In the Wilds of Oklahoma Where Bigfoot Roams

Fall in Oklahoma. It's not New England, but the oaks and a few other trees are showing off some color, and we're happy with that.

We were parked for a week in Big Cedar, at a small mom and pop kinda place, Big Cedar RV Park.  The sites are all grass, level, with full hook-ups, and mighty close together when the place is full. Fortunately, that rarely happens, so we were comfortable with open space around us. Their dog, Rusty, has the run of fields, trails and the many open spaces in the park and Honey got to play with him many times a day. 

Big Cedar RV Park (and cabins) 

Mena, the closest town with a grocery store, is about 30 miles away. We chose this location to be near the Talimena National Scenic Byway that runs from Mena, AR to Talihena, OK.  During our first RV trip, in the 19' rented Cruise America, we drove the Talimena in midwinter, in the fog. We saw absolutely nothing but the silohettes of black, bare, crooked, stunted trees on either side of the road as we traversed the high ridge. At the time it felt like a scene from a  Harry Potter story. Since then we've wanted to return to see what it looks like with leaves, and see what we missed from the overlooks.

The Talimena National Scenic Byway

One of those bare, gnarly, spooky trees in full leaf.

The  views from the many pullouts reminded us a lot of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.  Forest as far as you can see. It's a fun drive, especially in a car, and with no fog. Lots of elevation changes requiring low gear for trucks and RVs.   The whole drive probably takes a little over an hour, or more if you stop a lot for views and pictures. 

On football Sunday, Honey and I ventured south to Broken Bow Lake and Beaver Bend State Park.  We approached from the north on 259, but all the signage seems to be oriented toward folks coming up from nearby Texas. We had a really hard time getting oriented, or finding a visitor's center of any sort.  The main road through the park, Alternate 259 was washed out at the Mountain Fork River, (no forewarning) so we stopped and poked around there.  

Many large trees washed to the side of the river

Obviously the river can be much higher and more powerful than it was that day.  The banks are lined with colorful rocky ledges that were fun to climb around on.

On several other days Honey and I took hikes on the nearby Oachita Trail, a 223 mile single track, maintained trail through the wilds of eastern Oklahoma.  She's getting to be a real good hiker. If I let her off the leash, she'll stay close to me on the trail, and if she does wander off just a bit, she comes back to a whistle or an easy single call. I think she's a little nervous about being in a big new place, and so she stays close for security.

The trailheads for the sections we hiked were on the east and west sides of 259 less than a mile north of Big Cedar. The trail has no major elevation changes in that area, it just meanders and rolls through the woods, much of the time running along or across various streams. Sometimes the path is very rocky. It is marked pretty clearly with blue hatches on the trees and there are back-packer campsites every five miles or so. 

Our wildlife sightings for the hikes included a smallish black bear crossing the highway and this large walking stick in her fall wardrobe. 

Now it's time to confess one of my guilty secret pleasures.  On quiet, rainy days or late at night when I can't sleep I secretly search the internet for Bigfoot reports from wherever we happen to be and peruse videos on YouTube. Weird, I know. And the funny thing is, I've never been one of those people who reads the Enquirer in the grocery store line, but this feels a lot like that.  The only person I talk to about it is my son, who would also love Bigfoot to be real.  

Anyway, now the secret's out, and here we are in the midst of an area with one of the highest Bigfoot incident reports, in Oklahoma at least. We are parked in the middle of that dark orange county in the map below. That's La Flore County where there have been at least 23 Bigfoot reports. 

Retrieved from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization

Now to put that in perspective, here's a map of the frequency of Bigfoot reports in the US.  You can see there are areas where there are more reports than in rural eastern Oklahoma, such as Washington, Oregon, California, Florida, western Pennsylvania and Ohio. But this swath of territory running north to south through eastern Texas and Oklahoma has a pretty high count. 

Retrieved from Oklahoma Skeptic website

Although Honey and I did our best out in the backwoods of the Winding Stair Mountain National Recreation Area, we are sorry to report that we failed to hear, smell, see or capture a blurry video of Bigfoot. We'll try again in Florida.  

