Sequoyah State Park: Fossil/Fitness Loop (Blog Hike #945)

Trails: Fossil, Fort Gibson, Fitness Trails
Hike Location: Sequoyah State Park
Geographic Location: east of Wagoner, OK (35.89644, -95.24145)
Length: 1.9 miles
Difficulty: 4/10 (Moderate)
Date Hiked: April 2023
Overview: A loop hike featuring fossils along and views of Fort Gibson Lake.
Park Information: https://www.travelok.com/state-parks/sequoyah-state-park
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=935151
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of SR 51 and SR 16 on the east side of Wagoner, take SR 51 east 7.2 miles to the entrance for Sequoyah State Park on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, and drive the main park road 2.8 miles to the Three Forks Nature Center.  Park in the parking lot across the street from the front of the Nature Center.

The hike: Located on a narrow peninsula jutting south into Fort Gibson Lake, 2200 acre Sequoyah State Park began its life in 1948 as Western Hills State Park.  The park offers fantastic amenities including swimming, fishing, and boating on Fort Gibson Lake, a short 9 hole golf course, a group camp, 10 cabins, and multiple developed campgrounds.  Perhaps the park's best amenity is its Lodge at Sequoyah State Park, which is the largest state park lodge in Oklahoma.

            For hikers, the park offers 12 miles of hiking trails that wind throughout the park.  Many routes long and short through the trail system are possible, but I came here on a Tuesday morning with rain closing in from the west.  Thus, I needed to keep my hike short.  The route described here meets my distance criterion, but it also passes some of the most interesting and scenic points in the trail system.

Start of Fossil Trail near Nature Center

            Start to the left (east) of the Nature Center, where a sign directs you to the Fossil Trail.  Marked with orange rectangular paint blazes, the single-track dirt trail descends to reach an intersection with the Three Forks Trail, which goes left.  Angle right to keep following the Fossil Trail.

Descending on the Fossil Trail

            The Fossil Trail becomes very rocky as it gets close to the shore of Fort Gibson Lake, but these rocks are the ones that contain the fossils.  You will need to look carefully and have some idea what you are looking for in order to find the fossils: they are small, and none of them are specifically marked or labeled.  The rockiness also makes footing difficult, so make sure you watch where you step as you hike and look for fossils.

End of Fossil Trail near lodge

            Keep heading south with the lake on your left, and at 0.6 miles you reach the end of the Fossil Trail.  To continue the hike, turn right, walk through the parking lot in front of the Lodge at Sequoyah State Park, then turn left to walk past the lodge entrance.  Descending slightly on a concrete path called the Fort Gibson Trail brings you to Inspiration Point, which sits on the very southern tip of the peninsula that contains this park.  While the lake views from this Inspiration Point are quite nice, most viewpoints named Inspiration Point offer more to see than just a lake.  I did see many small birds in this area, and some benches and tables here make for nice places to sit, rest, and have a snack near the midpoint of this hike.

Inspiration Point

View from Inspiration Point

            Retrace your steps back past the lodge entrance, then look to the left for the start of the Fitness Trail.  Although the asphalt Fitness Trail does not make for the most inspiring hiking, you have to get back to the Nature Center somehow, and this option beats retracing your steps on the Fossil Trail or walking along the park road.  Some fitness stations challenge you to do more than just hike on this trail, and the gradual uphill might get your heart going as well.  As you pass the golf course on the left, the Nature Center comes into view across the park road to the right, indicating the end of the hike.  If you have more time in this area, check out similarly-named Sequoyah Bay State Park and its 5 Nations Monument across the lake to the west.