Chandler Park with friends, metal detecting, and a surprize geocache

It all started with K2 posting something on Facebook. I wanted to run at Chandler Park (actually the WildWoods west of Chandler Park), and reading that K2 wanted someone to run 10ish miles with him led to an invite, and the plans were made. Terrianne had also responded to K2, and the three of us met in my driveway at 7:30 and left out to west Tulsa.

I started us out with an easy loop on the east side of the wilderness area, and I was a little disappointed to see that someone has been clearing land and making new roads. Some kind of development is forthcoming and I don't like it. But we got a little under three miles in before heading west to bigger hills and cooler trailz.

A lot of the trailz are actually double track (fancy-speak for two lane jeep roads) with some tight single track and some wide enough for 4-wheelers to maneuver through.


Terrianne and K2 wait for me--had to have a pee break. Shortly after that, we heard voices through the trees--kind of like something a fox would say if a fox could talk. And them lo and behold, Trail Jesus stood before us. TJ (aka John Nobles) was out with a few friends scoping out the course for a fat ass run called "The Worst Christmas Party Ever."
According to Cole Starkey, he and TJ

"have been spending the last few mornings on the trails. Every time we are out there my mind is blown, such variety and beauty throughout this otherwise unused trail system. It looks like we will be keeping our promise of using each trail only once to get to our 24. Will be going out Saturday and Sunday mornings as well if anyone wants to join in on the training and get a sneak-peek at this one-of-a-kind course."

The race supposedly finishes here--and if you are running and gunning it into the finish, you had better shut it down IMMEDIATELY after crossing the line. The first step past where Trail Jesus is standing is a big one.
The view from here is amazing. You can see forever (or all the way past Sand Springs, which is just like forever.)

From there, we went to the bottom of the 60' bluffs through a narrow slot between huge rocks.

I maintain that the earthquake a couple of years back caused these rocks to move closer together. I had to definitely turn sideways to get through. I even had to take off my Camelback. It could also be because I ate much dessert Thursday and again on Friday. As seen above, K2 also had to turn sideways. I offered him my BodyGlide to help with his passage but he made it without it.

I always like to take a different way out--just HATE going back the same way I came. I thought there was another trail that led out, and took great efforts to find it. But I finally gave in and we backtracked a 1/4 mile back the way we came. Next, it was the maze. Up on the upper plateau, there are jeep roads that just go on and on and on. The tall grass is 8' tall, and there are scrub trees, and persimmon trees, and BRIERS that are 8-10' tall, and you cannot see anything other than the gradually turning rutted out dirt roads. There are two ways out of this maze, and several turns that make giant one-mile circles. I was up here once late in the afternoon, and it got dark on me. I had a headlamp, but made three one mile circles before I found a way out. I DID not want to go in even ONE circle today, and was oh so careful to make sure I was making the correct turns. In one place we came onto a ginormous mud puddle with a swampy mud bog on either side of the road and man-eating briers licking their chops hoping we'd even try coming anywhere other than right through the middle of the mud. We turned around and took a road that I was sure a big circle going nowhere but where we had already been. But luckily, we found the road kept bearing south and it eventually came out on the Powerline. Good news.

This huge plot of undeveloped land has in years past been a good place for people to dump the cars they'd stolen and stripped--often setting them afire. Once on the Powerline, we saw one of these cars, stripped, burnt, and flipped over. The odd thing was that there was a brand new tarp tied to the back of the truck, and it appeared that someone had been living under the truck with the tarp serving as their enclosure. The remains of a campfire, a can opener and a few empty cans seemed to bear this out. Here, K2 takes a load off, relaxing as the inhabitants before him did.


We dropped down through a narrow hallway to get to the trailz that led eastward. Terrianne is still all smiles. She was a good sport.

This Powerline trail is about three miles long, and has longer and steeper climbs that Turkey Mountains Powerline trail. It seems like it's much further, and just when you think you've got to the top of a long climb, there is another 100 feet to climb.


There was a few groans once we topped what we though was our last limb, and saw we still had this.

Rather than going down the last hill, I took us north through the woods and on top of a ridge. This eliminated one downhill and uphill. I am sure we had done enough ups and downs. Besides, this is a nice trail.

One last climb, and it was flat all the way back to the park. We ended up with 9.7 miles, and took over 3 hours to do it. We had a few stops to chat with TJ, pee stops, and hey--it was not a race.

I love running here, except after a rain. I may go back tomorrow too. We'll see how my knee and ankle feel in the morning.

When I got home, I had a call from my brother Fiver, who wanted me to show him a couple of abandoned home-sites on Turkey, as well as the moonshine camp. He is into the metal detector thing, and wanted to see what kind of gold/silver coins he could find. I was glad to do that, and Jake was glad to go with me.

