July 18, 2014
All true sons of Oklahoma must make a pilgrimage at least
once in their life to a very special place.
This is not a holy site but none the less it is a place which is
designated with a monument of its very own.
The site lies in the Oklahoma panhandle about 15 miles from Black Mesa
campgrounds. It is known as the highest
point in Oklahoma. Being relatively flat
this would not seem a monumental feat; however I (Jerry) was lucky enough to
take this journey with an older brother Buck, who at a young age of 81 was his
second trip. This 8 mile hike does make you wonder at our ages if this was a
prudent thing to do! Our ladies had the good sense to stay in camp under the
air conditioners; we packed water and lite snacks and off we went on our
adventure.
We were off on our 5 hour trek; one car in the parking lot,
so we knew someone was ahead of us and would find our bodies if things went
wrong. The high plains were an incredible
journey by itself; first 3 miles were mostly flat, but then the climb started
to the mesa over the next 5 miles…yep, we had to remind ourselves several times
reaching the top will be worth it, as the trail was getting more scenic. Making it to the top is somewhat anticlimactic,
instead of finding a new world we were essentially in a cow pasture looking for
the highest point…surely this wasn’t it! We survived to meet the couple (remember that
one care in the parking lot) on their return trip so we knew we were on the right
track and off in the distance we saw an objective – could that be it? Well the signs did help somewhat pointing to
the monument as we looked very close, however
I think at this point it was an optical illusion. It seemed at first the monument was getting
further away every step we took toward it, but finally we made it, took some
pics and had lunch. It was a great day to
be alive and on top of Oklahoma!!
After refueling our bodies and still pumped up from making
it to the top we started our trek back down, seemed we were still on schedule
to make the 5 hour mark - after all it would be all downhill, right?!? One thing had changed during this trek though;
the temps had climbed to a warm 92 degrees and our water bottles were getting
low. With positive attitude we journeyed
on and on and on realizing it wasn’t really all downhill, but more like a
roller coaster – up and down. Finally we
topped a rise and could see the car; we jumped for joy and waved our arms like
the car would see us and come to the rescue- LOL. However realizing we had about another mile
was tough, but we got our minds focus and just putting one step in front of the
other…we was never so happy to get to the car and under air conditioning!
It will
be an anniversary to remember… you see it’s actually Deb’s and I 6th
year wedding anniversary.
Until next time....Jerry
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