OAT - Day 2 Hugo into the Kiamichi Mountains
Given the rain the during the night we were in no hurry to get started on day 2. We got a good sleep and went and found breakfast. Trying to give things a bit of time to dry out a bit.
We only will make 136 miles on Day 2.
Somewhere around 9 Am we saddled up and headed out. But first we made a stop to see the Circus Cemetery. Back in the day it seems Hugo, Okla. was an off season spot for the traveling circuses to winter. And so a good number of circus people ended up here. Interesting.
Well we headed out of town and checked the dirt roads that make the OAT route. Sure enough they were muddy and slick. Too bad for us to try and slug it through. So we hopped on highway and figured we would try to pick up the route as it heads north from Broken Bow.
This turned out to be a good decision. The roads were better. Still wet and slick in some spots. So had to ride slow. The road surface would change in an instant and we were being pretty cautious. But as we worked our way up into the Kiamichi mountains, the scenery was very nice.
We also altered our route from the published OAT route. I tried to take us through some back forest roads and get over to ride the kTrail from Indian Highway then east on the kTrail. These back forest roads turn out to be 2 track and some sweet riding. Slow but very nice right up the ridge on top of a mountain.
The problem is we got back in there about 15 or 20 miles and it started getting dark on us. There was supposed to be a road that turned off down the mountain. But there was just no road to be found. So we camped right there on top the mountain. Took 30 minutes to get a fire going everything was so wet. And it was too much work to keep it going. So we sipped Jack Daniels and watched the fire die out.
Here is how we tried to cut across to kTrail. This is not the way the published OAT route goes.
Here is where we were stopped by a locked gate.
The next morning we headed on down the trail.
But we had to back track due to the locked gate. We lost a good bit of time due to the mud and this closed road. But this was really very good riding and we just did not care. If we do not do the whole route, we get to come back and try again!
Making our way out to the highway.
It was slow going. The roads were still muddy and slick. We finally made the pavement and headed north to pick up the OAT route. This made us give up trying to ride kTrail. But we know there are some very big mud holes on kTrail. And with all this rain .....
We passed by the entrance to the Talamina Drive. A sweet bit of 2 lane highway over the Winding Stair Mountain. If you have never ridden this, it is highly recommended.
Finally we got linked up with the published OAT route somewhere north of the Talamina Drive. There was another road on our Garmine map that no longer was there. We burned up a lot of time trying to navigate. Finally we got on the route and pressed on. Not too many pics of the afternoon of day 3. But we had some decent back roads heading north.
We ended the day in Sallisaw, Ok at a KOA camp ground. Nice camp ground . We had only made 150 miles on day 3. And, there was a larger front forecast to move in with more rain the next 2 days.....
They even provided wood for a nice fire at this camp ground. We got to relax around the camp fire with some Jack Daniels and enjoy a pleasant evening. At least there was no rain on this night.