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- Week KO & G Railroad and Yonkers Ride - Oklahoma

Jay547

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KO&G Railroad and Yonkers Ride 9-24-2022

Since it’s been a really dry summer, I wanted to ride the abandoned Kansas, Oklahoma, & Gulf Railroad again. It’s best during dry weather because all the jeep and SxS ruts are dry.

I posted a notice on the local page and six riders showed up.

We headed north along the west bank of the Grand River/Lake Fort Gibson to the first section of abandoned track. This line was in operation from about 1910 to 1949 and closed with the construction of the lake.

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The remains of the river bridge.

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Just north of the railroad is the Union Mission historical site. The first Christian mission in Indian Territory – 1820. The mission was burned during the Civil War. The cemetery is all that remains.


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Freed Infant Slave.

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After visiting the mission site, we continued north, then crossed to the east side of the river, and rode another section of the railroad. We followed it until we reached a portion that had been washed out by the spring floods.

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This is the same bridge as before, except we’re on the east side of the river now.

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We played around on the slope and in the river bottoms.

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From there, we went south along the railroad until it disappeared into the lake. Yes, that guy is riding a Harley Pan American. He did surprisingly well.

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We turned back and rode through the woods to the old Yonkers School. Yonkers was a railroad town that was removed with the construction of the lake. The ruins of the school, a few foundations, cellars, and wells are the last traces of the town.

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Historical pic of Yonkers.

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We took county roads after Yonkers and headed into the wildlife management area looking for Yonkers Jail, which is about 2 ½ miles southwest of the school. I had been to it several years ago but now it is overgrown and the trails are no longer in use. This part was very challenging due to fallen trees and debris deposited by high lake levels. Five of the guys stayed behind while me and one other went looking for the jail. We never found it. After getting home and looking at Google Earth, it looks like we got to within about a quarter mile but turned back too soon.

Rain was moving in, so we decided to end it there and ride back to the starting point. Within a few miles, we got into the rain. It wasn’t a hard rain but just enough to get your clothes wet. I was the only one who hauled my bike over, so I got to ride home in my dry, comfortable truck, eating a QT pepper jack taquito and listening to some good music. They all had to ride another 30-40 miles in the rain. I smiled…

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Great looking ride, Jay547 ! You wouldn’t happen to have any gpx files or anything, would you? I know that takes some of the adventure out of it, but I don’t know the area well.
 
Great looking ride, Jay547 ! You wouldn’t happen to have any gpx files or anything, would you? I know that takes some of the adventure out of it, but I don’t know the area well.
I'm a paper map guy. Here's a crappy picture of my route. Yellow on the west side of the river, green on the east.

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Look on Google Earth for the railroad beds. The black and white aerials from the 90's show it much better.
 
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