taz223
ExplorationOutfitters.com
My fiancee and I headed out this weekend on our first trip with our new overland trailer, a used Sherpa II we purchased and modded. We gathered some route info from the guys at Central Overland, figured out our plan, loaded up the gear, and headed out!
Friday night, we headed up Hwy. 259 in Oklahoma to the 3-Sticks Monument, and then cut up the K-Trail until we got to the old Fire Lookout Tower, which was our intended campsight for Friday. We got in late, arriving at about 8:30PM, so the only pics I have from that evening are cooking dinner.
The weather was MUCH colder than predicted that night, and the winds had to have been blowing 50-60MPH all night long, which made for a VERY long night with little sleep. Somehow, even though we are both Oklahoma natives, had forgotten the golden rule of Oklahoma, which is no matter what the weather forecast is, plan for anything to happen. We woke up pretty early Saturday morning to continued 40-50MPH gusts and fog/drizzle. We decided to break camp pretty early and get off the top of the mountain before any more weather rolled in. But had to snap a pic or two before we left:
We headed down from the K-trail down County Road 4675 and followed it all the way down the mountain to Hwy. 63 in Muse, crossing a creek once and then cross a really cool old bridge across the Kiamichi River.
Caught a couple of beautiful rainbows while we were driving down the County Road.
We hit pavement for a short section on Hwy. 63 in Muse, OK until we got back off the pavement on County Road 1610 which led us to County Road 4664. Ran into a little critter along the way:
And had another critter riding along with us:
There is of course a back story behind this one. A couple of weeks ago Katie and I and some friends were fishing, and some how the conversation came up about if we were reincarnated as an animal, what we would want to be. Everyone answered, and of course, my answer was a squirrel. Everyone got a good laugh, but right before the trip, Katie came home with this squirrel beanie baby. Appropriately, its name was Nuts. So we decided that we would take Nuts on all of our travels, and take pictures of him in interesting places/situations. So there ya go. Cheesy yes, but cool at the same time. :victory:
County Road 4664 crosses Billy Creek right before the Billy Creek National Forest campground:
After driving County Road 4664 to its end, it brought us out onto one of the most spectacular stretches of pavement anywhere around, Talimena Scenic Biway. Unfortunately, the fog had beat us to the road, and there weren't many views to speak of.
We made a quick stop at a place called Horsethief Springs, which has a pretty interesting backstory.
Nuts enjoying one of the vistas off of Talimena Drive.
We took Talimena Drive all the way until it ends in Mena, Arkansas. Because of our afore-mentioned lack of preparation, we had to make a stop at Walmart in Mena to pick up some warmer clothes, grab some more ice, and then headed down Hwy. 8 to the Wolf Pen Gap ATV area. This area had come highly recommended from Wes (6string) at Central Overland, and I also had a lot of buddies at work who'd ridden 4-wheelers up there and said it was a blast. There are only a few roads there that are open to vehicles, but there are some fantastic camping spots. We found this spot right next to a beautiful little spring, and set up our home for the night. We actually had time to fully deploy the whole camp setup, and settled in for a great, albeit cold, night. Sorry for the lack of pics of the area, our camera skills seemed to have disappeared for the ride into Wolf Pen Gap.
My beautiful fiancée Katie.
I got busted taking a nap.
Sunday around noon we packed up camp and hit the highways back home in southern Oklahoma. We had a fantastic trip and it was a great first-time experience with the trailer. It pulled great, handled well, and met or exceeded all of our expectations. The only thing that sucked about the trip was the Tahoe sucking the gas... but that wasn't really surprising.
Thanks for lookin, hope everyone enjoys the trip report. If you've got questions, feel free to ask!
Matt
Friday night, we headed up Hwy. 259 in Oklahoma to the 3-Sticks Monument, and then cut up the K-Trail until we got to the old Fire Lookout Tower, which was our intended campsight for Friday. We got in late, arriving at about 8:30PM, so the only pics I have from that evening are cooking dinner.
The weather was MUCH colder than predicted that night, and the winds had to have been blowing 50-60MPH all night long, which made for a VERY long night with little sleep. Somehow, even though we are both Oklahoma natives, had forgotten the golden rule of Oklahoma, which is no matter what the weather forecast is, plan for anything to happen. We woke up pretty early Saturday morning to continued 40-50MPH gusts and fog/drizzle. We decided to break camp pretty early and get off the top of the mountain before any more weather rolled in. But had to snap a pic or two before we left:
We headed down from the K-trail down County Road 4675 and followed it all the way down the mountain to Hwy. 63 in Muse, crossing a creek once and then cross a really cool old bridge across the Kiamichi River.
Caught a couple of beautiful rainbows while we were driving down the County Road.
We hit pavement for a short section on Hwy. 63 in Muse, OK until we got back off the pavement on County Road 1610 which led us to County Road 4664. Ran into a little critter along the way:
And had another critter riding along with us:
There is of course a back story behind this one. A couple of weeks ago Katie and I and some friends were fishing, and some how the conversation came up about if we were reincarnated as an animal, what we would want to be. Everyone answered, and of course, my answer was a squirrel. Everyone got a good laugh, but right before the trip, Katie came home with this squirrel beanie baby. Appropriately, its name was Nuts. So we decided that we would take Nuts on all of our travels, and take pictures of him in interesting places/situations. So there ya go. Cheesy yes, but cool at the same time. :victory:
County Road 4664 crosses Billy Creek right before the Billy Creek National Forest campground:
After driving County Road 4664 to its end, it brought us out onto one of the most spectacular stretches of pavement anywhere around, Talimena Scenic Biway. Unfortunately, the fog had beat us to the road, and there weren't many views to speak of.
We made a quick stop at a place called Horsethief Springs, which has a pretty interesting backstory.
Nuts enjoying one of the vistas off of Talimena Drive.
We took Talimena Drive all the way until it ends in Mena, Arkansas. Because of our afore-mentioned lack of preparation, we had to make a stop at Walmart in Mena to pick up some warmer clothes, grab some more ice, and then headed down Hwy. 8 to the Wolf Pen Gap ATV area. This area had come highly recommended from Wes (6string) at Central Overland, and I also had a lot of buddies at work who'd ridden 4-wheelers up there and said it was a blast. There are only a few roads there that are open to vehicles, but there are some fantastic camping spots. We found this spot right next to a beautiful little spring, and set up our home for the night. We actually had time to fully deploy the whole camp setup, and settled in for a great, albeit cold, night. Sorry for the lack of pics of the area, our camera skills seemed to have disappeared for the ride into Wolf Pen Gap.
My beautiful fiancée Katie.
I got busted taking a nap.
Sunday around noon we packed up camp and hit the highways back home in southern Oklahoma. We had a fantastic trip and it was a great first-time experience with the trailer. It pulled great, handled well, and met or exceeded all of our expectations. The only thing that sucked about the trip was the Tahoe sucking the gas... but that wasn't really surprising.
Thanks for lookin, hope everyone enjoys the trip report. If you've got questions, feel free to ask!
Matt