Google tells us that we visited Foss State Park on March 9, 2020. Neither of us have any recollection of being here, other than maybe driving along a big, long dam. It looks like we were only here from 8:30 pm to 9:30 am, so I guess we didn't see any of the park.
Honestly, there's not a lot to see here. The park is centered on a Foss Lake. According to Wikipedia, "Foss Reservoir, also known as Foss Lake, is in Custer County, Oklahoma on the Washita River, about 15 miles west of Clinton, Oklahoma. The reservoir was constructed during 1958–1961 by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The project was known originally as the Washita Basin Project."
It's a wind-whipped campsite, perched on the edge of Foss Lake. Hopefully we won't fly away overnight.
There's a whole lot of wind whipping across the nearly 14 square mile body of water. Though the sun is warm, the wind chill is pretty harsh. We set up our little tent in a bit of a low spot next to the campsite parking, telling ourselves the tent will be a bit protected from the wind that way (it won't be). Since it's not supposed to rain tonight, Glen lashed three of the four sides of the tent fly tight to the tent to help reduce the amount of wind blowing through the tent and the amount of noise from the tent fly flapping. Will report back tomorrow on how that worked out.
We took a little walk around the "heart healthy" trail through some tall grasses. The map and the trail itself bore no resemblance to one another. Boy, that bugs me! Eventually we came out in another campground and then walked back along the park road to our site.
Three hikers, all in a row, traverse the red soil path through dry, scratchy grasses.
Trees are in various states of early spring waking up.
Pretty light in the late afternoon.
Both of us showered this evening! Woohoo! We used the giant handicapped shower room that even had a little heat - a nice change from some of the other cold, cramped quarters at other state parks. Boy, I miss my bathtub!!
We hope to hit the road early tomorrow and maybe stop in Oklahoma City for a vegan breakfast at the Sunnyside Diner.
That will help fortify us for our long drive to Lake Fort Smith State Park in Mountainsburg, Arkansas, where we will stay for two nights.
As a side note, the quality our diet has been deteriorating the last few days. Two nights ago we had cold baked beans from a can we couldn't get open correctly, so Glen tore part of the top off, leaving a jagged edge to contend with as we ate that and canned corn in the tent. This morning it was too cold to cook and we were out of lots of things, so I ate triscuits for breakfast. Lunch was a bag of potato chips and a bag of Pirate's Booty and water to drink. I'm happy to report we had a big stirfry of vegetables for supper - and we were able to resupply some groceries before coming to the park.
All is well.
Foss Reservoir, OK. I camped there in 1967. It was memorable because there were a bunch of scissor tail flycatchers fluttering around. Never saw one before or since. I couldn't remember the name of the place until you blog jogged my memory.
Oh, the things we eat under duress, makes me shutter!!
Jeff, a really smart guy named Albert Einstein said “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
I'm pretty sure we're not smart enough to engineer ecosystems. We've certainly made a mess of things so far, and thinking we can somehow fix the damage by force, or ingenuity is a bit dubious at best.
Sounds like you found the solution to having to wash dishes/pans.....eat from the can, bag, or box! I sure hope you are able to enjoy a good, hot breakfast at the Sunnyside Diner, their menu looks great.
Next year we'll still have no memory of ever being here before. It is amazingly unremarkable. As generic as they come. Being a Federal Bureau of Reclamation project helps to explain why. Also known as the Bureau of Wreck-the-Nation, which was responsible for so many generic dams throughout the arid West. Many were, and still are, ecological disasters that will someday hopefully be removed by the Bureau of Restoration, in my dreams.