over deepdish pizza I had taken with me from Indiana.  My next goal was Amarillo, 365 miles away and traffic was getting denser.

I was now less interested in Route 66 things, although there are some nice dinners around the OKC area, such as Weatherford, El Reno and Elk City, but I'v been to the attractions there.  It was after 3pm when I got to the west side of OKC, getting stuck in traffic as I got on I-40.  I got to Amaraillo at 8:30pm, too tired for anything to do and just settled down for the night.  I didn't even stop in a brewpub.