We hit the moonshine camp first, where there is a geocache hidden and I have not been able to find it despite having looked several times. Fiver descended into the lower level of the ruins and scanned his gadget over the ground and it beeped immediately. He said it was a tight signal and there was something there. And wouldn't you know it? He found that geocache in a matter of seconds.
I have paid my dues looking for this one, and even though I did not have a pen, I am claiming a find. (I did go back later with a pen and signed my name. It's official. I now have found every geocache on Turkey Mountain.

Metal detecting was otherwise not-so-good here because of all the tin laying around and buried in the ground. So, we left for the other abandoned home-site. I thought we'd have better luck there. But, here, there was so much trash laying around that every hit was an old buried aluminum or tin can.

The following BitStrips are mine and Fiver's take on our adventure.

Fiver DID find two pennies--both buried about 8 inches deep. He also found an earring--probably silver and if it's a diamond, it's a big one.

Fiver did say that there was too much trash laying around and buried for it to be a "good" place to search.

My story rock climbing at Chandler Part--the uncut version

Just west of downtown  on a hill overlooking the lazy Arkansas River lies Chandler Park. This park has many assets including a picnic shelters and restrooms, a public pool, several ball-fields, a disc golf course, a recreation center, and some of the most impressive bluffs and boulders in NE Oklahoma. These giant chunks of limestone are a playground for area rock climbers and rappellers.

There are trails meandering through the labyrinth from one end of the park proper to the other, and newcomers would do well to leave a trail of bread crumbs to find their way out. Being a trail runner, I run through the winding hallways at Chandler, and have led the TATUR group (Tulsa Area Trail Ultra Runners) on a couple of field trips, and recently helped put on a trail race through the maze.

But rock climbing (or bouldering) is the main draw to the these rugged trails. Climbing has always fascinated me. In the 1989 movie Star Trek V, where Captain James T. Kirk free solos the rock face for what he called the most important reason for scaling a mountain: because it is there. I like that. Then in the 1993 Stallone movie Cliffhanger,  Gabe Walker drops a fellow climber in the opening scene, and that cooled my jets somewhat--at least for 1000 foot cliffs. These 20-30' walls at Chandler are just my speed. This area offers dozens of short but sweet pocketed limestone ascents. Most routes, regardless of difficulty, are no longer than 40 feet, and the descent or approach is usually a third or fourth class scramble. Nearly every climb offers a tree or boulder to tie top-rope anchors, and some route have bolted anchors. Be wary if three leafed plants unless you like a good batch of poison ivy, and watch out for the 4 inch long orange centipedes, which sport a very painful sting.

It does not take a lot of gear to get into bouldering. I have scrambled up a semi-vertical face with my running shoes, my signature cargo shorts and a tech race shirt. Some more daring boulder scalers use a crash mat to cushion a fall. Bouldering is done closer to the ground and generally does not require ropes.
Rock Climbing includes bouldering, and can go to nose-bleed heights. You can spend bank on climbing gear. A climbing harness consisting of a waist-belt and leg loops, rock climbing shoes (the coolest looking yet most uncomfortable shoes ever), a climbing helmet, carabiners (and lost of them), ropes, and a belay device (used for securing the rope in order to secure a climber's progress, catching a fall, lower a climber, or reel in the rope to provide tension.)  A chalk bag, which makes climbers look even cooler,  is also necessity if you have sweaty hands.
The most important thing to have with you when trying bouldering or rock climbing, is a good spotter. Someone on the ground can steer you to good gripping slots for your hands, and good footholds. Hanging on like Spiderman may keep you from seeing a good series of grips which can get you to the top, but a friend on the ground can be your second set of eyes. The buddy system is always a good idea.
Last time I tried my hand (and feet) at bouldering, I visited with Jen Fraley, a transplanted Coloradoan, who was 30 feet up one of the more vertical climbs an Chandler Park. She was climbing with a friend, and was crawling back and forth the face of the wall with ease.

She asked me to un-snag her rope as I was heading back to my car after a trail run/boulder scramble outing. She reached the top, and then changed ropes and rappelled down the side in three hops. "wanna give it a try?" she asked.
"No--I am not quite ready for that--not yet anyway," I sheepishly answered. I told her she looked like a monkey climbing all over the face up there, and that even a short climb just zapped me out. She grabbed a Mountain Dew and gulped half the can in one swig, and changed out of her rock shoes. I was thinking they looked a lot like the minimalist shoes I was wearing, when she said "Nice shoes--hike in those too?"
"Yeah--these are actually running shoes, but they work pretty well for what climbing I do." She told me that this is the best climbing she has found since she moved here.
I told her she looked like a monkey climbing all over the face up there, and that even a short climb just zapped me out. "You know people think climbing requires really strong arms and fingers, but actually the real power in climbing comes from your legs," she said. "If you keep the weight on your feet instead of gripping and holding yourself with your arms, you won't tire as quickly."  That sounded like good advice to me.

