Wichita Mountains NWR Driving Tour - (Indiahoma, OK)

Today was much cooler, but there was a good chance of rain.

After eating our cereal outside with the deer and squirrels, we decided to just do a driving tour of the refuge.

First, we drove all of the campground.  We found a few really nice "no hook-up" sites that would have worked with our satellite internet.  In fact, all the other camping loops have sites with more privacy than the one we are in.  Lots of great choices if a rooftop dish isn't an issue.  :)

They do have flush toilets here, but the bathrooms aren't great.  And they do have one shower house for the entire campground.

After leaving the campground, we took every side road we could find checking out the many lakes and trailheads.  With all the picnic areas, hiking trails, and fishing spots, it has more of a state park or national recreation area feel than a wildlife refuge.

We were in search of wildlife other than what we have at the campground.  Our first sighting was an unexpected discovery.

A tarantula crossing the road.

It was only the second tarantula we'd seen in the wild.  And shortly after spotting that one, we saw another.

We soon found our first herd of buffalo grazing in a flower-covered field.

There were lots of calves in this group - that was good to see.

Now there are huge fences within the refuge to help with the wildlife management and make sure there is enough food for all the grazing animals.  But all the gates were open, so the animals, at least for now, could come and go into all areas as they pleased.

There was one calf that got on the wrong side of a fence and was desperately trying to get back to its mother.  As soon as I saw that, I thought "Oh no, we're going to be here until that baby is safely back with the herd".

Sure enough, Linda had her binoculars on the situation.  The calf was going up and down the fence-line whining for its mother.  The mother ignored it.  It was as if she was saying "You can cry all you want.  I told you not to go over there.  You got yourself into this mess, and you can get yourself out."  And eventually it did.  :)

Linda could then concentrate on the prairie dogs on the other side of the road where we had parked.

It was the largest of the Prairie Dog Towns that we found.  As we walked along the road, they were barking their high-pitched warnings and running to a hole to keep an eye on us.

That wasn't the case for the "dogs" nearest the parking area.  They didn't seem to care about us at all and would actually sneak up behind to check us out.

It was easy to get pictures and we could have watched their antics all day.

This one reminded me of the "gopher" in Caddyshack.  :)

I could just picture him sitting up and dancing to the Kenny Loggins theme song "I'm Alright".  :)

Most of the prairie dogs were eating.

And a few were on sentry duty.

But there was a lot of family time ...

and play time going on too.

We really could watch them for hours.  :)

But we continued on as we still had lots to cover.

This is a view from the Charon's Garden trailhead.

It looked like an interesting trail and it is one of the longer ones in the refuge.  Since it is supposed to remain cooler tomorrow, we may come back and hike it then.

Portions of this refuge look quite similar to parts of Colorado with the large boulders.  Most of the lakes, like this one, are manmade to help maintain the water supply for the wildlife.

By this time, the clouds were starting to break up.  We backtracked past the campground and headed to the visitors center which can be seen beyond this free-ranging Texas Longhorn.

Wow!  This visitors center is certainly impressive.  It is so much nicer than at any other wildlife refuge we have visited.

We sat in the large, comfortable auditorium and watched a fifteen minute film.  The refuge's almost 60,000 acres were saved at the last minute from development by President McKinley.

The native buffalo and elk had been wiped out from the area and were re-introduced.  Along with those two, the refuge became a place to preserve the Texas Longhorn due to its prominent place in the history of the great plains.

There are now herds of all three and they have become bloodstock for the establishment of these animals in other parts of the country.

The wonderful exhibits in the visitors center tell the stories of the other wildlife found here as well.

It is really well done.

Now, with that, we do have one complaint.  You know how much we hate trash, and there is a lot more trash around this refuge than there should be.

From experience, we know that the public doesn't treat refuges with the respect they deserve.  And there seems to be a really apparent correlation between public fishing areas and the amount of trash.  As a fisherman, that pains me.

But even though there is more trash around the fishing access points, there is still quite a bit all over the refuge.  What really bothers us is there doesn't seem to be as much effort to clean up here.

You can tell when an area has been cleaned and there is new trash within the last week.  But there is a lot of old trash laying around.  It's very sad, especially for a wildlife refuge.

I know funding is an issue for our public parks.  Just today someone posted a link in the Forum to an article about some Corps of Engineers Parks in Arkansas that are closing or cutting back on services.  Still, it's not too difficult to put together some volunteer clean-up days.

Maybe us full-timers could establish some sort of short-term, RVer Service Corps for public parks.  Rather than committing to months at a time, maybe we could arrange stays of a week or two in exchange for a few days of clean-up, trail maintenance, and such.  Just a thought.  :)

From the visitors center, we drove on east toward Mt. Scott.  More buffalo along the road.

At almost 2,500 feet, Mt. Scott is one of the taller peaks in the Wichita Mountains.  And you can drive to the top where there are some great views of Lake Lawtonka ...

and Lake Elmer Thomas.

With our binoculars, we could see the campground at the Lake Elmer Thomas Recreation Area (LETRA) and at least three other campgrounds along the shore of Lake Lawtonka.  From a distance they all looked like nice places to base camp to explore the refuge.  We'll have to check them out while we are here.

On the other side of the peak, looking back west over the refuge, the clouds were moving in again.

We drove back down the mountain to do a little more exploring before the rain moved in.  I liked this shot of the buffalo lying in the field with the clouds over the mountains in the background.

Instead of heading back to the rig, we chose to drive a couple miles outside the refuge to Meers to visit the Meers Store for a bite.  We had heard so much about that place, we had to give it a try.

Alas, we were disappointed to see the "Closed Tuesdays" sign.  :)

So back to the campground for plan B.  More brats on the grill.  We've become big fans recently of the Johnsonville Smoked Brats.  :)

So we drove over sixty miles within the refuge today and got a really good feel for it.  The hiking trails looked interesting and there are a couple of lakes that were especially enticing for our Sea Eagle 330 or Foldcat.

I think we might have to come back here another time when we don't have our eye on the calendar quite as much.  But we will enjoy all we can without rushing while we are here.  With hardly anyone in the refuge, there is certainly no "hurry up" vibe.  :)        

Comments

[Martin Hill]

I love those Johnsonville Brats, but after reading the fat grams content, I close my eyes and pass them by at the supermarket...about 25 grams per......similar to the BubbaBugers....good but loaded...

[J.C. Webber III]

I hope someone picks up your idea about a full-timer's volunteer corp to devote some time cleaning up our parks in exchange for some free site time. I'd join in when and where it was convenient to our travels. If you get something like this going officially, keep us posted.
-- jcw

[Phyllis]

Every time I wonder if we are doing the right thing by selling the house and hitting the road, I read one of you entries. Yup, we are! Thanks.

[foxriverguy]

Howard,

The bubble has burst. You have posted the first objectionable thing. Yikes. Tarantulas in Oklahoma. Do they climb into motor homes?
Spiders "creep" me out.

O.K. Call me a wus.

[Bonnie]

Oh my goodness, those prairie dogs are so adorable! Could you talk sometime about maintaining your health? Do you workout in addition to hiking? Any dietary habits that help? I find the RV lifestyle can be challenging to get enough exercise.

[Racerguy]

The Prairie Dogs may be cute but I would be carful about getting very close to there habitat. They are known to carry some diseases.Not very welcome in my part of country

[Sue]

Tarantulas...on...the...road...?!?!?!?! ugggghhhhh! I almost couldn't finish today's journal entry! NOT a big fan of huge, hairy, creepy spiders!!! :(