Prairie Backpacking – Options?

Not sure where you are in Oklahoma, but the Black Mesa area looks promising.

Just over the Oklahoma/Colorado  (not far  from above) line are the Comanche Grasslands. Picture Canyon has an ~15 mile loop you can do.  Fantastic 18th century pictrographs abound and even older archeoastronomical sites.

On a similar note, the Kiowa Grasslands of New Mexico near where the OK and CO borders meet has a wonderful canyon that could make for some interesting backpacks.

PM me if you want more details on the second and third options. Never been to the first.

Depending on where you live in OK, these three areas may be within the four – five  hour drive limit I personally have for a weekend trip (assuming I leave Friday after work).

EDIT: Ah…see you said MULTIDAY.  Never Mind. :)

Eh, multiple-day for me doesn’t need to be linear, and it doesn’t need to exclude backtracking, either. I like walking, and I’d like to walk through a prairie for a couple days. :)

Thanks for your suggestions! I’ll look into those locations.

Edit: I had found a few parks and refuges with beautiful prairies, but I’ve yet to find one that actually lets one camp on them (probably because all that I’ve found have roaming herds of bison).

Second Edit: Right after posting this thread, I noticed that there’s efforts to form a Great Plains Trail. I might have to track the projected route and see if it routes through pre-existing trails. :) http://www.greatplainstrail.org/

That’s the spirit!

I’ve really enjoyed my times on the High Plains. The wife and I went to the Kiowa Grassland last weekend.  Where we went is a 20 mile long canyon that is 1000 ft off the plains. Easily spend a long weekend or more at leisurely pace.   WE camped there, but I think it would make a very good backpacking destination.

I made the canyon a little obscure, but easy enough to Google for those interested.  (or PM me :) )

I wrote this article for Trail Groove magazine that you may like, too…  I mention the GPT.  Steve and I have corresponded a bit. There is a person thru-hiking this route now!

Finally, all my High Plains jaunts are up on my website if you want to see the pretty pictures. :)

I’ve been enjoying this area since it is often off the beaten path. And it can be very beautiful.

That article is great! I’ll have to bookmark it for later. Referencing some of your suggestions in your links/article, I found this wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Grassland

I noticed Fort Pierre offers dispersed camping, and Pawnee has dispersed camping according to their forestry service site (http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recreation/recarea/?recid=32173). It’s no hiking trail, but a grassland is generally easy enough to traverse.

This has been a useful thread. :) I’ll have to look up these other grasslands and see if they allow dispersed camping.

The Great Plains Trail Association is working on a big route from Canada to Texas. Checkout the pieces of their puzzle online. The longest single trail that I have found is in North Dakota, Maah Daah Hey Trail. Very nice reviews here. When I head out to the grasslands, I plan for a lot of driving between areas in ND, SD, WY, CO and NE. Check out those  National Grasslands websites and look into their Motor Vehicle Use Maps, specific to each area. Dispersed Camping is allowed up to 300 feet from the center of the roads marked on those maps, to keep you off of the blocks of private property and on the blocks of public lands.  If you are aware of what many see as the limitations of the National Grasslands, the appreciation for these remaining open places will reward you far beyond any trip to the mountains, IMHO.

The Maah Daah Hey in North Dakota qualifies.

Bikepacking might be promising out thar on the flatlands :) Do plan on which way the wind blows.

The Maah Daah Hey looks pretty great! I probably wouldn’t bikepack it, and I was initially apprehensive about backpacking a mountain biking trail, but a bit of digging leads me to believe that it’s not all that highly traveled, so it shouldn’t be that bad.

I might have to pick up a guide off of the trail association’s site and do some back-of-the-napkin logistics of a future trip. I’m not sure how lightweight it can realistically I could go, because it appears you have to carry a fair amount of water, or at least an above average amount.

Thanks everyone!

I’ll be on the MDHT over the last week in May. Potable water is supposed to be available in the campgrounds which would be a BIG improvement over the stock tanks that were the only option in some locations in 2009 when I was last there. It would be useful to read “Strider’s” blog to see how he is managing water on his GPT trip.

Depending on how turned off you are by mountains, I’d recommend you to check out the Centennial Trail in the SD Black Hills.

The trail starts and ends in gorgeous grasslands – so say, 2 days of that. There are some mountains in between, but by far one of the most beautiful trails I’ve walked on. The last day through Custer and Wind Cave is remarkable.

Total – 111 miles, give or take. Lots of buffalo, lots of prairie dogs, more deer than I’ve ever seen before, and many other critters that are always around due to the absolute lack of hikers (for the most part).

https://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/directory/custer/docs/centennial-trail-brochure.pdf

If you’re hiking the MDH, rather than biking, you can go through both sections of the national park without issue.  The southern section in particular is much nicer than the bike bypass.

Hi Jonathan,

These suggestions are for southern OK / north Texas, depending where in OK you live

Wichita mountains by Lawton is a great place to spend a couple days  get a backcountry permit and hike around the basin area.  basically prairie over mountains.  you’ll see bison, scramble over a lot of granite, and since they only issue 2 permits at a time, have the place to yourselves. Search BPL trip reports for some suggestions.

Sandy sanders by Erick OK has some nice trails and is a quiet, seldom used prairie land with enough miles of trail to hike a couple days, but it’s a network of trail loops, not linear.

LBJ Grasslands by Decatur TX has 50+ miles of trails. It’s a nice place to spend 2 days hiking,I always carry my own water but you can drink directly from the pipes of windmills that fill stock tanks.

Ouachits mountains in SE OK, while not prairie, is a really nice corner of OK for hiking.