Anxious to learn about Chickasaw Country, in general, and the Chickasaw National Recreational Area in particular, we began the day at the Chickasaw Visitor Center in Sulphur, OK.
It is a large beautiful building with an information desk (very friendly and helpful staff), educational displays, gift shop, art by local Chickasaw artists, literature about the area, and more. At the entry is this wall sculpture by Paul Moore (Voyages, 2013).
We both loved this painting, Bison Herd near Mt. Sheridan at Sunset, by L. Wayne Edgar ($4,500). The small gift shop had unique gifts.
With a map of the Chickasaw NRA in hand, we drove to the nearby Travertine Nature Center. There, a ranger gave us information about hiking trails (dogs are not permitted east of the Nature Center). The Travertine Creek flows underneath a portion of the Nature Center.
Inside are exhibits about the geology, wildlife, and plant life in the park.
Travertine Creek Trail begins near the Nature Center and continues for 1.5 miles to Pavilion Springs. With multiple small waterfalls along this part of the creek, one of the most popular for swimming is Little Niagara. The water is, reportedly, very cold, but it was such a hot day that there were lots of folks taking a swim.
Continuing on the trail we came to several more waterfalls.
When we arrived at this waterfall, our doggie, Sadie, walked right out on the rocks and laid down in the water to cool off on this very hot day.
The countryside here reminded us of North Carolina…which is not what I thought we would find in Oklahoma! A prickly pear, also seen along the trail, however, reminded us of Texas! This bee was very enamored with this bloom!
We arrived at Pavilion Springs where seven springs come together. It was once the center of the community of Sulphur and the center of the park. The water was believed to have healing powers. Various shelters were constructed over the springs in the past. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built the permanent pavilion that is still here.
We returned to the Nature Center along the Travertine Creek. There were many small streams that flowed into the creek along the trail. We saw lots of butterflies, but I only snapped a photo of this one.
Returning to the car, we ate our picnic lunch while sitting in the air conditioning! Our next stop in the park was at the Bison Pasture Overlook. We were lucky enough to see several bison slowly moving across the prairie, including a couple of young ones.
The herd here are descended from a group of 6 bison from the Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in western OK (1920). It is estimated that 50-75M bison roamed the prairies of the United States until settlers nearly wiped them out by the mid-1800s. In 1884 there were only 325 wild bison left in the US including 25 in Yellowstone National Park. Due to conservationism, today there are about 250,000 in private herds and 25,000 in public herds.
Our last stop for the day was at Veterans Lake. A fishing pier is located near the parking area.
A concrete-paved, handicap-accessible trail encircles the lake (2.9 mi). We only walked along a portion of it, enjoying the views of the lake.
There are six campgrounds in the park (3 in the Historic Pratt District and 3 in the Lake of the Arbuckles area), although none have full hook-ups for RVs. Lake of the Arbuckles is very popular for boating and fishing.
The Chickasaw NRA is a great place to cool off on a hot summer day. The area is a beautiful natural setting where you can enjoy time and activities outdoors. We enjoyed hiking along the well-maintained trails and learning about the history of the park. There is no admission fee.
For additional information about the Chickasaw NRA, go to www.nps.gov/chic.
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