Oklahoma Adventure Trail

Very nice!!! Looking forward to trying it myself.

I lived in Denison and Texoma area. Now I have a reason to return and jump on the Trail!

i had found 2 in that area, but i thought they would be too difficult for the ride. I could give you a location if you want.

No need, I know one of the county comminisioners in Harmon county and he told me about it but I did not write the location down, but I can call him when I want to find it.

Hell, missed this somehow.
Thanks, Rick. Anything worth riding west of Altus/south of Hollis? I haven't explored that area yet; haven't even driven it much, actually.

Thanks for the ride report. I enjoyed it!

There certainly is some dynamite riding in southeast OK that connects with some more dynamite riding in southwest AR. Don't tell anybody else though.

"Sallisaw - Henryetta - Wagoner - Catoosa" I had a drunk girl whisper this in my ear several years ago .......... took a minute to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

Thanks again, I'll have to check some of this out next time I'm riding through there. Seeing the rune stone is on my bucket list.

Happy Holidays, Rob

I can't wait to try the OAT!

Let me know when you start planning another trip.

Thanks. I always pay attention to the whisperings of drunk girls.......don't always act on it though.

The route is still evolving, check out the latest here http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=836706

Bout the only thing is a old wood bridge that crosses the red river about 2 or 3 miles west of Hollis. Some good dirt roads going into the sandy sanders wildlife area. It is my understanding you have to have a permit or a hunting lic to look around.

On the TAT last year, none of our group were really looking forward to OK, but surprisingly, we really enjoyed it. You cross up high, and all the way across the panhandle, and we found ourselves zoning out and enjoying the ride. There were some really nice hilly roads in or near the panhandle, so that should be included! You need at least one section where it looks like the road goes arrow straight, forever, to get a sense of that part of the state. I will have to troop north and do the OAT before long. 'Wish we could do something like that in Texas, but everything is either paved or fenced. No public land to speak of.

Here's a couple of images of SW Oklahoma.






Three more pictures of Mount Scott. Worth the drive up, if the weather is nice.



You can see for miles.

Sweet pics!
Good representative shots of the OAT through SW OK. I really like the scene of the old/new windmills.

in SE Oklahoma, you mentioned bypassing Rhune Mtn. It's not much more than a photo op, in my opinon. Was a nice day.



ANd just north of the Talimena drive is a nice camping spot. Cedar Lake. We also did some roads around there and Winding Stair. Not sure which ones are the same.

The top of Mt. Scott is ALWAYS windy, but the views make it worth it.

How much of the OAT did you do?

Thanks for the pics of Mt Scott. Something I need to get out west and see.

Subscribing:eek1

Thanks for the trip report. Looks like a real nice ride. I grew up in Okla and still have family there. A great excuse to go visit and ride this route!

I'd like to do this route soon...

I read back through your ride report, and after looking at that sandy crossing i don't think i would have done it either. maybe with a friend or three. or on a little bike.

Cropear and I originally did an early version of the OAT back in December. Since then, we'd noticed that most of the western portion was different from what we had done. We were both in need of a good ride, so we thought we'd check it out.

I wasn't able to meet up with Cropear until mid-afternoon Saturday, May 25, so we finally hooked up with the OAT north of Garber at about 4:45 PM. A few minutes later, after struggling through some dry but heavily rutted roads, we came upon our first obstacle: a closed bridge. Having just gotten on the OAT after lots of highway miles in the wind, we weren't anxious to reroute so soon, so we checked it out. The bridge itself was easily crossable, with only one big gap from a missing plank, but the logs and dirt piles blocking the bridge provided a little adventure. We were on 650s and don't have tons of experience offroad, so take that for what it's worth. Cropear thought he probably could have done it on his 1200GS, too.




A few miles northwest we hit the second closed road southeast of Jefferson. It was heavily grown up and had an electric fence across the trail. There was obviously a creek ahead, but I couldn't tell if there was a bridge or not. It did not look doable, and since it was well after 5:00 we didn't want to take the time to scout it out. Looking at it today on Google Earth I think we made the right call.

We rerouted and rejoined the trail a few miles west. During the reroute we found a few more rutted roads and this bridge.
I like that the Bridge Out sign is being used as part of the bridge. We did not enjoy this section.







It was getting late so we got off the route a couple miles east of Salt Plains SP and headed to Jet in search of lodging, since we neglected to bring sleeping bags or any camping gear. Motel rooms on Memorial Day weekend in the middle of oil & gas country are hard to find. After lots of phone calls and battling the wind we arrived in Enid and overnighted at America's Best Value Inn, which is conveniently located next to a Gentlemen's Club that we did NOT check out, but I'm throwing out there for anyone who's interested.


The next morning, we headed out and caught the OAT where it crosses Hwy 412 west of Enid. After some highway miles the trail heads south on dirt, just west of the Glass/Gloss Mountains. This part of the trail is almost all dirt, passes through Seiling and Camargo and ends up in the Black Kettle Nat'l Grassland on Hwy 47. It was probably my favorite stretch of our route. We did a terrible job taking pictures, but here's one from that leg, northwest of Leedey.


We continued on through the Grassland (even though we didn't know that at the time) and crossed the Washita (via bridge) at Herring. They'd recently laid down some heavy gravel on this road and the next few miles were rough.
Finally, the trail got off the damned gravel and headed onto a nice, narrow, twisty ranch road with light gravel.

After a couple of cattle guards we ended up at a cattle pen with two men sorting cattle and a closed gate in front of us. I double-checked my GPS to make sure we were on the right track, then waited for the men to finish their sort before walking over and talking to the boss, who turned out to own the ranch. We then spent a few minutes talking to them, with the main points being:
-This was a public road, but the land on either side was his ranch.
-The gates were closed since they'd been moving cattle and if we behaved, we could open the gates and ride on through.
-He's had a little trouble with people getting off the main road and driving/riding around the ranch, which is trespassing.
-He's not thrilled with the idea of lots of people riding through there.

Don't get me wrong; he was very nice and offered us water and directions, but the idea of being part of the OAT didn't do much for him.

So we peacefully rode on through his ranch, then south over a couple of dams which at the moment weren't damming up anything. Drought is very evident here. So, a little ways further down the trail, it was with some surprise that I took a right hand curve at moderate speed and came upon a muddy spot. I made it through all right, slowed down and waited for Cropear, curious as to what would happen He made it through fine, but as he was coming out decided to throw up a good rooster tail so he throttled it.
You can see where his bike went:


Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic of where his bike ended up: the fence you can see on the left.

So, a break was called in order to extricate the bike from the fence. He was caught up in it pretty good, but didn't damage the fence, thankfully. We had to remove his windshield, but finally got the bike back on the road with no major visible harm, but lots of scratches. The main problem was that his front brake was acting up by diving at the slightest touch of the lever. Not good. He also mentioned that a little earlier he'd hit a pretty big, sharp rock and, upon inspection his front tire had a pretty good gash in the sidewall, with a couple of cracks running out of it. Unfortunately we did not have a spare tire with us and it was Sunday on Memorial Day weekend.

With these new developments we decided to head to my house at an easy pace. The OAT from I-40 south is mostly blacktop, so we followed it to the North Fork crossing turnoff on Hwy 6 north of Granite. I had cowardly skipped the crossing back in December when it was dry, and we could see that the North Fork had water in it now. That, plus the known and possibly unknown damage to his bike made us decide to skip it and get on down to my house.

We made it home early Sunday evening and, while enjoying a few needed beers, swapped out his tire for one of my used but good ones, sorted out his brake issue and generally got the bikes and ourselves in order.
Good trip complete.