Glenpool, OK Outdoor Activities

Ornamental trees, wildflowers, and other foliage grow throughout Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Gardens, spread across 170 acres of the Osage Hills approximately 10 minutes northwest of downtown Tulsa. Visitors can follow a 1.5-mile nature trail through the Cross Timbers forest, also traipsing through a prairie and persimmon grove. Various species of butterflies flit through the forests and tall grasses beside a 7-acre lake, along with deer, the occasional turtle, and other wildlife.

Safety comes first at New Heights Rock Climbing Gym. Before strapping in at the gym’s top-rope climbing course, all guests have to complete a training lesson that teaches them the skills needed to safely surmount the gym’s walls. Students learn how to tie weight-bearing knots, help friends safely ascend and descend the walls using belaying techniques, and recognize the difference between rocks and Styrofoam coolers that just look like rocks. Once instructors deem them ready, students can then latch onto the colorful rocks sprinkled throughout the climbing space, using their upper-arm strength and path-finding skills to surmount the vertical obstacle course. The angled bouldering course rises over padded mats, allowing guests to safely climb the inclines while working against gravity pulling down their own body weight. The gym opens its doors to parties of all sizes, with one designated instructor for every eight partygoers to ensure climbers stay safe and agile.

As a basket drifts against the twilight, the only sound one can hear is a burner whispering to invisible gas, commanding it to push the carriage higher into the evening sky. At Go Hot Air Ballooning, flights stay close enough to the ground to witness deer wandering the earth, and each excursion—from private rides to tethered convoys—takes off with passengers' well-being in mind. An FAA-licensed pilot with more than 20 years of ballooning experience—and a perfect safety record—takes the helm of each flight, personally confirming each reservation and watching up-to-date weather reports to ensure safe flight conditions. Though the in-air portion lasts only an hour, most journeys take up to four hours in all, allowing passengers to witness such behind-the-scenes action as the pilot inflating the entire balloon with his lungs.