Discover Oklahoma: Spring beckons with outdoor activities

By Ron Stahl

Published: March 23, 2008

Spring is a tease.

She peeks at us from behind the corners of February and occasionally blows us a warm but fleeting kiss. In early March, she coaxes the daffodils and Easter lilies from their winter beds, promising a warm welcome, then gleefully covers them with snow.

She offers winter-weary people a glorious T-shirt day and then laughs at us as we pull on our winter coats again. She brushes carelessly by us and paints the barren forest with blooming dogwoods and makes us wait weeks for other trees to bloom and bud.

Perhaps the tantalizing path to springtime makes her actual arrival so welcome.

If you have been housebound and ache for the chance to get outdoors, Oklahoma's agritourism attractions offer some wonderful ways to shake off the winter blues. Spring, after all, is when nature begins to show us her finery.

If it's flowers you seek, the Muskogee Azalea Festival in Honor Heights Park offers beautiful blooms through April, and Blackwell's Tulips A Bloom Festival is a blaze of beauty April 12.

The Dogwoods bloom in Idabel on April 4-5, and they will celebrate with Dogwood Days. The Jenks Herb and Plant Festival will feature plants and entertainment April 26.

Of course, the grapes at Oklahoma's wineries are budding, too, and The Grape Ranch at Okemah will hold a Bud Break Party on April 19. Spring, it seems, is good enough reason for a party.

Perhaps the structure of a festival is too confining for your wild soul, so think about getting out in the wild.

There are few better ways to experience spring than from the back of a horse, and spring trail rides will put you out where the wild things are. There are 44 listings online at TravelOK.com for horseback riding opportunities.

April 24-27, the J-D Trail Riding Camp in Smithville will take its annual spring mountain trail ride through some of the prettiest country in southeastern Oklahoma.

In western Oklahoma, the prairie wildflowers are the big attraction at the Kids Against Hunger Benefit Trail Ride at Gloss Mountain Outfitters on May 3.

Lake Murray, Roman Nose, Robbers Cave, Lake Thunderbird, Beavers Bend, and Sequoyah state parks all feature riding stables.

If you are not comfortable on horseback, there are plenty of other ways to celebrate spring. The spring bird migration has begun, and Oklahoma has some of the best bird-watching in America.

In southeastern Oklahoma, Red Slough is a haven for migrating waterfowl, including some species you expect to see only in tropical settings.

The Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge at Jet and the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge at Vian also hold huge populations of birds in spring. There are self-guided tours available, and you can take an automobile through both refuges or hike the nature trails.

The Salt Plains Birding and Heritage Festival will be April 26-27 and features guided birding tours, games and entertainment.

The children aren't into bird-watching? Wild Things Farm at Pocola probably has something they will like. There are hayrides, a petting zoo, and pick-'em-yourself fruits and vegetables in season. Wild Things Farm will hold a Spring Festival on May 3. The best part is that most everything is free on that day.

"We just kind of feel like it is our contribution to the community,” owner Cathie Greene said. "We held our first one last year, and we were really surprised at how many people came. I guess it's because people are just ready to get out of the house. Traditionally it has rained on that day, but last year was beautiful, and we're hoping for a beautiful day again this year.”

The Agritourism section of the state Tourism and Recreation Department Web site, TravelOK.com, lists 42 private destinations that offer birding or wildlife watching, many with cabins where you can make it a week or a weekend.

The Triple S Wildlife Ranch near Calvin has an unusual photographic wildlife safari that is like being on safari. The ranch can show you bison, yaks, elk, zebras, black buck antelope, water buffalo and other exotic animals. The safari package includes lodging, but you can also take the wildlife tour without spending the night. For more information, go online to www.sss-ranch.com

The Hackamore Oklahoma Outdoor Experience is spread across three ranches in western Oklahoma and features outstanding scenery and an opportunity to see lesser prairie chickens perform their spring mating dance. That spectacle is available from late March through May. The ranches also hold flocks of wild turkey, whitetail deer and active prairie dog towns.

While there are organized ways aplenty to embrace spring, you also easily can make your own entertainment.

Spring camping can be some of the best of the year. The weather isn't exactly balmy yet, but the warm days and the cool nights are perfect for the outdoors.

Hiking trails abound in Oklahoma's state parks and recreation areas. A walk in the woods in spring will reveal nature in its most active time. The chorus of bird calls, the rustle of the breeze through new leaves and the flowers peeking from the forest floor's debris is entertainment of the highest order.

It is a welcome change from winter's sleepiness and the fulfillment of spring's shy teases.

Stahl is a feature reporter for the "Integris Health's Discover Oklahoma” TV program.

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