Turner Falls

After our wedding, my wife and I took a short two-night trip across the border to Oklahoma City! Even though I grew up just a few hours from Oklahoma, I never spent much time in the "Sooner State".

We set off from Dallas in late morning, crossing over the border into Oklahoma just before lunchtime. Oklahoma has the largest Native American population of any state in the United States, and is home to the headquarters of nearly 40 federally-recognized tribes.

In July 2020, the US Supreme Court officially ruled that approximately half of Oklahoma land be returned to the Native American tribes in accordance with the treaties that the national government had ignored for several hundred years. It was interesting to see the tribal flags flying, often in place of the Oklahoma state flag. In fact, even at the state visitor center just across the Texas border, the Chickasaw Nation flag was flying instead of the state flag. 

Turner Falls Park is a park operated by the city of Davis, Oklahoma in the Arbuckle Mountains just across the Texas border. We arrived for lunchtime, and enjoyed a picnic we had carried with us. It was nice to be outdoors in the sunny Oklahoma summer, and we sat by the flowing green water of Honey Creek while we ate.

We were there to see the waterfall and do a little bit of hiking before heading on to Oklahoma City, but the natural features of the park aren't the only draw. In fact, one of the weirdest and most unexpected attractions at Turner Falls is Collings Castle!

Built in the 1930s by a local doctor as a getaway and personal project, the castle is built up in the hills out of local stone. Today, it's mostly a ruin, though you can still explore the winding passageways and empty rooms of the small castle. It's kind of odd, a little spooky, and a very neat thing to stumble across on your way to see a waterfall in Oklahoma!

The waterfall was, however, what we were actually there to see. The falls themselves are, at 77 feet, the tallest in Oklahoma. The water is fed from an aquifer up in the Arbuckle mountains, and falls into a cold, blue pool in the park. 

It was a hot afternoon, and lots of people were enjoying the day by swimming in the chilly water. We didn't have our swim suits, so we didn't get in the water, but I did stick my feet in. It felt nice!

We took a short hike on a nature trail, and ended up spending a few hours exploring the park. Oklahoma is actually quite pretty. I think it's sometimes a bit overlooked, but it was fun to explore a bit of the state.