Wichita Mountain Refuge pt2

The last time we ventured out to Lawton, OK we were road biking and touring around, which was SO fun and exhilarating...especially riding up Mount Scott on a bike.  whew..

Well this second time we went, we decided to hike around Elk Mountain, maybe some trail running, rock climbing...a little bit of everything on foot.
Here are some pics of that trip.  Gorgeous place!

This place is SO dry...The crazy thing about the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge is that you can drive for hours in all directions with nothing but flat deserts and farmland.

 

Then out of nowhere, in the middle of the flat deserts of Oklahoma you can see a cluster of mountains silhouetted in the distance along the horizon.

 

Pulling into the refuge is like entering a different world...rock mountains, boulders, cliffs, cacti, longhorns, buffalo, elk...It's really an amazing sight.

 

     

We had a great time climbing up to the near vertical rock wall of Elk Mountain...we tried to climb our way to the top, but without ropes and gear it was a bit too risky.  The hike was so refreshing, not a cloud in the sky...a nice escape.