Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge: Is One Day Enough?

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Definitely it’s not enough to explore Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in one day. There are so many things to do in Wichita Mountains.

But, sometimes one day is the only time we have. Like this our first visit to Wichita Mountains. We arrived one Friday morning at 10.30 and left the next morning before 8 a.m. because my son had a birthday party to attend at 1 p.m. in Fort Worth. (That’s a three and a half hour drive.)

Less than 24 hours visit, but we actually had fun. So, here’s what you can do at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge on your one day visit.

One Day in Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Location: 32 Refuge Headquarters Road, Indiahoma, OK 73552.

Fee: Free of charge seven days a week.

Our Accommodation: Doris Campground (inside the refuge.)

Our Activities:

• Visited Holy City.
• Visited Mt. Scott.
• Observed Prairie Dog Town.
• Hiked Elk Mountain Trail.

Our Stories:

My watch showed 10.30 a.m. when we got to Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge entrance. We were welcomed by prairie and mountains as we continued to the Visitor Center. But ahead, rain cloud was hovering in the sky.

So, we decided to drive straight to Doris Campground, our accommodation for the night. After we set up the tent, we saw that one of the tires was pretty low in air. Then we drove to the nearest town, Cache, to get it fixed. Great! We lost an hour of our exploring time to take care of the car business. But, we had to do it.

Done with the car, we went to the first place we visited in the refuge, which was Mount Scott.

Wichita Mountains: Mount Scott.

Located inside Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Mount Scott is probably the most well-known peak in Oklahoma. It towers 2,464 feet above sea level. You can hike a three-mile-long paved road to its summit, or choose to drive like we did.

Once you get to the summit, park your car in the spacious parking available there. Then enjoy the great outdoor the mountain has to offer: beautiful view all around and rock hopping or hiking. We enjoyed our time there and could spend more than an hour easily if we had more than one day to explore Wichita Mountains.

One more thing about Mount Scott: you don’t have to pay an entrance fee to get there!

Our family like hiking, and the refuge has 15 miles of hiking trails that offer the novice and seasoned hikers a rewarding experiences. So, hiking was the next activity we did after Mount Scott.

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Wichita Mountains Hiking: Elk Mountain Trail.

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge has 18 designated trails. We decided to hike one of the recommended trails by the staff: Elk Mountain Trail. It has the best view, 2.2 miles round trip, and the most popular trail in the refuge although it has a steep terrain and rated difficult.

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Elk Mountain Trail started from Sunset Area. There are 2 other trails that started from here, too: Charon’s Garden (difficult) and Crab Eyes (easy to moderate).

Charon’s Garden is rock climbers’ heaven while at the end of Crab Eyes hikers can see a rock formation that looks like crab’s eyes. On our second visit to the refuge with our dog Snoopy, we did the Crab Eyes trail.

That afternoon part of the trail was covered with water because of the rain from the day before. Our first mistake was to follow the youth group in front of us. We left the trail because it covered with water, just like they did. When we approached them, we didn’t see any sign of the trail anymore. I asked the leader whether they’ve been here before, and of course the answer was NO.

Then we spotted a path at the bottom of the rock bed and went there. It didn’t look like a trail but we decided to follow it. After a while, we realized it was a game trail. We turned around and hiked the bedrock, following the direction on the map though we still didn’t see the trail.

Finally, we saw a guy coming down from the top. He told us the trail was a bit confusing in the beginning but we would see it clear all the way to the top. Phew!

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The trail was rugged and wet after the rain. I agree it’s not easy. My son asked me to carry his sling pack all the way to the top. He said he needed to reduce his load to make it easier for him to hike. Yeah, you’re right! I told him to finish the water from one bottle to make it lighter.

Then the top part of my husband’s hiking boot stitches started to split. Duct tape came to the rescue. My husband likes to wrap it around the hiking pole or water bottle. One of his hiking hacks.

Finally, we made it to the top. The view of the refuge was breathtaking. We were surprised, never thought there’s something like this in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to explore the other side of the summit. We needed our energy for hiking down. Besides, it’s already 5.30 p.m.

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As usual, hiking down was faster. And the trail was visible all the way to the bottom. It’s weird!

It took us around 2.5 hour to do the round trip hike.

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Camping: Doris Campground.

Doris Campground is one of the three campgrounds in the refuge. It is a modern camping facility with individual and group sites. The individual campsites are on a first come, first served basis and are not available for reservations.

One day before we left for Wichita Mountains, I called the Visitor Center to find out if a site would be available at our arrival time. The lady said normally sites would be available until noon and if we come early, we can pick the site we want.

The campground is nice. It’s spacious and there are table, fire ring, and fire grill/grate at every site. There’s no water source at every site but they are located conveniently around the campground, as well as the chemical toilets and trash dumpsters. The site is between trees so we could hang our hammock. And the car pad can accommodate 2 cars.

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We chose one of the 47 single-unit sites without electricity that was close to the restroom with shower. It cost us $14 nightly. For $22-24 nightly you can have a site with electricity (23 units), but no water on sites. It is $12 nightly for semi-primitive (20 sites), where you have to park your vehicle and walk on a trail to the site.

During our visit, the downside of the campground was the shower. The water was warm, but we had to press the button every 30 seconds. I hope they have fixed the issue.

Go visit Doris Campground website for the latest info on camping in Wichita Mountains.

Pets are welcome in the campground. They must be on a leash all the time (10 foot or less) with one end of the leash secured.

Visiting Prairie Dog Town.

We were fortunate to stop at this ‘town’ in the springtime. Juvenile prairie dogs were running around and tried to catch each other tails while others surrounded their mother by the hole. The adults were active, too, scamper in and out of their burrows. I have never seen a prairie dog town like this before. Everyone looked super happy. We stopped there twice: before and after the hike.

Those black-tailed prairie dogs were adorable!

The Holy City Wichita Mountains.

Located in Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, this is the site of the nation’s longest running Easter Passion play, “The Prince of Peace.” Too bad we didn’t get to see the play. It was on Saturday night, the morning we left for home. They were also closed in preparation for the play. We only got to walk to the chapel and the Moses room.

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Holy City built like an old Jerusalem. There were sites from the birth until the death of Jesus. After we looked around, my son decided that we need to visit the real Jerusalem in Israel in the future.

Admission to Holy City is free but donations are welcome.

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Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was established to provide habitat for large native grazing animals such as American bison, Rocky Mountain elk, and white-tailed deer. You can also find Texas Longhorn, otter, owls, and many more wild animals thrive in this refuge.

If you plan a trip to Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, try to make a plan for a 2 days visit. If you only have a day, you can follow our itinerary. You can always skip the Elk Mountain Trail if it sounded too hard for you. Change it to the family friendly (easy) trail like Elk Trail or Burford Lake Trail.

On our second trip to the refuge, we took along our dog Snoopy and we did more hikes. Wichita Mountains is pet-friendly and your furry baby will like it there.

Enjoy Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge!