Above: Julie Monigold Roberds’ photo of the Lake Okmulgee Spillway The sun, low in the November sky, illuminates the yellow leaves of an overhanging tree; I duck beneath it, hopping from boulder to boulder on the shore of Lake Okmulgee. The water sparkles with late afternoon reflections but I’m attracted more by the huge limestoneContinue reading “Okmulgee Lake Rising: A Pilgrimage”
Category Archives: Scenic Photography
Gallery: Autumn in the Ozarks
Images from a few days at Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas, late October, 2016.
Gallery: The West is the Best
Hiking in southern Utah and northern Arizona in September of this year, I pinched off twigs of sage along the trail as I passed, crushing the leaves and blossoms with my fingers and cupping my hands to my face to inhale the scent, a scent I didn’t want to release. A few weeks later, theContinue reading “Gallery: The West is the Best”
The “Natural Mounds” of Caddo County
West of Oklahoma City — way out past Hinton and nearly to Hydro — the casual observer driving along Interstate 40 might catch out of the corner of his eye some mounds to the south upon the prairie. They’re easy to miss, since such physical features are unexpected amid the flatness, and one’s eyes areContinue reading “The “Natural Mounds” of Caddo County”
Found on The Great Golden Way
The latest issue of Oklahoma Today (September/October 2016) features my article, “The Great Golden Way,” which tells the story of a trail that crossed Oklahoma in the 1800s, the California Road. It began in Fort Smith, Arkansas and carried fortune-seekers to Santa Fe, New Mexico on their way to the gold fields of California, startingContinue reading “Found on The Great Golden Way”
Gallery: Sacred Indeed
It’s pristine, easy to access, and historically important. It’s also remote and seems to be relatively unknown, and the fact that few people know about it is probably a good thing. The grounds of Sacred Heart Abbey, near Konawa, Oklahoma are a place of peace and calm and mystery. It’s a quiet place to walk,Continue reading “Gallery: Sacred Indeed”
Spring Hiking in the Ozarks
The dogwoods are in bloom; the redbuds are still flowering; and wildflowers are beginning to dot the landscape in violets and yellows as things green up in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. Bill and I spent the last couple of days with my parents, Jane and Jack Morgan, at their home on Beaver LakeContinue reading “Spring Hiking in the Ozarks”
Waiting for Daylight: The Lost Girls Tackle the Ozark Highlands Trail
“Girls, it’s 5:35!” “Thank God,” I think as I hear Mary’s words. Nights are long on the trail in late October. The sun sets early and there we are in camp, 13 hours of darkness ahead. Even a camp fire provides amusement for only so long. The four of us have been together all dayContinue reading “Waiting for Daylight: The Lost Girls Tackle the Ozark Highlands Trail”
Canyonlands
Grand in scale, a feast for the senses, a place of (at times) terrifying beauty, Canyonlands National Park (http://www.nps.gov/cany/) is one of Utah’s many natural wonders. It preserves nearly 350,000 acres of towering spires, deep canyons and powerful rivers in the high desert of southeast Utah. One of its highlights is the White Rim Road,Continue reading “Canyonlands”
Don’t Forget Winona
We left the Overland Expo the afternoon of Sunday, May 17 with Chris and Laura to drive north on the Arizona Backcountry Discovery Route, picking it up just east of Mormon Lake, where the expo was located. We had dry weather — a nice change — but made slow progress on the deeply rutted forestContinue reading “Don’t Forget Winona”
susan dragoo 