Turkey Mountain, It’s Been a Long Time!

I‘ve spent plenty of time at Turkey Mountain – but it’s been a while. Believe it or not (I barely do myself), I even participated in a mountain bike race at Turkey once. And around that time, I went mountain biking with friends several times, for fun. Although mostly I remember feeling scared of rocks – I’m not exactly a natural when it comes to mountain biking. Joss and I have gone hiking at Turkey more than once in his nine years, but I’ve been meaning to try out some of their new trails for over a year (or two) now. And guess what? Over winter break, we actually made it out to Turkey twice!

Tvlse Nene Trail

The main trail I wanted to check out was their new family-friendly Tvlse Nene trail. It’s a one-mile, hiking-only trail. And it’s paved with gravel so was open on a day that the trails were closed to cyclists for being too muddy.

The Tvsle Nene trail is located south of the main, lower parking lot. Go past the climbing rocks, and you’ll find a fork in the path. The right side leads to a cycling-only trail (Bomb Cellar), and the left is Tvlse Nene. While there were a few small hills as the trail wound through the woods, it was definitely a fairly easy hike for us. And the trails were well marked so you knew how far you’d traveled. We didn’t get lost once!

Natural Stone Staircase

Because our one-mile hike on the Tvlse Nene trail didn’t take too long, we wanted to check out another new(er) feature at Turkey. Oklahoma’s largest natural stone staircase opened around January 2023 – so again, this isn’t a brand-new feature, but I hadn’t seen it yet. Although the trails are marked much more clearly than when I’ve been in the past (I remember having to check trees for spray painted trail markers), we struggled slightly to figure out which trail the staircase was located on.

In all honesty, the stairs are indeed notated on the helpful trail map – but I wasn’t 100% confident that the “stairs” labeled on the map were indeed the stairs we were searching for (they were). And there was a sign letting hikers know which trail to take for the stairs, but it had fallen over and been moved to the wrong trail when we got there. Someone fixed it later, so we found what we needed.

Thank you to whoever moved the sign back to its proper place! The stairs are on the lefthand trail.

Once we figured out the right trail, the stairs weren’t difficult to find. And when we got to the top, we found a Gilcrease in Your Neighborhood installation, which was fun! Sadly, these installations are coming down soon, as Gilcrease focuses on getting the new building up and running. So I’m glad we got to see it before it was gone.

The staircase was very beautiful. And of course, Joss, like many kids, loves climbing on rocks, so I’m glad we took the time to find it. It is also located on a hiking-only trail.

View from the bottom

Upper Trails

On January 1, Turkey Mountain hosts First Day Guided Hikes. So that was our plan. However, the lower parking lot was much fuller than we’d anticipated (although I did have a feeling that might be the case). Plus, we were running a bit behind. So we ended up parking at the upper lot and doing our own, non-guided hike. The guided hike would’ve been about an hour. Our solo hike ended up being close to two hours, and there were definitely moments we weren’t exactly sure where we were.

Pretty mural off the upper parking lot

Joss and I had taken a hike from the upper parking lot to the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA when it first opened. So I thought it would be fun to do that again. However, we ended up starting out on a different trail (Tiger Muffin, if you’re curious. Joss got a huge kick out of the trail names). I eventually missed the turnoff to the YMCA, so we never got there. There was still plenty of beautiful “urban wilderness” to explore, however. And although the day was a brisk 41 degrees, it was plenty warm – I ended up taking off my coat midway through.

Anyway, although the trails really are marked pretty well, there are so many trails that I definitely recommend downloading the map if you’re not a frequent visitor. We also found out that Pokémon Go was helpful. The main trails are marked on the Pokémon Go map – so between that, the official map and the trail markings, we eventually figured out where we were and headed back to the parking lot.

The view from the upper parking lot is lovely, and if you are up there with a bike, there are some fun jumps and challenges!

Visiting Turkey Mountain

Anyway, winter may not be the most beautiful time to get out in nature. But it was so nice to get out of the house and move around. And the 41-degrees, sunny afternoon was certainly preferable to the summer heat.

If you want to visit Turkey Mountain, it’s located at 6850 S. Elwood Ave. You can also access the new REI and a Dutch Bros. drive-thru off of Elwood, if you need some supplies before you arrive.

Curfew is 11 p.m.-5 a.m. daily. And you can find additional rules at riverparks.org/experience/turkey-mountain

Make sure your phone is charged, and pack snacks and water!

Which trails are you most familiar with at Turkey Mountain?