Jen went on, "This should be a state park--here and especially the cliffs further down the road." (Avery Drive.) I agree. We talked for a few minutes about climbing, trail running, and how people who live in Tulsa and Sand Springs have no idea how amazing the views and rock formations are in Chandler Park.
There are several trail heads that take you right to the bluff trails. There is plenty of parking on top just north of the main road, and another trail entrance is on the lower level. Pack a picnic lunch, and take a hike at Chandler Park. And if you're daring, do some bouldering!

The heavily edited publication can be viewed here

Warrior Princess Angel Run

Saturday Chrissy and Michael Whitten put on the 3.5 year annual Warrior Princess trail Run.

This years event has moved from Keystone State Park moluntain bike trailz to Chandler Park. There were 40 or so runners who elected to do the longer event--running for 103 minutes through the labyrinth of trailz winding through the bluffs overhanging Avery Drive and the mighty Arkansas. A few of the crowd knew what awaited them once they dropped down into the maze, but I am sure a few were surprised.

RD Chrissy gives out some last minute directions. It has rained just before the race, and caution was issued due to the slick rocks and mud. Still, I didn't see any blood and only saw one person slip in a muddy descent.

Arena has a smile of confidence, having traversed these trailz once on a TOT field trip. Jenni was on board to help Mitch with the timing, and I particular like this pic because it shows it is possible to inflate a balloon to the point where it's bigger than Mitch's head.

The "GO!" was declared and we were off for 103 minutes to commemorate Little Lillian's 103 days here on this earth.

I ran with K2 for much of the way. We clicked off the 1.03 mile laps like clockwork, running each in 17 minutes and change. While there were not any tremendously long steep hills, there were a few ups and downs, and several sections where the trail was rocky enough that walking was a good choice.


A good portion (but not all) of the course was an out-and-back, so you got to see other people as they ran their race. "Good job", "keep it up", "looking good."

Picture taken by Ken Saveth

Because part of the trail was through narrow hallways between craggy rocks, every now and then it was momentarily crowded, but never a real problem. But if this race grows like I think it will, we may have to rethink the course.

Picture taken by Rafael Santiago

Chrissy had professional photographers on the course, and many many pictures will be available for viewing soon.

Unlike the Snake Run, there was no "finishing lap." If you were on the course after 103 minutes had passed, the lap you were on did not count. K2 and I finished with a mere 15 minutes to spare. I wanted to go out for another even though it was gonna have to be my fastest lap of the day. K2 was good with stopping at 5 laps, and I ran out hard to try to squeeze another lap in. All things were clicking, and I ran all but one brief uphill, and passed a few runners along the way.

Picture taken by Ken Saveth

Picture taken by Ken Saveth

Rounding the last corner, I crossed the Leap of Faith for a 6th time and made it in with almost 3 minutes to spare, meaning I had ran the loop in 12 minutes. I was very happy with that, and laid around for a few minutes composing myself. Results are not yet posted, but I will put a link here when they are. This is a race you will not want to miss next year.

Warrior Princess Angel Run

Mark this on your calendar--the Warrior Princess Angel Run is August 3rd at Chandler Park. My awesome friends Chrissy and Michael Whitten are moving the annual Warrior Princess Run from April to August, and giving it a new twist. This new race is sort of like the Snake Run in that it's not a prescribed distance, but a prescribed time. Whereas the April run at Keystone was 10.3 miles or 10.3 kilometers, this race is for 103 minutes. It'll be run on a loopy out-and-back through the maze of boulders at Chandler Park, which is an amazing place to see and run through!
 From the starting line near the rec center, you'll descend onto the trail from the west, and run alongside these amazing rock formations that are popular with rock climbers, rappellers, and boulder hoppers. You';; pop back out on top of the bluffs, and then descend again to a turnaround on the lower level of the park. From there, you'll return and you'll see your friends and competitors along the way. You'll run on top for a while, and then descend into the maze and we'll send you back up a hidden staircase where you'll get to traverse the Leap of Faith, a narrow crevice where sure footing and a little momentum will come in handy.

Run as many of these 1.03 mile circuits as you can in 103 minutes. You can stop at one, of crank out 10 or so of them if you wish. The trailz are a bit rocky in places, but runable most of the way. Near the end of the race, if you finish a lap and still have 13 more minutes to go, you can start another lap, and have the lap count even if you are a little over the 103 minute cutoff.

The medals have never disappointed. There are a few people who have them all, and seeing them all side by side makes me wish I had the whole set!

Another friend, Lauri Biby, put together this video which is worth a watch.
Don't miss this fun event. I am pretty sure there has never been a running event through these trailz, and it'll be an adventure!! CLICK HERE to sigh up.