Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Wichita Mountains

This past Monday we went to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge to go hiking. It was less than two hours away, so we planned a hike and a picnic, followed up with a stop for ice cream on the way home. The day started off as planned with a nice drive and a fabulous hike!

Our hike started at Lost Lake.

Connor decided he'd rather eat his hat than wear it.


It took us over rocks, boulders, and along dirt trails.

We saw amazing scenery and wildflowers.

We finally stopped for a snack in some shade.

On the way back, we finally found what they call the "forty foot hole". I don't know why they call it that - it's more like a gorge about 100 feet deep!


Do you see the cave to the right of the falls?
Olivia had to take a picture of the wildflowers. This one is the Oklahoma state flower.
We saw several collared lizards as well - the Oklahoma state lizard. Can you see it in the picture? It's just on the other side of the tuft of grass at the bottom of the picture.

Did you see how sunny it was in those pictures? Well, about the last 10 minutes of our 2 hour hike a cloud passed overhead and dropped a bunch of rain on us. At first it felt great because it had been so warm - then it just felt wet. Fortunately I had packed a change of clothes for everyone in case of rain. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a dry bra for me... I had to put my wet one back on of course.
Due to the rain, we had our picnic in the van. However, as we drove out of the Refuge we passed a heard of bison by the road...

...so we had to stop and get some footage...

...until this fella got a little too close and I decided to get back in the van.

6 comments:

Alyssa said...

Looks like y'all had fun!!! That scenery is beautiful!

Amberdawn said...

Very pretty! We'll have to go sometime. The lake picture is gorgeous!

*Jess* said...

gorgeous scenery!

Connie said...

Looks like he wanted to be friends! LOL This is a great experience for your children.

SCNONI said...

Did you stop at Braun's on the way back. I can taste the homemade ice cream from here. Yummy.

Becky said...

I lived there for six years and had no idea there was anything like that nearby! I'm jealous!