By Rick Curtis • Photos by Rick Russell

Oklahoma's Kiamichi Mountains, tucked away in the southeastern part of the state near the Arkansas border, harbor a vast maze of four-wheel drive trails. Four-wheelers in this part of the country who like "the hard stuff" need look no further than Poteau, Oklahoma (pronounced, Po-toe) for, arguably, some of the best extreme trails in the land. Long holiday weekends find hard-core Ôwheelers from several states gravitating to this area to test themselves and their machines. Our trip to Poteau during Memorial Day weekend took less than two hours from Tulsa.

Saturday arrived in typical Oklahoma summer morning fashion... warm and humid, with very little breeze and a promise of a hot afternoon. Those of us camping at Lake Wister State Park have adapted to the humid summers or maybe I should say learned to live with them. Poteau, Oklahoma is a short nine-mile journey from Lake Wister. Once in town, we headed to the Black Angus Motel, four-wheeling headquarters for most holiday weekends.

As we pulled into the parking lot, we spotted our group, led by local trail guru Tim Sims. As several in the group exchanged handshakes and the accompanying good-natured ribbing, Tim announced that we would be running trails "on Cavanaugh Hill today". Cavanaugh Hill is the world's highest hill. At a peak elevation of 1,995 ft., it is situated on the west edge of Poteau, overlooking the town and the entire Poteau River valley. Dense timber blankets the hillsides, with occasional clearings that provide spectacular views. Unmaintained oil and gas exploration routes systematically cut through the forest. Several extreme trails are found here, including Rattlesnake Trail, Panel Wagon Trail, and the