Medicine Park, Oklahoma—a true gem just four hours east of Lubbock

Riding in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Just a week or two ago I "celebrated" my 44th year of living in West Texas after arriving here as a strapping 21-year-old in August of 1977, emerging form a 50-hour Greyhound trip that had started at the Port Authority bus terminal in NYC. Forty-four years in the region— and until now I had never heard of Medicine Park, Oklahoma. As it turns out, many of my fellow Lubbockites have neither.

To give you some background on how this latest trip came about, here goes the story: Several weeks ago I had been appointed as one of the commissaires for the 40th annual Hotter'n Hell Hundred USAC road races in Wichita Falls, on August 28. Since the organizers were already going to pay for my travel expenses (and then some) to Wichita Falls, I figured I might as well use the opportunity for a small vacation from being on permanent vacation. So, I reached out to my friend Terry, formerly from OKC, and asked him whether he knew of any cool places in Oklahoma where I could spend a few days riding my bike. Almost immediately he responded with two words: Medicine Park.

I had never heard of this tiny town, just outside of Lawton, about an hour north of Wichita Falls. A quick Google search yielded promising results: small shops and restaurants, close to lakes and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, and popular with bikers and cyclists. For my dates, Airbnb listed an available cabin that looked promising, and I pulled the trigger.

My tidy little Airbnb cabin in Medicine Park

The Hotter'n Hell Hundred features some of the closest USAC races for me in Lubbock, and I was able to leave early Friday afternoon to make it to the pre-race meeting that evening. The organizers had reserved rooms for us officials in the Super Ocho close to the race start, and after checking in I moseyed over to the HHH club house where the meeting was going to take place. I watched the tail-end of the Pro Men's crit, attended the meeting, and then had a beer or two with my fellow-official and roommate-for-the-night, Ben, who hails from Houston. We had last seen each other briefly at the rained-out NICA high school race at 4R in Muenster earlier this year, so there was some catching up to do at Wichita Falls Brewing Company.

Saturday morning started early, as (incomprehensibly) I had to be at the start line at 6:00 a.m., more than thirty minutes before the first racers showed up for the 7:08 a.m. start of the 35+ Masters Men. Oh well. For the next three hours or so my driver, Mike, and I followed the small field of fewer than 40 riders, in the combined role of COM 1/Wheel Support. Thankfully, the 35+ field raced for only 100K, meaning that I was done with my job after a rather uneventful race a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. Easy money!

Ft. Sill dominates much of the area around Lawton

I went back to the Super Ocho to take a brief nap and then packed up my stuff and headed north toward Lawton. I had been in touch with the owner of the Airbnb and had secured an early check-in time, so after stopping in Lawton at the local Aldi (for food provisions) as well as a liquor store (for the adult libations) I headed straight for Medicine Park. The city limits sign proudly proclaims that this tiny hamlet is Oklahoma's First Cobblestone Community, and once I got to my cabin the meaning became clear to me: What is referred to as "cobblestones" (or also "cannonballs") are the round stones that can be found in riverbeds and that are incorporated into buildings' foundations and walls. It's a really distinctive building style and unique to the region.

Cobblestone architecture

Lake Lawtonka

Medicine Park, as a settlement, is just a little more than 100 years old. It came into existence after the creation of the Wichita Mountains National Forest and the founding of Lawton (which is now an important civilian counterpart to Ft. Sill, a huge military reservation just to the south of Medicine Park). Lawton needed a water source, a dam was built, and Lake Lawtonka was formed (which is now a huge tourist destination for those with travel trailers and boats). Medicine Park became a tourist resort, and it still is, on a very small and attractive scale.

Impressions from the first ride 

I had booked my Airbnb for four nights, and including the afternoon that I arrived that gave me the opportunity to go on four rides. That first afternoon I took just a short 15-mile ride to Lake Lawtonka and some of the rolling farmland to the east. I was stunned by the excellent quality of the roads (even if I did a few miles of off-roading). As I would find out on all of my rides in this area, the small county roads have smooth asphalt and almost no traffic, and the larger highways such as OK 58, 15, or 49 have similarly smooth surfaces and often wide shoulders. Compared to east Texas, this was absolute heaven!

My cabin had every comfort and amenity that I could have asked for—perfect in any aspect. The proprietors also own a second cabin next door, and in between there is a common outdoor area with plenty of chairs, tables, several firepits, and BBQ grills. The second cabin was not rented out during my stay, so there was a lot of privacy. As usual, I cooked all my meals and enjoyed the outdoor dining area. With excellent Wi-Fi in the entire area (and traveling with an HDMI cable) I was able to bring out one of the flatscreen TVs and watch after dinner the day's latest stage of the Vuelta a España. Man, it was just luxurious as can be!

For my three long rides I mapped out routes that gave me an excellent overview of the surroundings of Medicine Park. My longest ride, at 51 miles, took me on a long loop through Lawton and Cache back to the Wildlife refuge where I climbed the 3 miles up to the top of Mount Scott. Coming at the end of the ride, with temps in the low 90s and a good amount of humidity in the air, it was a tough climb for an old man like me, but I made it and was rewarded with truly spectacular views.

Looking upon Medicine Park

Really, all of my rides were much nicer than what I had expected. Especially the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge offers beautiful views, and of course sighting bison from the bike is not something that one gets to do every day. But riding outside of the refuge was equally beautiful, with all those lakes, well-kept estates, and wide vistas. The lack of traffic and the excellent roads (I can't emphasize this too much) made for stress-free riding, and I am sure that I will come back to this area at some point for a quick get-away. It could have been hotter and more humid, of course, and riding might have become miserable. I guess I just really lucked out.

After four days and almost 150 miles in the saddle it was time to pack up again and head west toward Lubbock. It was a relaxed drive straight across western Oklahoma and then the eastern Texas Panhandle. It's the land of large cattle ranches and seemingly never-ending rolling plains. All this exists just a few hours east of Lubbock. What a great little trip!

Jürgen