TWO PEAS AND THE POD: CHICKASAW NATIONAL REC AREA, OK

MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #197

After yet another longer than normal travel day we arrived at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, specifically the Buckhorn Campground. This is a federally managed property by the National Park Service so our Lifetime Senior Pass gets us half price camping ($11 a night with water & electric), which is always a welcome benefit of being a 62+ year old American citizen.

Campsite 59C at Buckhorn Campground

Our awesome raised platform at rear of the campsite with a lakefront view

The recreation area is located completely within the Chickasaw Nation lands which includes about 7,648 square miles of south-central Oklahoma. It is one of five such Indian Nations in the state of Oklahoma that together make up nearly 43% of the entire state.

We are visiting just a small portion of area, but what a beautiful section it is. Our campsite does not have adequate cell phone signal, even with the booster on, so each day we pack up our computers, a snack and a drink, and head two miles further into the park to the picnic area and boat ramp on Lake of the Arbuckles.

Tricia sets up her little office, with the big view, underneath a pavillion and comfortably works for about four hours each day, leaving us plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings.

Tricia's office view.

SATURDAY - Today is going to be our sightseeing day. We normally try to avoid being around the crowds of people on the weekends, but today is the first day since we arrived it has been sunny and relatively warm enough to be outside.

On our way into town we saw a small parking area and a sign reading Bison Viewpoint, that got our attention! We pulled over, but didn't see any bison in the large fenced in area in front of us. We looked on a park brochure we picked up earlier and found there was a 2.9 mile path that goes completely around the bison habitat.

About a half mile down the path we found about a dozen bison grazing on the grasses. We watched them for about fifteen minutes hoping one of them would get closer to the fence near us, but they didn't. They must be having success breeding with this small herd because we saw what were obviously adult bison, but there were some smaller juvenile bison as well.

Next up is a short hike to a couple of fresh water springs. Antelope Springs and Buffalo Springs combine to generate nearly 5 millions gallons of fresh water daily which creates Travertine Creek. This creek flows directly under the nature center building which in turn flows over a rock ledge known as Little Niagara.

Farthest from the parking lot is Buffalo Springs. It was turned into a bathing area back in the 1930s by the local residents, but is no longer used for that purpose.

Antelope Springs comes directly out of a rock face and flows into Travertine Creek.

This is where Travertine Creek flows under the National Park Service Nature Center.

This is Little Niagara and the pool just beneath the falls is used as a swimming hole in the warmer months.

SUNDAY - Today we are going Geocaching!

For the first time in over a year we are searching for a geocache. This one is hidden just off the path that goes around Veterans Lake here in the National Recreation Area.

When we first started traveling one goal I had was to find one, and only one, geocache in every state. So far we have visited 29 states and now after today we have located 29 geocaches, one in each state.