Alabaster Caverns Oklahoma State Park

Friday evening, we visited with a very nice local couple who were camped in the site just across from us at the Black Mesa State Park. Being from Oklahoma, they had camped at many of the state parks. When asked where we were headed next, I said we were going  about 250 mile east called Boiling Springs. It was their opinion that it was not the best choice and that we should consider another park called the Alabaster Caverns State Park. It has a very interesting cave that can be toured.

That night there was a really loud thunderstorm with lots of heavy rain and some small hail. We felt sorry for the tent campers, and for one guy that drove in during the height of the storm with a pop up camper.  By morning we noticed most of the RV spaces were filled. Several more boats had arrived in the night.

We pulled out around 9:30 AM, and were able to stop for gas, diesel fuel, and a few groceries on the way. It was a good thing I consulted the Rand McNally Navigator for these services early in the day, because there was only one town, Guymon, on the way that had larger stores.

The Alfa at the end of this empty row of spaces

When we arrived at the Caverns I felt a bit foolish for having called ahead,  and paying the extra $5.00 fee for a reservation.  I do feel more comfortable knowing we have a space, but in this case the campground was almost empty! I took the above picture on Sunday morning. There had been a couple of other rigs there the day before. When we pulled out on Monday, we were the last to leave.

In addition to some cottontails and birds, we left this guy to hold down the fort so to speak.  He, or she, is the first Horny Toad I have seen. He was a lot smaller than I expected. Not much bigger than the regular toads I am accustomed to.

We joined one other couple on the tour of the cave on Sunday. 

Cave entrance

In this image the rocks look purple. Although they did have a slight purplish cast it was not this intense.  I found it impossible to get the color right in any of the images I took with my little camera. No flash was allowed.

This picture is a close up of a translucent section of the cave wall. The color is fairly accurate. The slight green is algae.

Our guide was a young local gal now working for the park service. She spotted this salamander and kept her light on him while I took his picture. She said that when she was a kid she would catch salamanders like this in the water meter holes and play with them. I remember checking the water meter at our house in Texas and finding a scorpion.

It was an interesting cave tour. Later in the day we saw many people waiting for the next hourly tour outside of the ranger station.  I'm glad we went early.  

It became quite hot, probably in the 90's, later in the day. Too hot for a walk. We relaxed in the Alfa, Craig watching a soccer game, and I doing some stitchery. Just a laid back Sunday afternoon.

Life is good.