Photolog 9: Extended Harrah Loop

Today we explore. This is essentially the Harrah Loop but we add a couple miles north and see where that takes us. (Reminder: it’s pronounced “hair’-uh”.) This should provide an adequate test of my work on the Diamondback Edgewood bike.

It started pretty much the same as before, heading east on SE 29th, diverting to SE 29th Place, then north on Indian Meridian to SE 15th. There we head east again to Luther Road, because I hadn’t seen that part in more than a year. It’s a very pleasing view between SE 15th and NE 10th.

We head back east on Reno to the monster evangelical Harrah Church. From there we head north on Dobbs. As before, the stretch near NE 10th features all those blackberry vines. However, the early crop is gone and the late crop is just now turning ripe. While something like a quarter of what you can see is black, it’s yet another quarter of those that are fully ripe. I’ve learned to tell when they are completely ready, because you don’t have to pull hard at all. They practically fall off into my hand with just the faintest tug. So it took a few minutes of hunting along the road, but I got a big handful before I continued.

It’s just a half-mile east on NE 10th to the bike path that runs past the high school and their old-style athletic stadium. From there I went up a couple of blocks and dodged around behind the big Baptist church to see if I could get a better shot of the grain elevator — which elevator is about the only reason a town grew up here.

I rode across the bridge over the North Canadian River. I spotted the sand and gravel rig downstream. It’s a common way to supply good grade sand for construction and you see lots of dredging sites along the North Canadian. People love to swim in the resulting deep sandy ponds because they are clear of obstacles and flat-bottomed. Unfortunately, someone drowned at this one last week. There’s really no way to close them off.

Instead of turning back west at NE 50th, this time I stayed on Harrah Road until Wilshire Boulevard. The terrain, and thus the land use pattern, changed from farming to cattle pastures. In the mix was a lot of fallow regrowth forest. While this part of the county has lots of really nice places, the tax collection is seasoned with a lot of houses that scale down near the assessor’s bottom range. Turning left on Wilshire, it drops into a creek bottom, then immediately offers a brutal climb. The next hill is just as steep, but not long enough to qualify as “brutal.” The final drop down to Dobbs Road reminded me that Wilshire doesn’t go through. Oops.

No problem! The next mile of Dobbs Road is a parade of serious million-dollar real estate. At least a couple of mowed yards were bigger than the whole trailer park where I live. Must be a full time job just keeping the yards. It’s also got a lot of folks who apparently belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Their cemetery is a landmark in this area. St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church once stood at the site of this cemetery. However, it burned down twice, so they found themselves a lot in Jones and built with solid bricks. Meanwhile, during my tour of this area I spotted various symbols in driveways and yards that represented membership in at least some kind of Eastern Orthodox religion.

I knew for sure that NE 63rd went through, so I turned right and decided to see how it looked. I passed a crew with a huge power shovel working the ditches. A couple of driveways had washed out on the hillside and they were putting it all back new. I had seen several sloped gravel drives that sported a new drainage ditch running the length where vehicles were supposed to go, and matching evidence the residents had to drive off into the vegetation a bit to dodge these new and unwanted ditches. Pretty soon I was climbing that massive ridgeline that forces the North Canadian south after running around Jones.

The Ukrainian Orthodox aren’t alone out here. The Oklahoma Academy is a program associated with the Seventh Day Adventists. The land was endowed by one of their wealthier members up on the ridge. The school is well supported with the kids pitching in as part of their education. This land grant includes lots of farm land, an orchard, a store, a B-n-B, the academy and an airfield for the mission aviation course. I can’t be sure if they still use this particular strip, but it seems quite nice compared to some places I flew into in Alaska. Most of the online mapping services indicate the airstrip is a mile away in the middle of a corn field. Still, this thing (below right) is plainly visible from any aerial view.

As I reached the edge of the ridge, the view of the valley below was breathtaking. However, I never could get the camera to capture it properly. So I decided to try looking back from the bottom and it seems to have come out much better (below left).

From there, I headed south and decided it was time to risk seeing the washout where the river cuts close to Triple X. While the most recent serious rains (noted in my trek south toward Lake Thunderbird) did some more damage in the county, this particular spot didn’t get cut any thinner. It was still safe enough for my bicycle, but I can see why motor vehicles are forbidden, with just a few feet between the roadbed and the new river bank. However, the same cut has been extended now much farther along the same road perhaps 200 yards (180m) before suddenly turning back east.

This allowed me to head home again on Indian Meridian. Here’s the view north toward NE 23rd, a quiet tree-lined country lane that I can’t resist hitting at least once on these northeastern loops.

From there it was back down to SE 29th and home again. The loop was 31 miles and took three hours. I suppose it helped that I didn’t push the air pressure on my front tire near the upper limit inscribed on the sidewall. I think 60psi was adequate. The real test is whether it stays up for more than a week. It was a good ride today.