Osage Hills State Park - An Outstanding Oklahoma Outdoor Adventure (even though it rained)
Osage Hills State Park - An Outstanding Oklahoma Outdoor Adventure (even though it rained)
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
Dear Henry,
Saturday began gray and soggy, the kind of day that presses in on you until the walls of an apartment feel just a little too close. We couldn’t sit still any longer. Fish had mentioned a waterfall tucked away in Osage Hills State Park, and since waterfall photography actually benefits from rain, we decided to lean into the weather and head out.
Osage Hills State Park is one of Oklahoma’s original seven Civilian Conservation Corps parks, created during the Great Depression. Work on the park began in 1935, and the CCC’s handiwork is still visible throughout the landscape. Scattered across the park’s 1,100 acres are remnants of the workers’ stone structures, including guest cabins that, though updated for modern use, are the originals. There’s even an outdoor pool built in that unmistakable CCC style, solid and practical, meant to last.
The park offers a surprisingly varied experience. There are wooded hiking trails that wind through the hills, a well-stocked lake known as Lookout Lake, and, most importantly for us, Sand Creek Falls. With the steady rain feeding the creek, the falls were lively and loud, exactly what we’d hoped to find. Fish didn’t bring a fishing pole this time, but I suspect Lookout Lake will see us again.
We spent a couple of hours wandering the trails, dodging raindrops and letting the quiet soak in. The rain kept the crowds away, and the park felt almost private, mist rising off the water, wet stone darkened with age, and the sense that this place has been offering refuge for nearly a century.
We’ll definitely be back for a longer stay. I imagine Osage Hills is bustling during the summer months, but there’s something special about seeing it in the rain, when the waterfalls show off, and the park feels most alive.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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