Oklahoma's highpoint Black mesa is indeed the top of a mesa as the name indicates, although fittingly enough it is also one of the largest mesas in all of US. The trek is about 4.2 miles one-way along a well signed path that starts below the mesa and after about 2 miles turn up to the plateau.
The lanscape along the path shows many interesting rock formations and smaller table-top mountains such as the one seen below.
Once you reach the top of the plateau the only minor obstacle is that it is deceptively flat so figuring out where the high point really lies is not too easy. Just following the trail though you get to the marker for the highpoint eventually.
I went with Brian and we decided to try to bushwhack a bit on the way back to save a few minutes (or half a mile), that is kind of risky though due to the abundance of cacti, especially dried out dead cacti which easily pierce shoes with the needles. We made it back in one piece though, but the time saved was probably quite negligible.
A USGS marker pointing out it is unlawful to molest (?!?) marks the elevation and highest spot in the state of the Sooners.
State: Oklahoma
Elevation: 4 973 ft (1 515.8 m)
High point: Black Mesa
Date: October 13th, 2012
Total elevation to date: 239536 ft (73 011 m)
Access: hike, class 1
Difficulty rating (of 10): 3
Potential Difficulties: getting lost on top of the mesa. Cactus needles...
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