First trip west

[buzzman]

Red Rock Canyon SP, OK

After our drive on old Route 66, Sherri wanted to see some old covered wagon wheel tracks advertised to be preserved at Red Rock Canyon SP near Hinton. We also visited the very nice Hinton historical museum, a really impressive museum.

Touring the park

Our camp site. The park was almost deserted.

Red Rock Canyon was on the old California Road. Here's a little history I learned from the Hinton museum director. This was a wagon route through the center part of OK that the pioneers used when traveling west during the mid 1800's, mostly prior to the railroads. The settlers with their wagons traveled about 12-15 miles a day and had to stop to fill their water barrels each day. The creek in Red Rock Canyon was one of the stopping points. The wagons would have to lock the rear wheels with the brakes or poles while entering the canyon and the sliding wheels made deep ruts in the hard sandstone banks. The wagon trail leaving the canyon on the west side does not have very deep ruts, almost non-existent, because the wheels aren't sliding. I think these settlers had the first real truck campers!

The wagon entrance, looking down into the canyon. It was fairly steep.

Looking up at the entrance trail

Since we had shore power while camping here, we decided to download pictures from the camera to the computer. Here's our little table set up. I'm sure we had a much more comfortable camper than the pioneers.

 

[chnlisle]

What a fantastic trip. You guys are so lucky to have had the time. Great story and great pix.

 

[buzzman]

Red Rock Cyn SP to Winding Stair Mtn NRA

Sherri and I didn't want to get back on I-40 for the rest of our drive through OK and we really didn't want our trip to end just yet. So, after leaving Red Rock Canyon SP we wandered our way south to Anadarko and east on Hwy 19 and 270 to Robber's Cave SP, just north of Wilburton, OK. By the time we got to Robber's Cave SP it was dark and for some reason the place was very busy and crowded. We got the last camp site. It was sort of like "city camping", but there was nowhere else. This was the first state park we stayed at that was so crowded. Apparently the good weather, the fall colors, and the three-day weekend brought out the families. Anyway, the next morning we did a quick tour of the Robber's Cave before the bus loads showed up.

Sherri climbing up from Robber's Cave. This was a place where several robber's and thieves hid out, such as Jesse James and Bell Starr.

View from Robber's Cave

While camping at Robber's Cave a fellow camper next to us said we must visit Winding Stair Mountain NRA and the scenic drive on Hwy 1. Sounded good, so we drove south to Talihina and onto the scenic drive. It was very nice. We didn't expect to find something like this in Oklahoma. It turned out to be a very beautiful drive and the weather remained perfect.

On the way to Winding Stair Mtn NRA we stopped for lunch at this cool little place in Talihina. Good food too.

The visitor center was a little busy. There were lots of motorcycles out this day.

Our first of many pullouts

The scenic Hwy 1 is on the crest of a ridge line. This is part of the Quachita Mountain range. I know, these are just foothills to those of you who live out west near the Rockies.

More views from Hwy 1. Traveling East.

We continued east on Hwy 1 into Arkansas, to the Queen Wilhelmina SP and through the Quachita NF. It was getting late on this Saturday Nov 9th, and we made the decision to try and get home to TN that night. So we couldn't spend much time touring this region. The road was sort of busy anyway. Can't you see those cars way out there?

Here's a view looking south from the Queen Wilhelmina visitor center.

Driving east on AR Hwy 88

Well that's it, WTW friends. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

We got home to Somerville TN about 9:30 PM. It was a great trip west that Sherri and I will never forget. We may have tried to cover too much of the country in 29 days, but did we ever see some beautiful country! We probably didn't do as much back country camping as many of you do. Maybe we'll do more on our next trip. I have learned a lot about truck camping and visiting the west with my FWC Grandby and there are a couple mods and additions I'd like to make. I'll discuss them in another thread. Except for the leaking heater core, which I fixed in Santa Barbara, and the lack of horse power in the mountains, my old school truck held up very well. It logged 6454 miles on this trip. I guess I'll keeping using it, for now.

Until the next trip west...Buzz and Sherri

 

[ScottBailey]

Thank you...

Buzz,

Thank you for sharing. I am impressed both with your trip and your report.

Thanks,
SB

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Dear Buzz & Sherri--

We cannot thank you enough for bringing us with you on your first trip West. It was unforgettable for us, too.

Mark & Edna

 

[DLN]

Many thanks for sharing your trip and great reports with us. You've actually seen many things in the west that we haven't. Fantastic.

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Great trip and great report... thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[Dave Johnson]

Buzz,
Another thanks for sharing your experience. I enjoyed your descriptions and the pictures.

 

[EdoHart]

This was a joy to follow.

Thanks.

Following your trip in near real time was great! I thank you for sharing such a memorable trek.

 

[craig333]

Thanks much for sharing. Thats a bit of work loading that many pics. You've give me to ideas too. I"m curious to see what mods you want to do now.

 

[masterplumber]

Buzz, great trip report. I love reading other's journeys & yours was well written. If your ever headed west again be sure to post up ahead of time. I'm sure many of us out this way would love to provide a level place to park & relax on your journey.

Doug

 

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

Wish I would have seen this sooner!

Buzz,

We were on our way south when you were posting this one and I just found it while doing a search for PC cell connections.

What a great trip and outstanding trip report! Thanks.

I REALLY wish we would have seen this before we picked up the camper and headed out. We covered much of the same ground and it would have been great to stop at some of the places you found. I'm making notes for next year though.

In the picture of your rig in front of the FWC office, the demo camper to the left rear is the one we have now.

We had many of the same impressions you and Sherri did. We thought the fridg was great too. We've used ice boxes for years and done fine but to be able to keep a few meals ahead frozen was a real luxury, as was not having to fish waterlogged cheese out of the bottom of an ice chest!

You, Jack and Terri's Joy all posted about using cellular data transfer for your PC's and that seems like it would be a real plus for us too. I'm going to start a thread asking for recommendations on the various services and hope you'll put you 2 cents in.

Thanks again for a great post!
'birds