Keystone Ancient Forest Opens Hiking Trail Offering ‘Completely New Experience’

The Keystone Ancient Forest in Sand Springs is opening a brand-new hiking trail this weekend. Staff said it will be a completely new experience, even for frequent visitors.

Coordinator Thomas Forbes said it’s been highly anticipated.    

"We've had trail guides and our parks director work around the clock to make that trail happen and it’s going to be an awesome trail and an awesome feature to the forest," said Forbes. 

He's talking about the Falls Trail, a roughly 3.5-mile loop that takes hikers past two small waterfalls and one of the ancient cedar trees the area is known for.

The trail opens at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. At 8 a.m. volunteer trail guides and park staffers invite the public to join them as they preview the trail.

"We're sad that we missed the opening of the new trail, but it sounded like it would be really cool with the waterfall," said Darby Batchelor.

Batchelor visited the Ancient Forest from out of state and said hiking the area gave her a breath of fresh air.

"The trails are nice, there's lots of different levels, there's some easy trails and some harder trails if you're looking for a bit of a challenge, we really enjoyed all of them," Batchelor said.

Batchelor is among several folks enjoying the forest for the first time. Forbes said many people still don't know about this hidden gem just a short drive from Tulsa.

"We get new people every weekend that are just totally amazed, we get people that actually live in the area, people from Sand Springs, even Tulsa, we've had people from out of state," Forbes said.

The Keystone Ancient Forest also just built a brand-new visitor center that is scheduled to open next week.