Feb 15, 2018 — Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is a totally unexpectedly fun area in the unlikely state of Oklahoma. Seriously, it reminded me of the granite of Joshua Tree National Park. I saw a few elk, a porcupine, and an armadillo. I even scared a coyote, an animal I'd never seen in the wild with such close proximity.
I was able to still hike three peaks, Mount Mitchell, Charons Garden Mountain, and Granite Peak. Originally, I had planned to hit a few more of the named peaks, but last-minute, I instead decided to go to the farthest tall point and make a big loop rather than stick to the central peaks. I guess I'll be back at some point to hit those, too. I never thought I'd say I was excited to return to Oklahoma.
Anyway, my full route is really hard to describe because there aren't any trails except for the Charons Garden Backcountry Camping Trail and Charons Garden Wilderness Trail, which I used to enter the area, and then to exit the area, respectively. Along the way, I wandered into the mouth of Styx Canyon where I encountered a small waterfall, hit three peaks which all required some fun scrambling, and visited Post Oak Falls. The map attached should give more insight as to my route, but this is definitely a choose your own adventure sort of place. All the peaks I climbed will have you stumbling onto Class 3 terrain, but it's likely easily avoidable and Class 2 can be found with some route-searching.
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