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Antelope and Buffalo Springs Trail is a popular trail at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area and is 1.9 miles round trip. The trail head is just past the Travertine Nature Center if you parked by the nature center. The main trail is a gravel surface and the side trails are hard packed soil with forest debris, including branches, leaves, exposed roots, and lose rocks/gravel.
The trail follows the Travertine Creek that is fed by the Antelope and Buffalo Springs. During the dry months the Travertine creek may be dry.
Along the trail you will find several side trails to explore and benches along the way to relax and take in nature. During your hike you will be in a heavily new growth forest and underbrush that the wildlife loves.
Antelope and Buffalo Springs Trail – Side Trails
Prairie Loop Trail: The trail is just over a half a mile that crosses over the Travertine Creek. Once across the creek, you have two options. You can go left or right. The left side takes you up a steep limestone hill surrounded by cedar and oak trees. The narrow path follows the ridge line and while up on the ridge you will find mixed prairie grass, wildflowers, prickly pear, yucca and trees. As the trail loops around it slowly slopes back down and follows the creek back to the fork in the path.
Tall Oaks Loop Trail: This trail crosses over Travertine Creek and is half a mile long that takes you through cedars and tall oak trees. Eventually the trail starts to slope down and crosses a dry creek bead. After crossing the creek bed you will find yourself surrounded sycamores, elms, hackberries, and other trees. The trail will take you back to the trail head.
Dry Creek Loop Trail: The longest side trail is the Dry Creek Loop Trail. Its about 1.8 miles. This trail is the last trail at the end of the main trail. The trail includes a beautiful rock bridge that crosses a creek. Along the trail you will be surrounded by cedars, hardwoods and limestone.
Antelope and Buffalo Springs Trail – Advice
The trail head is easy to find. Just go to the nature center and follow the concrete path past the building. There you will find the trail head. One direction follows the trail the other direction leads to other trails and campsites.
The website says the trail is hard packed trail. But it was recently graveled. This could make it hard for wheelchairs, strollers, and bicycles. The side trails are not designed for wheelchairs or strollers.
The main trail is very easy to walk or run. Its mostly shaded by the trees but if there isn’t any wind, the trail will be hot. So make sure to bring plenty of water. We drank close to a liter of water while on the trail.
There are a limited amount of benches along the trail, so if you think you need a break, make sure to take a break. If you are on a side trail, there aren’t any benches as of March 2017.
If you need to use the bathroom while on the trail, there is a seasonal bathroom at about the halfway point. I’m not sure when they are open. They are mostly likely open during the summer and early fall months.
The Antelope and Buffalo Springs Trail is a short, quick and easy trail. It took us about 45 minutes to hike the main trail and the Prairie Loop Trail. We stopped to photograph some wildlife and look at the rock pool along the trail. We were on the trail for about an hour.
We do plan on making another trip to explore the main and side trails again. Then possibly explore the other trails in the area. If you are looking for an easy trail near Sulfur Oklahoma, this a great trail to try out.
This article will be updated, once I’ve completed the trail.
AllTrails.com
Are you into hiking, trail riding, trail running, or just getting back to nature and want to get out walk some nature trails, then you need to check out AllTrails.com. They have a ton of information in your area about the trails and parks listed. It’s a community based system so at times it can be hard to get maps and new trails added. But overall their pc based site and iOS and Android apps have helped me find new trails and help us stay on trail when a trail wasn’t marked. Not all the trails I hike will be listed on my personal blog but I do plan to add more as I have to time review and post them. Get a sneak peakof a possible article by following my profile on AllTrails.com. In most cases I will follow you back.
About the Images
Images were shot by hand on a late sunny afternoon about an hour before sunset under the forest canopy with an LG G4 or a Sony A6000 using a Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 Lens or a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 Wide-Angle Lens or the Sony SELP1650 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens. The images were then edited using Adobe Lightroom to crop, straighten and clean up the images. I used Google NIK Collection and Topaz Labs Clarity to add detail, add contrast, and sharpen/remove noise. As always my images are for sale with or without the watermark in digital and prints. Please contact me via the contact page for more information.
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