Last weekend while rolling around on our usual Saturday ride, the idea was tossed around of breaking the routine and doing something crazy this weekend. Something different, a break from the norm. When the idea of bikepacking came up, you could immediately feel the excitement and the adventure started brewing. A few of us made the needed phone calls or text, got the okay and made the commitment. We didn’t have a direction or a distance, just the excitement of catching some beautiful Oklahoma views and taking in all the reds, oranges and yellow the fall foliage had to offer.
It all went pretty flawlessly from there. Rob took on the task of plotting the route and the rest of us shared notes on gear, what to pack, and kept tabs on the weather.
Considering how unpredictable the OK weather can be, I’d say we were gifted with the perfect weekend. Light winds, temps in the 50’s-60’s, a brief light shower on Saturday shortly after we arrived, and a clear star filled sky to sleep under.
We chose to head south and setup camp at the Soggy Bottom Trails located in Wanette, OK. Soggy Bottoms is located directly on the South Canadian River and is an ATV recreation park primarily but has some fantastic campsites to take advantage of as well.
The Soggy Bottoms entry is about a quarter mile long with fantastic tree cover, but from about as soon as we could see the gate we were wondering why this lady wasn’t moving. They were just in the Halloween spirit.
We arrived just in time to join in the All You Can Eat catfish fry, complete with homemade beans and potato salad.
After enjoying a delicious catfish dinner, we headed to the campsite to get everything setup. Our site was perfect, tree cover in case it rained, fire pit and a picnic table.
No campsite is complete without a campfire and we all know bigger is better. Shawn carried the torch when it came to building the perfect fire and Rob was well prepared with a homemade fire starter to get things heated up.
To say that the ATV crowd knows how to party would be an understatement!
There was no shortage of delicious coffee to get the morning started.
The weekend was fantastic, but the time gathered around the campfire sharing tall tells and stories about bigfoot were the BEST!
We woke up to an amazing view with the sun shining through the trees and just the right amount of morning haze to make it look mythical.
We slow rolled out of town, crossed another one of the awesome bridges along the route and swung by The River Bank General Store.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, memories were made, everyone left eager to get their gear even more dialed in and we’re already looking forward to the next trip!
If you listen close, you can still hear the laughs!