Wichita Mtns. Ride Report 6/20/09

[trumpetguy]

Geekonabike (former owner of my GS500E and member of this forum) and I took a day trip to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma today.  After a week of temperatures in the high 90s, today was much cooler and very pleasant -- upper 80s most of the day.  The ride to and from the refuge has a dozen or so 25mph (indicated) corners which are fun at 50mph(!) as well as some fun sweepers.  It ain't the Rockies, but it beats wearing the center of the tire anyday.

The refuge is made up of rugged granite mountains and contains ecological regions from near-desert to prairie to densely wooded areas.  There are herds of buffalo, Texas longhorns (cattle), and elk inside the refuge.  You go over large cattle guards and once inside you are in there with the animals.  Caution is wise.

We rode the backbone of the refuge (SH49) and stopped for a short hike.  The hike took us alongside a creek, and then on the bluffs above the creek, and ultimately down a ravine to the water.

A typical mountain here appears to be composed of thousands of huge granite boulders


We hiked along this creek:




We have had a fairly damp June and wildflowers are beautiful around here, including these coneflowers:


We saw several "Mountain Boomers" -- the local name for the Eastern Collared Lizard.  Males are brightly colored and females less so:






After the hike, we rode up to the top of Mt.Scott, the tallest mountain in the public part of the refuge.  The road was a CCC project during the Great Depression.   Views at the top are spectacular -- over 60 miles on a clear day.



Trumpetguy on Mt. Scott:


We had a great late lunch at Ann's Kitchen, including homemade chocolate pie (oh, yeah) and then gassed up and rode home.  A great ride.

[gsJack]

Not as high as the Smoky mountains but looks like a great place to ride.  I love mountain riding.  Gotta get back one more time before I get too old to walk to the bike and climb on. 

[scottpA_GS]

Looks like a good time. I need to take more pics on my rides 

[commuterdude]

Wow looks cool.  I love seeing pics of local cool places.   Wonder if there are any indian burial grounds or other cool Native American sites around there.

[trumpetguy]

Wow looks cool.  I love seeing pics of local cool places.   Wonder if there are any indian burial grounds or other cool Native American sites around there.

There are cool Native American sites all over Oklahoma.  Almost every tribe which was relocated to Oklahoma in the 19th century has a museum at its tribal headquarters.  On one of my previous rides I posted pictures of the Black Kettle Massacre site.  It's the site on the banks of the Wachita River (really spelled with an s but our stupid profanity filter screws up even the middle of words) where Custer's troops slaughtered hundreds of Cheyenne men, women, and children as well as 800 horses.  The attack began as the village was sleeping.  Black Kettle was a peaceful chief who had tried to calm other factions of the Cheyenne people.  Not a pretty part of our history.  There are still people (I live in the Cheyenne-Arapaho area of the state) living around here who have heard first-person accounts of the attack from their great-grandparents who survived the attack as young children by pretending to be dead.

The Wichitas are in the Comanche area of the state.  On top of Elk Mountain (another very cool hike, but not one I want to do in my riding pants), there is a lone cedar tree that always has some medicine bundles and ribbons tied on its branches.  I don't know its significance but it is an awesome place.

Ft. Sill (U.S. Army) borders the wildlife refuge.  It has a cool museum, and is where Geronimo was imprisoned and buried.  So yeah -- lots of cool sites!

[badguy]

Awesome report!