Oklahoma River Trail System
    By Derral Idleman
    From the OBS Pathfinder Dec. 2005

Parking & Facilities:

    Regatta Park at Byers Ave. on the north trail, has a large parking lot with paved access to the trail and Regatta Park. Its sometimes crowded if there is any rowing activity. Currently the construction of the Chesapeake Rowing Building has the area in turmoil. There is another parking lot located just east of Byers at the boat ramp, it can be accessed by the city streets on the east side of Byers.
    There is a large parking area on 15th St, just west of Robinson on the north trail. This parking lot has two paved paths to the trail. There is also a port-a-potty located in the parking lot.
    There is a paved parking lot located at Wheeler Park on the north trail between Walker and Western. I dont know how to get to the parking lot, probably off of Western. This parking lot is for the softball fields and does not have access to the trails other than across the grass. I would not recommend using this parking because of questionable activity in the parking lot.
    There is a dirt parking lot with dirt access to the trail on the west side of May Ave. on the north trail. I think this was for construction parking and not an official parking lot, but its used by fishermen and seems to be ok.
    One of the best and most popular parking lots is on 15th St. east of Meridian Ave. on the south trail. Its large and never very crowded, has paved access to the trails, and does not seem to have any questionable activity.
    There is a very large parking lot at 15th & Portland on the south trail accessed from 15th St. This parking lot is for the boat ramp and has a port-a potty. The parking lot is currently being used by Dell construction crews and is very crowded during working hours. The trail runs through the parking lot, so has 3 places of access.
    There was a parking lot at I-44 on the south trail where the Grand Blvd Trail joins the River Trail, but its been adsorbed by the Dell parking lot. I dont know if it will be rebuilt or not, but its not necessary since the 15th & Portland lot is less than mile away.
    There is a paved parking lot at Agnew on the south trail accessed from Agnew, however its for some soccer fields and does not have paved access to the trails, but is only a few feet from the trail across a dirt path.
    There will be a paved parking lot on the south trail at Exchange Ave. where they are currently building the boat ramp. The trial will most likely go through the parking lot like the other boat ramp parking.
    There is paved parking at Wiley Post Park on the south trail just west of Robinson Ave. This is probably not desirable parking as there is not paved access to the trail and a lot of homeless activity in the park.
    There is parking at the Skate Park on the south trail, just on the east side of Robinson Ave. There is a port-a-potty located in the parking lot. This parking lot can be crowded because of Skate Park activity, however there is another parking lot to the east of Shields and the RR tracks. The street (19th I think) that turns off Robinson to the Skate Park goes to this parking lot; its large and has paved trail access.

Side Trails off the River Trail.
    There are several side trails that lead off the main trail system. There is a large loop leading off the North Trail just east of I-44, it loops out by I-44 & I-40. I asked some park people what it was for, they said nothing planned, just they had the space and put it there.
    There is a paved trail on the South Trail, just west of Walker Ave. that goes through what they call the Wetlands, its goes across small lake on a wooden bridge, its an interesting area, almost always some wildlife there.
    There is a go nowhere side trail east of the east most parking lot on the South Trail, it just goes out a hundred yards or so and joins with a city street with a gate.
    The Grand Blvd Trail system joins the South River Trail between the Dell parking lot & I-44 on the west side of I-44. This trail goes along I-44 by paved trail and city streets to join with Grand Blvd at 29th St.

Cross-overs between the north and south trails
    The two best cross over places area at Portland on the west end, and Robinson Ave on the east ends, these both have paved access to the trails, walking paths on the bridges if the traffic is heavy. When crossing from the south to north at Portland you have to exit the trail on 15th, ride about a block to Portland, from crossing on the north side, those of us riding mountain bikes will ride down the concrete water drainage at the end of the bridge on the south side. At Robinson, you have to access the bridge from 15th St. There is also cross-overs at Agnew, Walker and most of the bridges but trail access is difficult.

Boat Ramp construction on south trail.
    Currently they have the trail blocked at Exchange Ave. on the south side, to detour, from the west, exit the trail at Penn, go south to 9th, east on city streets to Exhange, east on Exchange back to the trail. From the east, exit on Exchange to west on Exchange to the school, turn right to 9th, and go to Penn and north back to the trail.

Observations.
    The Parks Department is doing a great job to make these trails an enjoyment place. They are out there working on landscaping and clean-up on a daily basis. They sweep the trails on a regular schedule. The trails are patrolled almost daily by the horse mounted police and bicycle police. Its rare to encounter a car or truck on the trail now. Motorcycles and ATVs are unheard of now. The homeless are gone from under the bridges and are seldom seen walking the trails. The difference from last winter to now is unbelievable. Back then fishermen and ATV riders thought they built the trails for them. It was sometimes a wild place to bike ride.
    If you are lucky and ride early enough you may see a fox or two, maybe a beaver or snake. You will always see waterfowl and bird activity. If you ride it often enough, you can observe the daily falling of the newly planted trees by beaver. They seem to think the landscaping is a large smorgasbord just for them. is a large smorgasbord just for them.

A typical ride:
    A typical ride for us is to start at Regatta Park. Ride to the east end of the north trail and back to warm up. Then ride the north trail to Portland, taking the loop just before I-44. We will cross over to the South Side at Portland; ride west to the end at Meridian. We will exit the trail system and ride to Panera Bread on Meridian, usually through the business parking lots, crossing Meridian south of 15th. After coffee, snacks, or lunch at Panera Bread, we will return to the trail at Meridian and ride the south side to the east end, turn around, return to Robinson, cross over to the north side, and return to Regatta Park. This will be about a 21 mile ride. If the wind is strong out of the south we will cross over to the south side at Robinson, ride to Meridian and return by the north side, the south side is fairly protected from a south wind. 

Oklahoma Bicycle Society: Oklahoma River Trail 
created by John Wente
last modified: February 17, 2007
URL: http://www.OklahomaBicycleSociety.com