Historically Fortified

Once upon a time in high school I had a teacher -- I’ll call him Mr. X -- with a Beatle’s hair cut and a lisp. He was about my height – short for a guy – and wore paisley print slacks and boring shirts. At first glance he was nothing to write home about, but then he started lecturing and this guy … he took teaching to a whole different level.

From the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, to the Beer Hall Putsch, to the Nuremburg Trials, for months on end Mr. X not only held sway over a roomful of high school sophomores, he mesmerized, entertained and enchanted us with history. More than 35 years later I still remember much of what I learned in his class.

Mr. X’s trick, besides being possessed with a flair for the dramatic, was an encyclopedic knowledge of the details and nuances of events and larger-than-life characters. He was a gifted story teller and all of us listening to him felt as though we had a ring-side seat for some of the most significant events in human history.

Today, in a large part due to Mr. X’s valiant efforts, I remain entranced with the stories of a place, and fortunately for me,  in our grand land of Oklahoma, we’re blessed with a veritable jackpot of destinations deeply embedded in a fascinating weave of geography, diverse cultures and legendary people.

Take for instance Fort Supply in northwestern Oklahoma near Woodward. First established as Camp Supply in 1868 in what was then the western Cherokee Outlet, the camp originally served as General Philip Sheridan's supply base for a winter campaign against several American Indian tribes on the southern Great Plains.

The fort is perhaps best known for its role as the supply camp for Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer prior to his surprise dawn attack on the Cheyenne village of Peace Chief Black Kettle at the Battle of the Washita on November 27, 1868. Custer led the U.S. Army Seventh Cavalry in the attack, killing Chief Black Kettle and his wife, along with a number of the villagers, including women and children.

The camp's name was changed to Fort Supply in 1878 when it was set up as a permanent military post, and the military presence for the next twenty-five years led the effort to keep the peace as soldiers patrolled the region to contain the tribes and keep out trespassers. Buffalo hunters, timber and horse thieves, whiskey traders, and “Boomers” were a continual threat to stability in Indian Territory, and the fort's troops participated in territorial land openings in the 1880s and 1890s, and in the Cherokee Outlet land opening in 1893. Fort Supply was closed as a fort in 1894, and later, in May 1908, the old post’s buildings and and grounds became Oklahoma’s first mental health facility.

Today, the Oklahoma Historical Society administers five buildings and this reconstructed replica of the original 1868 stockade at the Fort Supply Historic Site.

The Guard House then …

… and now. Today the guard house hosts a number of fascinating artifacts and provides a greater degree of understanding about life on the frontier.

One of the rooms in the Fort Supply guardhouse, the restored office of the sergeant of the guard, is full of insights into the workaday lives of soldiers at the fort. Notice the spittoon.

Guard’s sleeping quarters.

One of my personal favorites is the teamsters’ cabin, a rare example of a picket-style log building, a frontier construction method consisting of vertically aligned logs, rather than the more well-known horizontal orientation.

This 1882 duplex was the officers' quarters and is one of only two frame houses left on "Officers' Row."

A six-mule supply wagon at Fort Supply. Can you imagine riding across prairie and mesas, through canyons and over buttes in this?

In addition to preserving Oklahoma history, the Fort Supply Historic Site also offers living history events and programs, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

An excellent companion destination, just about 80 miles away, is the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site near Cheyenne.

Gloss Mountain State Park

Lacey and I took a trip to Gloss Mountain State Park a few weeks ago. I've been pretty tied up in the office and at home lately, so let me apologize upfront about how late this post is.

That said, Gloss Mountain is easily one of my most favorite spots to visit in the state. Located about two hours from Oklahoma City, a little north of the town of Fairview, Gloss Mountain holds its status as one of Oklahoma's most beautiful, yet most obscure parks.

I'm not exactly sure why more people don't know about this place. Granted this park doesn't offer camping, boating, fishing, cabins, or most of the other kinds of amenities associated with Oklahoma State Parks, but the scenery alone should make this a more sought after destination.

The sights and sounds of the area are pretty much right in line with what most people imagine the wild west to look like. Orange mesa cap the sky while the squawks of hawks and buzzards can be heard echoing down from the sky. The view from the top of Gloss Mountain is breathtaking, laying out miles and miles of prairie floor for as far as the eye can see.

It was pretty hot and sunny the day we visited. Absolutely no one else was at the park, which despite all my complaining above, made for a wonderful afternoon. The stillness of the day must have been hospitable for the local wildlife, because we saw a whole assortment of birds, lizards, deer, insects, and more just within the hour or two we spent walking around.

Like I mentioned earlier, you're not going to find too much in the way of camping and typical outdoor recreation at Gloss Mountain. It's really made more for an afternoon away from home. But trust me, in terms of scenery, and good ol' fashioned peace and quite, its second to none.

-Austin

Salty Plains, Rock Star Cows and Mother Nature’s Light Show

Our daughter, Callie, is 13 years old and as teenagers so often do, she has a memory like an elephant. Two weeks before spring break she says, “You’ve been promising for-eee-ver that we’d go on a family camping trip. Now is the time.”

We intuitively realized that if there was to be any peace in the Struby household again, the family camping expedition could no longer be delayed. We sorted through sleeping bags, got the camping gear in order, browsed TravelOK.com for just the right spot, and finally settled on the Great Salt Plains State Park near Jet. Callie was fascinated with seeing plains made of salt, and I knew from researching there were plenty of things, in addition to the Salt Plains, to keep my crew entertained.

By cruising the back roads, our favorite way to travel, we made the drive from Oklahoma City in an easy two and half hours.

We camped for two nights right on the shores of the Great Salt Plains Lake, ate gloriously tasty food cooked up on our handy camp stove, and survived a big rain storm in our tent just fine -- no drips, leaks or miserable, soggy sleeping bags. And by the way, it’s no lie that everything tastes better outdoors.

On a chilly afternoon with storm clouds skittering across the sky we headed out to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, 32,000 acres of open water, wetlands, prairies, woodlands and farm fields that lie just a few miles north of the lake, and one of nine National Wildlife Refuges in Oklahoma. The refuge is a very special and important place, habitat to more 300 species of birds, designated a Globally Important Bird Area, a Member of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and it’s critical habitat for the endangered whooping crane.

On the way to the refuge we happened across this picturesque old farm house resembling a watercolor painting.

Being a hobbyist photographer, I made the whole family stop and while I was clicking away, far in the distance we heard a mooing ruckus, and looked up to see a herd of cows trotting toward us, obviously on a mission. Whether they thought our arrival signaled chow time or they were just curious, by the time they arrived the sun was peeking out and they were ready for their close-up. They posed and posed and posed some more, reminding us a bit of rock stars.

At the refuge headquarters, this pretty sight greeted us. Even though we visited before spring kissed everything green, the beauty of the refuge is reflected in Bonham Pond, where refuge staff offer Wildlife in the Classroom programs to kids from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Bird, birds, birds were at every turn on the Harold F. Miller Auto tour, a 2.5-mile drive that meanders through the refuge by ponds, wetlands and farm fields. There’s ample room to pull over and walk or take photos and we did so several times, serenaded by a symphony of bird songs and calls.

Spring was busting out all over.

Silvery trees made a splash against the dramatic backdrop of storm clouds.

And then it was time to visit the Salt Plains. That white stuff isn’t snow – it’s salt, real salt. After the forested wetlands and throngs of birds at the refuge, the Salt Plains seemed wildly empty, and although we were disappointed we couldn’t dig for the rare hourglass selenite crystals found here (digging time is April 1 through October 15) -- we were suitably impressed by the plains’ grand scale.

Even though it was coolish, cloudy and stormy during some of our visit, the weather didn’t keep Callie from exploring the shoreline. And way out in the lake what looks like an island in the distance is just that. It’s Ralstin Island, a very important part of the refuge. At about six acres, the island is Oklahoma’s largest rookery a.k.a. bird nursery for nesting birds, and hosts more than 30,000 birds during breeding season. Shhhh. Human visitors not allowed – don’t want to wake all those babies – but the refuge office offers live footage of the island via their remote cameras from April through October.

It’s never too cold and you’re never too old to play in the sand.

The sun came out and everything went sparkly.

And then along came dusk and a stunning light show from Mother Nature that beat anything on the movie screen hands down. We pulled our camp chairs to the water’s edge, sipped on a bit of wine, and reveled in the glory.