Oklahoma’s high point is not what we in New Hampshire would call a “monadnock” The highest point in Oklahoma isn’t really a point either, but sits atop Black Mesa—a mesa that crosses into both New Mexico and Colorado. Apparently, the highest point on the mesa isn’t even in Oklahoma but in Colorado. However, if it sounds like we’re knocking Black Mesa, Oklahoma and its 4,973 feet of grandeur don’t be fooled—we loved it! It was a sweet 8 mile round trip hike to the top, passing through beautiful country. This really did feel like No Man’s Land, and we couldn’t believe that we actually saw two other hikers on the return part of the hike. But, what was most memorable about this hike was the wind. An incredibly strong wind that never let up and an unbelievably sunny sky gave us both a pretty good wind/sunburn (step one of the winter tanning mission!). There’s a monument up on top of the mesa indicating the high point which must have been found with a very precise measuring tool. While there may not be a peak to summit here, I will say this—at least the people of Oklahoma are smart enough to not build a snack shack and auto road up to their highest point.
Posts Tagged ‘Oklahoma’
Black Mesa, OK
Sunday, January 4th, 2009Kanslahoma
Thursday, January 1st, 2009We had a short but great visit with Raven’s mom on the outskirts of Lawrence–we still can’t believe that we missed Raven! Then we were off to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve where some of the last remnants of tallgrass prairie can be found. It’s pretty amazing–there once was about 140 million acres of tallgrass prairie in North America and now only about 4% is left. The Flint Hills of Kansas are home to a big chunk of that 4%. We were, as usual this time of year, the only visitors there. Prescribed burns and cattle grazing have sustained the tallgrass prarie, but bison are slated to arrive next year.
Kansas is not as flat as folks make it out to be. Well, at least parts of it. The panhandle of Oklahoma–that’s flat. Parts of it. Windy–they’ve both got that covered. The wind didn’t really let up much after we left the Tallgrass Prairie. We tried to visit the world’s largest hand dug well in Greensburg, KS and it should have been an easy task with all the signs on the highway leading you there. However, when we got to Greensburg not a sign could be found. It looked like half the town was blown away in a recent tornado–it was quite a scene. It was nice to see a big “Thank you AmeriCorps” sign on the edge of town–they must have had some help recently.
Alas, we missed the big well. This was also around the time that I was wondering why I didn’t order a bunch of beef sandwiches to go from Arthur Bryant’s, neatly putting two of my regrets right next to each other.
The Oklahoma Panhandle is known as “No Man’s Land”. They nailed it. More to come on that, Oklahoma’s highest point, dinosaurs, and New Year’s Eve.
And, if you haven’t checked out the link on the right side of the page to our photos be sure to take a look!
