Scenery From Northwestern Oklahoma

              We wanted to go somewhere new so we took about a 2 1/2 hour drive, heading north, then west.

Here is the Cimarron river, just north of Guthrie.

 

 

Here is the same river just outside of Fairview, about 5 miles from our destination.  This is probably 120 miles further northwest from the first picture.  The river here is only about one 4th the size.

 

                                                   Have you guessed yet where we were going?

Here is a little hint.

 

 

Located in the northwestern part of Oklahoma, these mesas just seem to sprout out of the surrounding plains.  There's nothing much else around and then boom, here they are.

 

                                                  Almost makes you think of Arizona.

 

                        This picture was taken from the parking lot of Gloss Mountain state park

 

 

This picture was taken from near the top of one of the little mountains in the state park, looking down at the parking lot below.  I think the sign said that it is about 200 feet high.

 

 

There is lots of gypsum and selenite in the soil. When the sun hits it just right it sparkles, that's why they were called the Glass Mountains.

This sign tells you how the place got its name.  Or names.  Whatever.

After looking at a few photos, they all kind of start to look the same.

                                              Here you can see the different layers of soil.

 You can see for quite a ways in this picture.

 

 

Lots of open country up here.  Lots of yellow wildflowers also.  Probably lots of coyotes too.

Scenery such as this stretches along 18 miles or so of highway.  This is about as good as it  gets in northwestern Oklahoma.  And it's not bad to look at.  Not at all.

These pictures are of Canton Lake, at the swimming area by the dam.  It has been a dry couple of years and where there should be water for people to swim in, there are now tumbleweeds growing. 

See that line of buoys stretching across the sand?  Ordinarily that would be the outside limit of the swimming area.  Now the lake doesn't even begin until 60 or 80 feet past those buoys.

 

 

I had never been in this part of the state before and it was a pleasant little day trip.