The Badlands of Montana and North Dakota

Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Unit

Who knew there were badlands in Montana and North Dakota? Not us! We always thought THE Badlands were in South Dakota, at Badlands National Park. But now we know that badlands is a generic name for a kind of eroded landscape of soft soils and clays found all over the world.  Interestingly, their color and shape vary depending on their geological history, mineral composition and local climate over time. Thus, the badlands here in Montana and North Dakota are rounded, in shades of grey, beige and yellow (above) while those in South Dakota are more peaked, in pink, gold and brown.

We are in Medora, ND now, having passed through eastern Montana and stopped at Makoshika State Park on our way.  Makoshika is the largest state park in Montana, and based on our visit, one of the best kept secrets in that state.  We saw only a couple of cars during our visit. There is a scenic drive that must be about 6 miles long, but we stopped about half way for a picnic lunch and then headed on our way east.  There is no big rig day use parking at the park, so we left the truck and fifth wheel in a K-Mart in Glendive just off I-94. The park is about 5 minutes from there.

Map from the Makoshia State Park website.

It has been smoky in Montana for weeks from the many fires in the western states, so our photographs are hazy and muted and the skies are always white, but you can still see some variation in the colors of the hills. 

Our destination was Medora and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). We are staying at the Red Trail Campground (which I wouldn't necessarily recommend) and we've been joined here by our good full-timing friends Lynn and Glenn.  The TRNP is another best kept secret, this time of North Dakota and the National Park system. 

Our adventures began with a journey to the North Unit of the park, about 1.5 hours north of Medora, but our first stop was the Visitor's Center at the Painted Canyon, just off I-94, where we were surprised by a herd of bison passing through the parking lot.  You don't get a photo of the national park sign like this very often.

Honey liked the bison too.

Did you ever notice how tiny a bison's feet are? Look at those delicate little hoofers!

After that excitement we passed through the southern edge of the North Dakota "oil patch" where there is evidence of the oil industry in pumps, rigs, temporary housing and commercial enterprises that serve the people here to work.

A very comprehensive truck stop in an otherwise remote landscape.

The smoke was pretty heavy, as you can see in the next photo from an overlook. 

A smoky overlook at the North Unit of TRNP

Closer photos fared better. These are the cannonball concretions that are found within the eroded hills in some areas. The top photo of this post was taken from this location as well.

Another smoky view. Despite how it may look, the landscape is large, colorful and impressive.

Later that day, Lynn and Glenn arrived and we invited them over for dinner. Then I roped them into a full moon hike in the park with a ranger. Being good sports and usually up for anything, they agreed. We got really lucky on our drive to the trailhead and spotted this badger (a first for all of us!) in a prairie dog town.  Although he was really entertaining, running between prairie dog holes and digging around, we had a hike to catch so we headed on.

Then we saw these wild horses and had to stop and watch them. The horses are one of the most frequently seen animals here. In fact there are people who know them all, have named them and can trace their lineage. There's a book published and sold locally that documents them all with photographs and biographical data. 

We passed several bison in groups and alone, but the most picturesque was this herd.

Our full moon hike was a couple of hours long and was off trail most of the way, through grasses, dirt and lots of buffalo and horse droppings. There was some scrambling involved that I might not have tried even in the daylight, but we all got through just fine by helping each other over the rough spots. There were only about 20 people and we used no artificial lights at any time. Although the moon was muted by the smoke, it still offered enough light.   

Next day we loaded up in Glenn and Lynn's truck and headed out for the South Unit Scenic Drive, a loop of about 30 miles. Our first stop was the Visitor's Center and Theodore Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin out back. Teddy Roosevelt began coming to the area for hunting, but then retreated to his ranch to recover from the loss of his mother and wife. There are many stories about his time here. After his death the park was eventually created and named for him.

The park has two units, North and South, and both have scenic drives for easy access. There are many  trails, from easy to strenuous, criss-crossing the park.  There is no major elevation change in the park, so the hikes are not like in the Rockies or Sierras.

One of the most visually interesting short hikes is at Wind Canyon, in the South Unit (above and next three pictures)... 

