I recently took a trip to Oklahoma to see some friends, visiting Robbers Cave State Park in Wilburton.
A cicada husk:
A photo from the cabin grounds, where we stayed:
Lake Carlton:
Permanent cornhole setup:
Here are a bunch of photos of the cave path mountain area. There were marked trails but I don’t think we walked on any of them here.
This looks nearly non-traversable but it’s because of the angle. This was a narrow passageway between the rocks:
The view facing the opposite way:
I was able to squeeze through this opening here, though not easily. I got a nice scrape on my water bottle doing so. There was a way around it but I didn’t know about it until my way back down:
Some shots as I was climbing up:
Notice the tree leaning over there on the right. That path is the only way to go ahead, and in drops down rather far on the left. Had to be careful:
I think this was at the highest I climbed, looking back. The sloped surface wasn’t easy to walk over, but it’s hard to tell from the photo:
Thrift store camera:
Found this little guy as we were leaving the cave trails:
Really curious why “robbers” is a plural noun in the title, and not a possessive one. The area was known to be a hideout for outlaws around the Civil War years, so a plural possessive designation makes more sense to me. I didn’t see any robbers there, for the record, not the remains of any.
2 Comments
Excellent photos; you captured at least two items that didn’t turn out for me. You are correct on the grammar of the park’s name. The robbers would have hidden all over this area, so not actually going to the official cave isn’t that meaningful historically. There were any number of paths that could have been taken to flee troops and police, not to mention very easily defended hideouts. Those who knew the area had a huge advantage.
Everyone thought Oklahoma Territory was just a wasteland and stuck the native tribes there. Robbers who didn’t mess with the Indians were safe. During the Civil War, as troops were moved into the area, they discovered how wrong they were about the place, so they incrementally stole it back from the tribes.
So we have a hideout if we need one. Now we just need that Choctaw donut recipe and we’ll be all set.