31 Days of Mountain Biking in Pictures

31 days. 4 states. 200+ miles. In July I did the 30 day ride challenge hosted by Trailforks and Anthill Films. The challenge was simple: ride each day, including at least one full trail as mapped on Trailforks. Tijeras, New Mexico trails My month started off with lots of rides close to home. Luckily, I […]

Quartz Mountain Nature Park

Quartz Mountain Nature Park was one of the original Oklahoma State Parks, although I’m not sure it’s still classified as a State Park.  It is still run by the state of Oklahoma and is very State Park like.  It is a gorgeous, unique area that is all the more precious because of the part of […]

Glendo State Park – eclipse time!

When I first found out I was pregnant, I already had plans for my due date- August 21- to go see the solar eclipse, but it looked a whole lot like I was going to have to change those plans.  For the whole nine months, I kept saying that I hoped baby would arrive a […]

Boswell State Park

Boswell State Park is not really a state park.  It was once an official Oklahoma State Park, but at one point, they reduced the number of state parks and Boswell was one of the ones that got dumped.  It’s the second no longer state park that I’ve visited in Oklahoma (the other being Heavener Runestone). […]

Lake Wister State Park

I have a lot of favorite places in Oklahoma, but I have to admit that the southeast part of the state is my favorite favorite.  It’s full of rolling hills and tree-covered mountains.  It is green in a way that nothing in New Mexico is green.  It’s the part of the state that I like […]

Red Rock Canyon State Park

Red Rock Canyon State Park is a very welcome respite when driving I-40 across western Oklahoma.  That drive is characterized by fairly flat farmland.  In contrast, Red Rock Canyon State Park is a small, luscious canyon lined with red sandstone walls that seems to appear out of nowhere. Unlike some of the Oklahoma State Parks […]

Black Mesa State Park

Black Mesa State Park is in the Oklahoma panhandle, above the Texas panhandle, both of which are known for being flat, hot, sunny, and perhaps dull places to have to travel through.  Most of these adjectives are probably actually true most of the time.  While I can appreciate a certain beauty to the sweeping, desolate, […]

Sequoyah State Park

They say first impressions are strong and the curvy, tree-lined road that leads into the Sequoyah State Park once you turn off of the main highway makes for a great first impression.  It’s the sort of road that has you feeling like just around the corner is something amazing waiting to be discovered, even though […]

Clayton Lake State Park New Mexico

I feel a need to add ‘New Mexico’ to the title because there is also a Clayton Lake State Park in Oklahoma, which I have also been to.  Clayton Lake State Park is probably most famous for having dinosaur footprints.  They were not originally visible, but were partially uncovered in the work they did on […]

Spavinaw State Park

Spavinaw State Park is one of eight that makes up what is collectively known as Grand Lake State Park.  I headed out there with kind of low expectations: I could see from Google Maps that it wasn’t a very expansive area and knew that it lacked cabins or trails.  Basically, it was looking like one […]