Camping and Biking in Tulsa —with Maps! (Tulsa—Part 4/4)
When: Monday October 19, 2020 to Saturday October 24, 2020 (five nights)
Where: Cherry Hill Mobile Home Park
Cost: $35/ night for full hookups
Biking: River Parks Trail; West Bank Trail
Bucket List: Prayer Tower; Center of the Universe; Gathering Place
Camping Near Bike Trail Access:
During our stay in Tulsa, we decided to try the Cherry Hill Mobile Home park (4808 S. Elwood Avenue) because of its close proximity to the River Parks bike trail system. The RV park connects to the trails on the industrial east side of the Arkansas River, while the downtown/urban areas are on the west side. Thus, while the RV Park had virtually direct trail access, that meant biking 3+ miles south to 71st street to cross to the other west side. The path north along the west side was closed, unfortunately.
Cherry Hill had many full-time residents and was very well-maintained. The sites are a reasonable distance apart, and we had no issues maneuvering through the campground. The manager was a stickler for rules as we received a polite phone call just a half hour after constructing our temporary dog fence that this was in violation of park rules. Next time, we will read the fine print. “Next time” means that we would also stay there again.
Biking in Tulsa
Because of weather, we had only two days of biking during our time in Tulsa. At least according to Google maps, we logged about 27 and 36 miles on those two days.
The map below shows our routes for both days. We were able to see several landmarks during our rides, but also spend several hours on the trails just enjoying nature.
Day 1 of Biking
On the first day of biking, we went south along the River Parks West Trail, where we saw only a handful of other trail users until we arrived at Turkey Mountain. From there, we crossed the Arkansas River at 71st Street and then headed south on the River Parks East Trail to Oral Roberts University. We spent over an hour walking around that beautiful campus, but there are two ORU landmarks that everyone should see: the Praying Hands statue and the Prayer Tower.
Constructed in 1980, the Praying Hands are reportedly 60 feet tall and contain over 30 tons of pure bronze. They are cast from Oral Roberts and his son Richards own hands. The hands were originally located at the nearby “City of Faith” medical center once owned by ORU that later went bankrupt. The praying hands then moved to the ORU entrance. (The medical center is now an office building, and is worth a drive-by to see its gold/navy three-triangle architecture).
Prayer Tower — Oral Roberts University
The Prayer Tower reportedly cost $2 million to build in 1967. Oral Roberts remarked that wanted to place the tower in the middle of campus so that no one could escape the power of prayer. Indeed, this gold/navy futuristic 200-foot-tall wonder is truly awe-inspiring and a work of art. It was no surprise to see several groups of students studying outdoors at the base of the tower. Later, I learned from the ORU website that an aerial view of the Prayer Tower reveals the Star of David, while the ground view of the observation deck represents the Crown of Thorns.
After touring the outdoor areas of ORU, we hopped back on the River Parks East Trail and headed south until it ended around 101st. There was nothing much to see or do on that part of the trail. We then turned around and rode north about 70 blocks until we reached Gathering Place. Along the way, there were a variety of statues and river views.
Gathering Place is a 66-acre $465M park that includes includes playgrounds, gardens, a skate park, and concert area. We visited on Wednesday during the late morning, and saw mostly families with kids. There are three restaurants: (1) the Patio, (2) Redbud Café, and (3) Vista at the Boathouse. The latter serves a few $7 local craft beers but was closed indefinitely because of covid.
The unexpected highlight of Gather Place was Cabinet of Wonder. Upon entering, we were greeted with a notice that there is a live video feed of the space. The room is inviting and contains curious collections of random things – e.g., wooden mallets, creepy dolls, abacuses, and vials of weird specimens like Cheerios. We were lucky to have the place to ourselves for several minutes to just ponder what in the world the point of all of this was. Maybe that is the point….to simply wonder.
Day 2 of Biking
On our second day of biking, we explored a little of the west side of the Arkansas River, but were unable to use the River Parks West Trail because of a closure. We therefore started on the Cherry Creek Trail and then used a detour path where we could again see the Route 66 Monoliths (see prior post). We crossed the river west to east at 23rd Street then went north on the River Parks East Trail and then took Pedestrian/Bike Bridge east to west to the Retro Neon Signs (see prior post) and then back again. From downtown, we hopped on the Newblock Park Trail and Katy Trail westward about six miles. Most people likely marvel at the Cave House ( 1623 Charles Page Blvd) on the Newblock Park Trail , but as a Dr. Who fan, my true excitement occurred when we discovered a life-size TARDIS in someone’s back yard off the Katy Trail.
The Tulsa TARDIS!
After reaching the Sand Springs Lake, we turned around and back-tracked to downtown for more exploring. In my view, the “bucket list” of downtown Tulsa is the Center of the Universe. Sounds emanating from the center have an echo to those who produce the sound. Yet, someone standing a foot away will not hear an echo at all. The acoustic phenomenon started in the 1980s after a bridge was converted to a pedestrian walkway. Some people believe it has to do with the concrete barriers surrounding the circle. Maybe Dr. Who knows…
Center of the Universe — a Tulsa acoustic wonder
We did not readily find any signage pointing out the location of the “center” so I will describe it in more detail. The “center” is actually an area of broken concrete measuring approximately 30-inches in diameter and residing inside a larger bricked circle measuring about 8 feet in diameter total.
Downtown Tulsa includes lots of art deco, cool murals, and the Tulsa Drillers stadium, the BOK center, and lots of hip restaurants, and other things to see. Overall, it is pretty typical of a downtown. However, that is not really our scene so we had lunch and decided to move on.
After lunch, we got on the Midland Valley Trail at 3rd Street and took a leisurely ride south to Woodward Park. We spent some time on foot strolling through the park and looking at the fall foliage. This park is not-too-far from the famed Philbrook Museum, which we were planning to visit on another day when we were not on our bikes and would have more time to spend (since the cost is $13/person). Both Woodward Park and the Philbrook Museum are very close to the River Park East Trail. Thus, we headed south, crossing the river at 71st street and headed back “home” to the Cherry Hill Mobile Home park north along the River Park West Trail.
We were tired after two days of biking. But that just meant we had a better excuse to drink more craft beer.
About the Map
The map below shows our bike route, along with photos of some of the landmarks we saw. Google maps is a clunky because it only permits 10 stops and also won’t let me change colors to illustrate the routes on day 1 vs. day 2. I’m doing research on map extensions for Squarespace 7.1. If anyone has suggestions for a good (reasonably priced) map builder, please shoot me an email at classcbroads@gmail.com
Also in the Tulsa Blog Series:
Route 66 Near Tulsa (Miami to Sapulpa) -- Top Things to See
