Keystone Lake State Park

Here we are with the Okies not too far from Muscogee with the country song ringing in our ears and playing on our radio. We followed the Arkansas River down from Kansas to Keystone Lake State Park. Our campground is quiet, two other RV's in our 'loop' -- although it's a very big campground and there are probably other folks in other areas, but we don't see or hear them.



We are camped right at the edge of Keystone Lake, so we have a great view. We did though discover that Keystone Lake is much larger than we can see from our campsite.


The lake was created in 1968 by a dam on the Arkansas River, near its juncture with the Cimmaron River, which flows from New Mexico. The lake is named for the town, Keystone, that it submerged.

We found the Lady of the Lake residing just in front of our campsite. She is a regal Great Blue Heron. Here she is dining on a fish she just caught.

She even posed for us after we'd been here a couple of days.

We watched the seagulls too. This lake is known to be a feeding ground for bald eagles but, sadly, we did not see any.

This squirrel let us get closer the second day too.

I expected him to be stashing away nuts for the winter, but he was enjoying a snack in the sunshine instead.

There are some great nature trails in this park, and here we are walking the one Chorro liked best.

The colors are gorgeous, orange-rusts, gold and brown, with bits of green contrast. All of that under clear blue skies on warm afternoons.

Here are the more distant woods on the other side of the lake.

Because we're in a valley, the sunsets aren't as colorful as some we see, but the soft pastels sink gently into dusk.

And tomorrow is a new day.