Camp at Gobbler Ridge and Hike the Ankle Express Trail

We stayed overnight at Gobbler Ridge campground in an RV spot with a tent trailer. The RV Spots are very well appointed with a fire ring, picnic table, and level parking space. Many 50 amp sites are available with plugs for 50, 30, and 15 Amps at the 50 amp sites. Water is also available. Sites are spaced apart quite well and we never felt too close to the other campers there. Bathhouse was very well kept with clean toilets and 3 out of 4 working showers that got plenty hot (operated by quarters. $1.25 for 7 minutes). Dumps station is available. Unfortunately none of the sites at Gobbler Ridge have a good lake view. Gobbler Ridge Campground only takes reservations by phone: (918) 487-5196.

Our hike began at 9am on a brisk Saturday morning. Temperatures were about 45 degrees when we hit the trail. We started at the alternate trailhead. The main trailhead is in the main park area but involves walking over a busy state highway bridge, and through some fairly boring terrain. It adds about 2 miles to the total trek if you do that. To get to the alternate trailhead, make sure you have a 4x4 or high clearance vehicle. The road is the old highway and nature has had it's way with the road. There are many areas with ruts 2 feet deep that require straddling and pieces of asphalt scattered that are 6-7" tall making it quite the adventure. I drove my Chevy Tahoe and had issues with clearance a few places. Small cars will not be able to make it down this road without losing body parts. The alternate trailhead is near the dam. We started just a hair away from the trailhead, where the old highway splits with an old logging type road. This is where we joined up with the trail.

Hiking the trail, the first 0.8 miles are a good introduction for the rest of the hike. The trail varies in terrain with a few steeper climbs and narrow passages. At 0.8 miles, you find the swinging bridge. It definitely is a bit creaky and kind of scary. I'm sure it could hold a few people, but we went over one at a time to be safe. Just after crossing the bridge, you come to a split. Left or right is your options. We went right. The right option gives you a more strenuous climb at the beginning. The longest, steepest climb we encountered was a series of switchbacks with a 240 foot elevation gain over 1/3 mile. After that we continued to follow the trail until we got 3.5 miles in, when we cut over to the other side of the loop. We didn't feel up to taking the bypass farther up, so we bushwhacked along an absolutely beautiful creek for 0.1 miles. From there we met up with the other side of the loop, and continued back to the trailhead.

Overall, this is a great short, fairly easy loop to complete on the trails. Lots of variety of terrain and trail conditions, as well as some great views of the lake and woodland creeks.

Once we completed the hike, we went to the marina where we rented kayaks for an hour and ventured out into the lake. Kayak rentals are available for $15 an hour, as well as canoe and paddleboat rentals. Pontoon and fishing boat rentals are available, but were not operational when we arrived.