Roberts loves outdoor activities

Mar. 30—Amy Roberts has lived her life in the outdoors.

"One of my earliest memories is being pushed in a stroller, how that felt going through the grass or on the sidewalk," she said. "We were always outside."

Junction City in northeast Kansas seemed to be a perfect place, where the flatlands met the Flint Hills.

"There were a lot of tall prairie grasses," she said. "Dad take us canoeing and hiking, and morel mushroom hunting each April."

It also fostered a love of rocks.

"I've always been a rockhound for sure, since I was a little kid," she said. "I remember one year for the 4-H fair, I glued a bunch of rocks and broken glass together, called it recycled art and won a blue ribbon. Mom still has it on a shelf."

Roberts has a rock garden with all her findings.

"Anywhere we see a rock and it speaks to me, I have to pick it up and take it home," she said.

She still enjoys hiking, as well.

"We went to Rocky Mountain National Park last year," Roberts said. "We took our daughter hiking to Buffalo National River in Arkansas. Around here, we do mild hiking around Lake Tenkiller. Anywhere you can get out and climb around is what I look for. I like to be outside, period. It doesn't have to be challenging, I just like exploring."

Each spring, Roberts explores damp areas for morel mushrooms, which she likes to fry.

Her love of the outdoors fostered a passion for taking care of the environment and improving her community. She said she often joins her Armstrong Bank coworkers during the Azalea cleanup. Improving the outdoors also is a family affair.

"It's a real passion of mine," Roberts said. "We took over an old house close to the bank and we have lot next to us has trash in it took us years, but we finally bought it and we keep it mowed, keep trash picked up."

Which rock is best?

Amy Roberts said she cannot decide which of her many rocks is the best.

"There are thousands out there," she said. "I don't know if I can choose a favorite rock."

They do have to be unaltered by human hands, though.

"It's only rocks that I can find naturally, she said. "I don't want any polished rocks. I like them in their original state."

Her garden also includes geodes, coral and petrified wood.

"The most unusual thing I found was a human tooth," she said. "It's out there somewhere among the rocks."

Roberts has found rocks as far away as Ontario in Canada. Those rocks are usually mossy, round and smooth, she said.

"Our family travels to Canada every summer, my great grandparents bought some land up there in the 1940s on Eagle Lake.

She said she also found interesting rocks around Broken Bow

"Here in Muskogee, I find it interesting there's so much flint," Roberts said.

Friends know all about her appreciation of rocks.

"Somebody actually gave me a rock shaped like the state of Oklahoma," she said.

Grand Canyon favorite hike location

Roberts said her favorite hikes have been around Havasu Falls, deep into in the Grand Canyon. She said she's done two 35-mile hikes, each lasting three days.

She said the first part of the hike follows "about eight miles of dusty canyon."

"Then you hit the first waterfall, which is the smallest waterfall," she said. "But it gives you hope because you're carrying so much in your pack. Then you get down to the Havasupai village. From there, you hike another mile or two, and it's just dusty."

She said that, as the hike goes deeper into the canyon, "there are a lot of little bridges and ladders that are kind of wet."

Roberts and her fellow campers set up camp next along the Colorado River.

"The beds are covered in lime, that's why the waters look so blue," she said. "If you can, from that point, you hike another two miles to Mooney Falls, then another eight miles to Beaver Falls."

She said she can feel the pressure, like a mixture of mist and air, coming from the falls.

"They're breathtaking," she said. "They're just magical, beautiful, sparkling, they look aquamarine."

The hikes can be treacherous, however.

"The first time I was out there, I lost two toenails and I had to take a donkey out," she said, adding that the second time she wore hiking boots with more toe space.

Mushroom hunt a long-time hobby

Roberts says she's hunted morel mushrooms for as long as she can remember.

"My dad would take us out, or me and my cousins, we'd go out and we'd have specific spots where we knew they'd come up each year," she said. "Sometimes they were there, sometimes they weren't, but we would always go to the spots where they were previously."

Prime spots were fallen oak trees, damp areas with a little bit of tree cover and leaf litter, she said. The hunting is all done by sight.

"You'd see areas that kind of look good and slope," she said. "It can't be a dry area. The sun may be shining through the tree covers. That would be a spot where there would be morel mushrooms."

The damp clay makes the Muskogee area a good place to hunt, she said.

Roberts described morel mushrooms as having a withered "brainy" appearance.

How many mushrooms she nets depends on how good the season has bee and how often she gets out, she said.

"Typically, I'll find just enough to make them a few times in a season," she said. They come always come up in March or April."

She said she usually goes five times a year.

"I fry them like chicken," she said. "I use a saltine cracker crumb base with egg, then I just fry them. I wash them first.

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE AN OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE?

"My husband got a basketball scholarship at Bacone, that is his passion. He was my boyfriend at the time. We moved down here, started raising a family. I started working at the bank. What keeps us here is that this is a really good job. Everything we need is here."

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT MUSKOGEE?

"The people I formed relationship with."

WHAT WOULD MAKE MUSKOGEE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE?

"Connecting the bike trails. It would just be beneficial to be able to walk or ride farther distances without turning back. We have a loop, but I'd like a bigger loop. I like the trail. It's always nice, always clean, and it makes you feel you're outside of the city."

WHAT PERSON IN MUSKOGEE DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?

"Cristin Shelby, She is just a super person in general. She just, no matter what, always has a smile., Always positive, leaves you feeling better than you did before you arrived and she's always gone above and beyond for me personally in situations where I needed her. She's super at volunteering."

WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN MUSKOGEE?

"The flood. You didn't expect to see those aerial shots of east Muskogee and west Fort Gibson infused with water. It was just surreal."

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

"I like to do things outside like gardening, I love rocks. In April, I like to hunt morels. I like biking.

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP MUSKOGEE IN 25 WORDS OR LESS?

"A diverse community of caring individuals that I have come to know as my home."