Tag Archives: Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge ~Indiahoma, Ok

01/23/2021 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

We did the Elk Mountain hike at Wichita Mountains and it seems like no big deal since it is only 1.1 miles but it is going up.

If you look to the upper right of this pic you can see our destination.
We did it one other time but I had to stop before going to the top so I was pretty excited to make it all the way to the top this time.This is definitely my favorite hike we have done here.The view is definitely worth the hike up!It was very windy and chilly up there!Our four oldest were in front of us on the way down and got off the trail(some of it is not marked clearly). So my husband had to go back up to where they had gotten off and bring them back. After we got down we went to see the cute prairie dogs at the prairie dog town but they did not hold my kids interest long this time.

I guess they are used to seeing them now.After that we drove to the other side of the refuge to drive to the top of Mount Scott.

It is a nice easy way to see beautiful views.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and loved Quartz Mountain and Wichita Mountains!

Camping, Museums/Events, Parks

Plans change again, last stop.

06/22/2019 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

Okay, last vacation post!

I have been slow in sharing because, well 5 kids but I love to look back on these so I was determined to finish.

Our last stop was also one of the last State Parks we needed to visit to see them all!

We stopped at one more on the way home and now I have officially been to all of the Oklahoma State Parks!

This one was the Great Plains State Park. And it was so beautiful!

The flowers were all in bloom while we were there! I had not planned to camp at this park but learned my lesson from getting turned away from Palo Duro and called ahead to Wichita Mountains(where I wanted to camp).

They were full so we stayed at Great Plains State Park.

There is more to do and see at Wichita Mts. but I enjoyed our stay at this park.

One of the few downsides was that the bathhouse was not open yet at our campground so we had to use porta potties.

They also have a pretty large trail system but it is not well kept.

This part of the trail looked promising but was pretty flooded so we ended up not going on it. It is not too far from Wichita Mts. so we drove over there.

I decided to give Nick a driving break and drove.

Which means we took the scenic route and stopped every few miles so I could take pics 😉

I love all of the wildlife in Wichita Mts. Even though we had seen a lot of prairie dogs while out west my kids still loved watching them.

We stopped at the Nature Center/Museum while there. We went ahead and stopped at the Holy City while there.

I guess they hold an Easter Play there every year. It was interesting but not really for me. Next up we went on the short hike to the Jed Johnson Tower.

We had never been before and Little Bit was convinced it was Rapunzel’s tower.It was a bit muddy on the trail.She was so excited.No Rapunzel.Next stop was the Museum of the Great Plains.

It is a part of the Oklahoma Museum Network so we get in on our pass.

I love how kid friendly it is now.So much to see and do.They love the store.They have a fort outside and the people in it love to share their love of history.

We decided to give the trail system another try at Great Plains State Park on our last night there. I was giddy happy to be hiking in a field of flowers. It might have difficult to follow the trail but it was breathtaking and one of my favorite moments of the trip. Thoughtful people had left rock stacks to help you find the trail. Sometimes you are just too short to get through the cactus and yucca without the help of a big brother. Beautiful view from the top.