Rick and Lynn on Wind Canyon Trial

...with gorgeous views of the Little Missouri River Valley.

These golden asters line all the roads.

Another rewarding and easy (though hot and without shade) hike is the Boicourt Trail.

Lynn, Glenn and Rick on the Boicourt Trail

Glenn, Lynn and Rick at the summit of the Boicourt Trail

View from the Boicourt Trail

The Boicourt Trail and Overlook both offer quintessential views of the badlands and rolling hills and valleys that are typical of TRNP.

After that hot hike we were ready to head home for an easy cook out and good night's sleep. Then, after a wicked overnight thunderstorm, we finally had blue skies again!!! It seems like ages since we've seen the sky and breathed clean air. What a relief. 

Of course we had to visit the cutesy Western town of Medora several times. The RV park is walking or easy biking distance from town. There are several restaurants, but we only tried the Badlands Pizza and Saloon, twice. We liked their pizza, especially when we asked them to cook it just a tad longer.  The whole town has a Disney feel to it, as much of it (including the Medora Campground, which I would recommend) is owned and operated by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, committed to maintaining the town of Medora for happy visitors. Many employees and volunteers come from around the world to work here during the summers.

Scenes of Medora


In addition to pizza, we had a little good clean fun in Medora.

High-ho-Silver!

Rick & Glenn get serious

Lynn finds a new friend

No visit to Medora is complete without taking in an evening at the Medora Musical, a surprisingly high quality Disney-like musical review production in an impressive outdoor setting.  This year they celebrate their 50th anniversary! More good clean fun that leaves you feeling darn good about North Dakota and the USofA.

Lynn and Glenn left this morning but we will stay another couple of days and see what else there is to see here before heading south again. 

A final image from Medora

Our Montana Summer

Speedy campground internet! A miracle! Quick, quick, get a post out!  This will be a review of the highlights of our summer in Montana. We're not quite done, but I'll share up to where we are now, which is Libby, Montana "where the Cabinet Mountains meet the Kootenai River" says the official City of Libby website.  

But here's the Montana story so far.  We made a quick stop in Billings just to have dinner at Blue's Barbecue with new friends Bobbie and Rich, who are only a schmeer of BBQ sauce away from being full-timers. 

Another quick stop in Bozeman, which we had no idea was such a hip place. We had only one day, so we hit the Museum of the Rockies and saw lots of dinosaur bones. We're planning a return visit very soon on our way east. Not for the bones, but for the Audi dealer - the only one in Montana. : ( 

During our week in Missoula we took a road trip south on Rt. 93 through the Bitterroot Valley. 

Along the way we took a slow meander through the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in Stevensville and spotted a great blue heron rookery with at least 20 nests visible in the tops of the tall evergreens. Lots of deer too.

Our last stop of that day was Lake Como (yes, named after the one in Italy), with its beautiful beach and views of the Bitterroot Mountains.

Our next parking location was Polson, where we spent a month. Highlights (some of which I have already reported) included the National Bison Range...

the Mission Mountain Rodeo...

many, many fawns (it seems to be a good year for babies here)...

The Miracle of America Museum...

 Wild Horse Island State Park on Flathead Lake...

and a very unique alpenglow sunset (color not enhanced!) on the Mission Range.

The small town of Coram, just west of Glacier National Park, was our next scheduled stop, including a two week visit with our fellow RVing friends Glenn and Lynn.  Just about the time we arrived in Coram, all set to explore Glacier, a wildfire broke out on the east side of the park, resulting in the closing of the Going to the Sun Road from a spot called Big Bend to St. Mary.  Bummer. 

But Glacier is a big place, and we found plenty to do on the west side. We started with a day of kayaking in our AdvancedFrame Sport inflatable kayaks by Advanced Elements at the always spectacular Lake McDonald. We haven't said too much about our new kayaks yet, but we're really happy with them. Lynn and Glenn turned us on to them, so the four of us inflated our four identical kayaks and hit the water.  Honey joined in. (We may need to get her one too.) They are SO much easier to assemble and break down than our old folding models. They ride and track nicely, plus they're soft. I like soft. 

