THIS PAST WEEKEND WE VENTURED OUT TO A NEW PARK. OUR GOAL WAS TO FIND A PLACE THAT WAS CLOSE ENOUGH TO DRIVE THERE AND BACK IN ONE DAY. I THINK WE FOUND OUR SPOT.
Beaver’s Bend State Park in Oklahoma near Broken Bow (South East OK) is a wonderful park to visit if you find yourself in OK or need a change of scenery from the North Texas lack of landscape. From Dallas it was about 2 Hours and 50 Minutes. Yes, everyone in Texas measures distance in Time instead of miles because this state is just too large to do anything else.
So where does our journey begin? At the butt-crack of dawn on Sunday, because who needs to sleep in when you can travel?! We got up, fed the dogs, sat down to talk logistics while we sipped our coffee.
Here’s what we concluded we needed:
Lots of water
Some sandwiches and snacks for the hike and the drive
Phone charger (which we totally forgot)
Camera, battery, and charger (for our YouTube channel and your entertainment)
Our walking shoes, since neither of us have hiking boots
Bug spray
Sun Screen
Hat and clothes to match the weather for the day
We gathered everything up and made a few sandwiches for the road and headed out. We only got about 30 minutes out when we realized we forgot the phone charger and instead of spending money on a new cable we just worked to conserve our battery life by minimizing both of our phone usage. As we continued toward our destination, we began to notice the subtle evolution of the landscape. First the flat land began to bow into hills, then the shrubbery started to grow and slowly morph into actual trees. Finally we crossed the Red River and entered the last leg of the journey.
Arrived! We made it! Now what? I guess we try to figure out where the trails are? That sounds like a good plan! So we find a few trails and some nearby water and head that way. We park the car, grab the camera and head for the trails.
The water was beautiful, crystal clear, and refreshingly chilly. We hiked around and explored the river bed area.
The rock formations splintered out of the ground like poorly stacked broken tiles scattered all around us and leading right into the water’s edge.
We eventually found our way to an actual trail, but to be honest just exploring the area was more exciting and provided better views than any trail we found. At the end of it all we walked over 5 miles and burned 1500ish calories over the course of about 5 hours. We also got our nature and travel fill.
If you find your way into the south eastern side of Oklahoma I definitely recommend Beaver’s Bend, when you get there take the road behind the dam all the way down. You won’t be disappointed. Be sure to checkout our video on our YouTube channel (or below!) to get a first hand look at how beautiful this place really is. Let us know in the comments where you think we should go next!
