Imagine stacking car-sized boulders that have been sitting undisturbed for 40 years into a fortress-like structure, then launching 30- to 40-foot gap jumps off steel I-beams while shredding lines named after rock-and-roll legends. That’s exactly what’s happening at Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain, and it’s unlike anything else in Oklahoma.
Last year, Singletracks reported on the City of Tulsa’s huge investment in new trails at Turkey Mountain. It turned a once-neglected urban wilderness area into a riding destination. Capitalizing on the success of the new trails, the city has continued to revamp the area and has now added a new jump park, called the Rock Yard, to the mix.
To find out more about Turkey Mountain’s newest addition, Singletracks spoke with Jason Stouder, the Director of Business/Build Operations at Progressive Trail Design (PTD), and Ryan Howell with the River Parks Authority.
The Rock Yard is Progressive Trail Design’s final act at Turkey Mountain
Progressive Trail Design has been building trails at Turkey Mountain since 2021. “We’ve had at least one crew working in Tulsa for the last four years,” said Stouder. He said it has been an amazing building experience because of the local biking community’s passion for trails.
The Rock Yard is the last piece of the final phase of the Turkey Mountain project. Stouder told Singletracks that it was built at the request of the River Parks Authority which asked for a jump park that included pro-level lines with 30- to 40-foot gap jumps. Stouder said the River Parks Authority was comfortable having a professional trail builder construct it since there was such a demand for a jump park by the local mountain biking community.
Howell said that the idea was part of the master plan from the beginning, though it was originally labeled as a skills park. The River Parks Authority raised a little over $2 million for the project. Half came from the state’s Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, and the rest came from private donations.
The name and inspiration for the project came from the massive stones put on the property during nearby road construction
Stouder told Singletracks that he wanted to create a hub for the project, but didn’t want it to be exactly like the Castle in Bentonville. Instead, he envisioned a structure resembling a colonial-era river fort. Fortunately, the materials needed to make the vision a reality were already on-site.
“Back in the early 1980s, the 71st Street bridge, which goes across the Arkansas River, was built,” said Howell. “They had to cut through part of the mountain to build it. The rock broke apart in a perfect checkerboard square pattern.” These rocks, which Stouder described as the size of a compact car, were piled on the property and had sat there undisturbed for over 40 years.
According to Howell, it would have cost millions of dollars to have rocks like this brought in and shaped into squares. Instead, all PTD had to do was move them into place and stack them up to form the hub.
The materials used in the build reflect the intensity of the lines it contains
Stouder told Singletracks that PTD brought in a large excavator to move the stones into place, but even that machine couldn’t pick up some of them. “We had to push them into place.” They laid down and compacted base material before stacking the stones so there wouldn’t be any settling down the road.
In addition, PTD used rolled steel I-Beams for jumps and wooden features for turns and roll-ins. The sheer magnitude of the design shows that, while the Rock Yard was built with progression in mind, none of the five lines that comprise the project are beginner-friendly. “There is no easier line than a blue,” said Stouder. And keep in mind that the blue designation is region-based, so it might seem even harder to some riders.
They also used Trail Armor for the first time on parts of the first three lines, knowing they would be the most heavily used. “It’s basically a marine-grade carpet designed to cover the surface of the trail,” Stouder said. They laid it shingle-style in the berms. Stouder said it is going to be a case study for them as they see how it holds up over the coming years.
Like the artists they are named after, the lines rock riders from beginning to end
Names like “Janice Droplin,” “Jimmy Sendrix,” and “Steesy Nix” emphasize the project’s wild and rowdy nature. There’s nothing mellow about any of the five lines. Even the qualifiers reflect their intensity according to Stouder.
Take Stouder’s description of the third line, which he described as one of two blue/black trails. “It has a rock roll in leading to a tabletop, followed by a big step-down, then berm-berm and more big, sendy tabletops.”
There is a buildup of progression from the first line to the last one. Each one has about 70 feet of descent. The fourth and fifth lines have massive jumps and features designed for professional-level riders only.
The River Parks Authority plans to open the Rock Yard in time for the Cold Turkey Mountain Bike Festival
On November 14th-16th, Turkey Mountain will play host to the Cold Turkey Mountain Bike Festival, which will feature cross country and enduro races, a chainless downhill race, a jump jam, and more. With an anticipated attendance of 300 to 400 riders, it is a major event for the city, and the official opening of the Rock Yard is sure to make it even bigger.
“There is absolutely nothing like this in Oklahoma, period,” said Howell in reference to the Rock Yard. “It’s going to be a regional tourist draw.”
Stouder called it the piéce de résistance of their work at Turkey Mountain, and he said the River Parks Authority deserved a lot of credit for making it become a reality. “Bentonville should watch out. There’s a lot of passion with the local mountain biking community in Tulsa.” The Rock Yard is proof of that.
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