“Soundscape with Music” from Oklahoma State Parks Who ever said the high plains were boring? Cacti in the morning sun.An Eco-therapeutic virtual walk of Black Mesa, Oklahoma My car’s compass probably would have guided me just fine. The dirt roads have a couple of forks en route between Black Mesa and US-160. This allowed me to punch in a town in Colorado on google maps and load directions for the return trip. By some miracle, I picked up a brief trace of cell signal atop the mesa. Descending from the top of Black Mesa.īefore long I was back at the car. I’m a big sucker for educational signage. You’ll also find plenty of educational signage along the route. Give yourself a good three-to-four hours to complete it at a relaxed pace. Round trip, this hike clocks in at 8.5 miles. Where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain Western states feel weirdly close together on the Oklahoma Panhandle. Did you know Cimarron County, OK is the only county that borders four other states? Those would be Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas. Carved into it were some other geography facts. A stone obelisk marks Oklahoma’s high point atop Black Mesa.Įach side of the monument highlighted its geographic relation to points near and far. I signed the register in a small canister at its base. The obelisk sits just 1200′ from the New Mexico border. In short order, I arrived at the stone obelisk marking Oklahoma’s high point. Basalt’s black appearance gives the mesa its name. Hence a table-top-like formation got left behind. The hills eventually eroded away, but the protective layer of basalt shielded the mesa itself from erosion. A massive volcanic eruption filled the valleys between these hills with basaltic rock. Three-to-five million years ago, higher hills surrounded the present-day mesa. But it exists as part of a much larger formation stretching for 50-ish miles through Colorado and New Mexico. Dry shrubs and snow patches on the high plains of Oklahoma in early February.īlack Mesa runs 10-ish miles through New Mexico before peaking into Oklahoma for its final three miles. Without a trail and marker, it would be more or less impossible to find. I worked my way along the mesa-top for another mile to the official “high point”. This being early February, patches of snow from a recent storm dotted the trail. Straw-colored vegetation stretched out across the large, flat expanse. The fine folks of the Sooner State have even placed a scenic bench midway up the incline.Ītop the mesa, I was greeted by some brilliant, golden sunshine. The jeep road ascends via a couple of steep-ish switchbacks. Roughly 500′ of that comes in a brief, 1-mile ramp up the side of Black Mesa. Reaching the state high point from the car park involves 700′ of elevation gain. Then it turned sharply towards the mesa and approached its brief climb. It traveled parallel to the steep slopes of the mesa itself. The first 2.5 miles remain flat to sloping. The trail began as a gently rolling dirt road (off-limits to vehicles). Hike signage en route to Black Mesa, Oklahoma’s highest natural point. (Just maybe not for folks arriving from the Colorado side!). And the locals have clearly invested in a safe and comfortable recreation experience for visitors. Black Mesa hosts the highest point in the great state of Oklahoma. The large parking area featured pit privies, picnic benches, and interpretive signs. I saw precisely zero other people on my hike that morning. But the area still feels relatively remote. In fact, if you approach Black Mesa from the south, via Kenton, you never leave pavement. To be clear, today’s Oklahoma Panhandle has plenty of towns, villages, and improved roads. It became a haven for outlaws, cowboys, and settlers claiming squatters’ rights. It fell under the purview of no state government, in an era long before the FBI. Approaching the slopes of Black Mesa, Oklahoma, at dawn.Ĭongress called it the ‘Public Land Strip’ but most nicknamed the area “No Man’s Land”. After Texas surrendered lands north of this boundary, this left a conspicuous 34-mile thick gap between the aforementioned states. And the Missouri Compromise of 1820 set the northern boundary of slavery at 36.5 degrees north latitude in the West. The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 set the southern borders of Kansas, Colorado, and Utah at 37 degrees north latitude. What an introduction to the Oklahoma Panhandle! I pleaded with the Universe not to give me a flat tire. Just 20 miles shy of the border with Oklahoma, I pulled off onto a dirt county road. The next two hours involved driving down increasingly spare roadways through the far southeastern plains of the Centennial State. My day began around 4:30 am in La Junta, Colorado.
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