Another day we all went rafting on the middle fork of the Flathead River with the Glacier Raft Company. Bold and experienced Glenn and Lynn kayaked in the company's inflatable kayak's, which weren't very comfy, while Rick and I joined a team of about 10 in a raft.  And one final time, we all kayaked the Flathead River for about 6 quiet miles near Columbia Falls.

Kayaking the "Lazy" Flathead River

While the fire was still blazing away on the park's east side we were able to hike the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake Trail on the west side. They are very popular trails at the slowest of times, and with the other side of the park closed off, everyone hiked what was available. So it was crowded, but hey...

Rick on the Avalanche Lake Trail

Although St. Mary was closed, Two Medicine, an area in the southeast corner of the park, was open, so we drove over there. What was most amazing about these two weeks, is that we never saw any smoke from the huge fire until the very last day as we prepared to move. Clear blue skies even at Two Medicine.

Two Medicine Lake and Sinopah Mountain

 Finally, the Going to the Sun Road opened up as far as Logan Pass, so we hit the road as far as we could go one evening after supper. No traffic, no crowds. Hallelujah. It was a gorgeous night for a drive and a hike.

Sunset at Logan Pass

Moonrise at Logan Pass

 Alright, Glacier experience done. On to the northwestern corner of Montana, completely new territory for us. McGregor Lakes RV was our first stop for a few days. While there we heard from our nice neighbors that there was a skydiving event nearby, so we checked that out. Another first for us. Hundreds of skydivers were jumping in groups. Very fun to watch. Boy did we learn a lot about a sport of which we previously knew nothing at all. Love doing these different things. No, we didn't try it.

While at McGregor Lake we met our first Montana bear, as reported in my last post. Here's another cute shot of the friendly younster.

Our next move took us to Libby, not a very big place, but it has some interesting features. For one thing, it has a dog park! But it's a very well kept secret. I found it by accident while looking for some trails at the local multi-purpose park. Found the trails, and there was the dog park! So we spent every evening there meeting the locals at J. Neils Memorial Park. We camped at Woodland RV Park, which we liked very much. Lots of tall spruce trees, grass and big sites.

Libby is right on the Kootenai River and we took our new found courage in hand (up until know we've been flat water paddlers) and kayaked the river for about seven miles. It's an easy river at this location. 

Kootenai River

We also took a drive up river to the Libby Dam, Lake Koocanusa and on to the very cute town on Eureka.

Lake Koocanusa just above Libby Dam

Have I mentioned how hot it is here lately? We highly recommend G's Homemade ice cream stand in Eureka. It's a tiny yellow house with brightly colored picnic tables and umbrellas, right on the main street of town. She had ten homemade flavors the day we visited, and we can attest to the excellence of vanilla and butter pecan.

So the ice cream was great, the lakes and rivers are beautiful, but the peak of our stay in this rural corner of Montana has got to be the Kootenai Falls and the Swinging Bridge, hands down. Located just west of Libby on Rt. 2, it's an easy day trip with lots of hiking options right from the parking lot. The Falls are less than a mile from the road and require some hiking to see them. Once there, you are free to scramble among the rocks that contain and form the Falls. They are quite powerful and good judgement must be used because there are no fences restricting access.

Dogs are allowed throughout, but there are several challenges to having them along. First, there is a multi-storied metal stairway with perforated steps and platforms that could creep out most dogs. (Honey would have nothing to do with it. So we came back another day without her.) If your dog gets past the stairs, then there is the challenge of scrambling around on the multilayered rocks precariously close to the rushing, pounding waterfalls. I can only imagine...

Finally, there is the swinging bridge across the raging river. I didn't see any dogs taking on that challenge either. In fact there were quite a few people who declined. It really swings and could give anyone with a mild fear of heights the heeby-jeebies. So without dogs, it's a great place to explore and could easily be a full day experience, with many places ideal for a picnic.

We'll be in Montana for a few more weeks, in St. Regis to ride the Hiawatha Trail, in Missoula, Helena, Bozeman and beyond...