Red Rock Canyon

The red rock that gives the canyon its name is sandstone laid down roughly 250 million years ago, in the Permian period, when this region held ancient seas, dunes, and river deltas. Iron in the sediment rusted over time and stained the stone the deep red color you see in the walls. A stream cutting slowly down through the soft rock carved the gorge over long ages.

Because the canyon is sheltered and shaded, it holds moisture and cooler air than the exposed plains, creating a microclimate. That is why plants more typical of eastern woodlands, including sugar maples and ferns, grow here in a pocket far west of their usual range, survivors from a wetter, cooler age that hang on in the canyon's protected depths.

In 1849 and the years that followed, thousands of emigrants headed west for the California gold fields, and one of the routes they took, the California Road, passed near here. Red Rock Canyon became a favored camp. Its walls broke the constant prairie wind, its stream gave water, its trees gave firewood and shade, and its depth offered cover on a dangerous stretch of the journey.

This was Indian Territory, land held by and traveled through by many tribes, and the wagon roads cut straight across it. Wheel ruts and inscriptions from that era have been found in the region. The canyon's long use as a shelter, by Native peoples and then by emigrants, gives it a human history as deep as its rock, a quiet stopping place on the hard road across the continent.

Trails wind along the canyon floor and up its walls, passing beneath overhangs and along the shaded stream. The going is easy on the bottom and steep on the routes that climb the rim, and the red walls tower overhead the whole way. Wildflowers and ferns crowd the damp corners, and birds fill the trees in a way the open plains never do.

The sheer sandstone faces have long made Red Rock Canyon a rare rappelling destination in a state with little vertical rock, and climbers come to work the walls with their own gear. The canyon also serves as a campground and group camp, with the cool, sheltered floor a welcome refuge from the heat and wind of the surrounding country.

The wooded canyon supports more wildlife than the plains above. White-tailed deer, raccoons, and squirrels move through the trees, and the shaded stream and greenery draw songbirds, woodpeckers, and owls. Lizards sun on the warm rock, and the damp corners shelter frogs and salamanders unusual for such dry country.

Spring and fall are the best times to visit, when the air is mild and the canyon is green in spring or touched with the red and gold of its maples in autumn, a rare fall color show in western Oklahoma. Summer is hot on the plains but noticeably cooler on the shaded canyon floor, while winter is quiet and stark, the bare red walls standing out against the gray sky.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.