Robbers Cave

Monday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and made our way north to Oklahoma.  It was a little over 2 hours to reach Robbers Cave State Park.  After paying, we parked at the trailhead and set off on the Cave Trail.

Devil's Slide was right near the trailhead - it was a crevasse at an angle.

Going counterclockwise, we got on CCC Path and ended up going through a very narrow ravine, just wide enough to fit through.

A little fence lizard was in the ravine. 

I think we had gotten off the trail at this point, but managed to squeeze through.

Past the ravine, we came to Stone Corral, which is popular for rock climbing.

Then we looped around to the top of Stone Corral.

There were really nice views from up here - the viewshed was all forest, no development could be seen.

We stopped and had a break up here.  Although we had gone a short ways, all the rock scrambling and squeezing was a lot of work.

Some wildflowers were blooming up at the top.

Canada toadflax has pretty little flowers on a tall stalk.

Continuing on the loop, we made it to Robbers Cave, the park's namesake.  The cave isn't real big and it was easy to get into.

Finishing up the loop, we climbed into Devil's Slide, which was illuminated in the late morning sun.

After finishing up the loop, we ran into Wiliburton for fast food and then returned to hike the Rough Canyon Trail.

Phlox and cream indigo were flowering along the trail.

Soon the trail crossed the equestrian trail and met up with other trails, but we stayed on the light blue-blazed Rough Canyon Trail.

The trail led along the canyon with numerous places to scramble down.  I saw a cottonmouth under a rock along the stream bank.

There wasn't much water in the stream flowing through the canyon, but it was very rocky and scenic.

I got off the trail in a few places to scramble down for a view.

The trail then split and led away from the canyon and past Lost Lake.

We saw some birdsfoot violets flowering.

The last part of the trail looped back around.  We saw a fiery searcher beetle on the trail.

Some more wood-sorrel were flowering as well.

We finished the trail back up at Robbers Cave Trailhead.

From here, we drove about 2 hours west to Davis and checked into La Ville Inn.  The Safari Room was really beautiful and it was a very nice room.  We got pizza for dinner in town and then went to bed.