With only a week to travel and go wheeling on Ultimate Adventure, it's always a challenge to find four or five good wheeling spots within short drives from one another. Luckily Editor Rick Pw has a nose for finding trails (and old Jeeps) in out-of-the-way places.In our last installment, we showed you our first two stops. For our final two trail days we explored the back hills of Oklahoma. Here are the places we wheeled.
Green Acres Off Road Park
We arrived at Rock Creek Off Road Park (formerly Green Acres Off Road Park) on the outskirts of Clayton, Oklahoma. It is private property owned by Rudy and Jim Haynes. With around 700 acres and more than a dozen trails ranging from 45 minutes to three hours to get through, this park is an excellent weekend destination. We camped out, but it has primitive accomodations which must be set up by appointment first. Otherwise there are three or four hotels in Clayton. The park is open 24/7 and costs $20 for a 24-hour pass. We stopped by trail leader Slim Williams' shop, Slim's Off Road (918.569.4289), where full machine and fabrication repairs are available. The park has many steep climbs and plenty of rocks for drivers looking to twist and crunch their rigs and is only 1 1/2 hours from Tulsa. Donnie Hargrove and the Fort Worth/Dallas-Four Wheel Drive club (FWD-FWD) not only devoted many hours to opening trails, but also helped lead our group through the wooded trails. If you are looking to go, get a hold of Rudy (918.448.2617) or Slim (918.569.4289), and stay tuned for a Web site coming soon.
Cavanal Hill
The final wheeling spot of our trip was Cavanal Hill outside of Poteau, Oklahoma. Led by Tim Simms and the crew from Sam's Offroad we spent the day trying to creepy crawl up (or throttle through if need be) some steep loose dirt and rocky hill climbs. Though this molehill may seem like a mountain, it is actually measured at 1,999 feet, just a foot shy of mountain status but enough to be the tallest hill in the county. If you want to go wheeling here you need to remember a few rules. Unlike many places, this is private property open to the public. But like every other trail, it's a pack out what you pack in type of place. The story is that many folks own the properties where some 20 miles of trails twist over the hill, so if you go, remember those folks are leaving it open to wheelers who are willing to take care of it. Another thing to remember is that these loose climbs are 10 times harder once it rains or snows. Even the locals stay home when it's wet. If you're ready to head to Poteau, you can find hotels in town like the Days Inn where we stayed (918.647.3510), plenty of auto parts stores, and the finest food and waitstaff at Warehouse Willy's (918.649.3400). To find your way to the trail contact Sam's Offroad (www.samsoffroad.com, 800.446.5503).