|
June 13-16, 2008: The Texas Folk Life Festival in San Antonio |
|
May 6-14, 2008: A Trip to Florida |
|
Return to Index for 2008 |
 |
The trip was a cooperative effort. Fred supplied the vehicle and most of the planning, I arranged for the hotel, and Mario and Steve picked up the gas and meals; all in all, things evened out nicely. Steve did not have to be at work until Sunday night, and was free before that. Mario arranged his schedule so that he was free beginning at noontime on Friday. So that gave us a full, open weekend.
Mario and Steve arrived at my house about noon, and we got Fred's vehicle loaded up, and headed off about one. The route to Lawton is quite easy, although Fred and I have driven it so many times it is a bit boring for us. From my house, all we had to do was go out Northwest Highway to I-35 and then take that north all the way to Gainesville. There, we headed west on US 82 to Wichita Falls, where we picked up I-44 north to Lawton.
I'd arranged for accommodations at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, just south of Gore Road and west of I-44 in Lawton, so we went there first to put most of our stuff in the room. Then, since it was only about five in the afternoon, we headed up to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
Activities on May 30th (Map/Overview)
 |
I have marked the map at the left with the approximate locations of the stops we made this evening, and I think that we all thought that for getting started so late, we got quite a lot in.
My favorite place in the park is Mt. Scott, not because the drive to the top is so great (which was the first thing we did), but because the bouldering is so much fun- and that was something we left until Sunday. After going up Mt. Scott, we drove on into the park along Highway 49, stopping first at the prairie dog town and then at the trailhead for the Narrows trail.
We finished the Narrows trail about eight-fifteen, and thought that we would try to eat at a local hangout in Meers; they are supposed to have great burgers in a setting unique enough to be mentioned on the Food Network. Unfortunately, it also closes early, and we just missed it. We ended up eating on the way back to the hotel, at Fisherman's Cove.
|
|
May 30: A Drive Up Mt. Scott
 |
|
|
The second overlook we stopped at was around towards the north side of the mountain, where we could get different views, such as this one of the north end of Lake Lawtonka. Here is Fred taking a picture at this overlook, and, just before we drove on, I thought I'd capture Fred and the RAV4 (with the guys waiting inside).
Fred and I hopped back in the vehicle and headed on further up Mt. Scott.
 |
|
|
But the rocks on the other side of the road were the most attractive thing (to me, at least) of this particular overlook; they just seemed to be calling to me. So I went right across the road and started climbing, and in a minute or two was up quite high, looking back down on Fred and the vehicle.
And while I was climbing those rocks, Fred was directing Mario and Steve to the top of a roadside boulder so that he could take some pictures looking up at them. He took two good pictures of them on their perch, and you can look at those pictures here and here. From my own perch, I could also see Steve and Mario on their boulder, far below and a bit up the road from me.
I continued to climb up the rocks, and eventually Fred, Mario and Steve also came over to the place where I had climbed and clambered up partway. Fred got good pictures of me and the guys, and I got some really beautiful views looking along the rock face towards Lake Lawtonka, and also a picture or two looking down on the other guys. I have put thumbnails for some of these pictures below; just click on them to view the full-size pictures:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
As I was coming back down to meet the other guys and head on up to the summit, I found that Mario had scraped his head on one of the overhanging boulders; I am sure it stung. Mario had gotten his first "battle scar" of the weekend. We'd done about all the damage we could do here, and so it was back to the car and on to the summit.
We reached the summit only a little while after our rock climb. Fred and I have been to the summit of Mt. Scott any number of times. A few times, like today, we have driven to the top. But, more often than not, we have climbed the boulder avalanche to reach the summit; doing it that way just feels like more of an accomplishment. In any event, we all got out at the summit and wandered around looking at the impressive views. There is a platform at the very top, and all of us got our pictures taken there. In addition, Fred and I took various pictures of the surrounding area, including a couple of Lake Lawtonka. And each of us took our own movie.
Beginning with the movies, keep in mind that the wind was quite strong at the top of Mt. Scott, strong enough to cause a great deal of sound interference with our narration (more in my movie than Fred's).
|
|
As for the pictures, they are pretty self-explanatory, and you can pick out all of us and the major elements of scenery below. I have put thumbnails for these pictures below. Click on them to view the full-size images:
|
|
|
May 30: The Prairie Dog Town
 |
The prairie dogs are always fun to watch as the scamper around into and out of their holes. There were quite a few of them today, and Fred got some good pictures of them. Click on the thumbnails below to see these pictures:
|
May 30: Hiking the Trail to the Narrows
 |
|
|
The trail leads a short way through the woods, climbing a bit, until it comes out on a bluff overlooking the small stream that runs from a lake about a mile away and then down through the narrow canyon to a broad, slow-moving creek. While we were standing on the bluff, I took some pictures of the water below, one looking upstream into the sunlight, and the other looking downstream towards the park road. I believe that the water from this stream ends up in Lake Lawtonka (when there is enough flow to keep it moving). I understand that, in the late summer, it can stop flowing completely for a time.
Here, I parted company with the other guys. I have hiked with Fred along the trail that stays on top of the bluff for about a half-mile before, and Fred thought that would be best for Steve and Mario, they're being novices and all. I, however, wanted to descend to the streambed and walk along the rocks up to the narrows, intending to meet them at the small waterfall that we knew existed up there. So I left Fred, Steve and Mario and climbed down the bluff to the stream.
|
|
Fred, Steve and Mario continued along the bluff. On the way along that trail, Fred got two good pictures of the other guys, and you can see those pictures here and here. Fred also got two very good closeup pictures of some of the many desert lizards that we saw all weekend long. One of them was pretty much a dull, brown lizard, but the other was a brightly‑colored lizard.
As I said, I went down to the stream to walk along in the same direction as the other guys were heading. When I got down there, I made a movie of the lower canyon here at the narrows- a movie that you can watch using the player at left. As I walked along up the stream, climbing mostly over rocks and trying to avoid the poison ivy that I could see occasionally, I took some pictures of the stream and its many pools. I've put thumbnails for three of these pictures below; you can look at the full-size pictures by clicking on those thumbnails:
|
|
|
While they were up there, Fred got a good picture looking down on the series of waterfalls here at the narrows. Then the three of them started down the rocky bluff to join me here at the water's edge; you can watch their progress using the movie player below.
|
|
Once we were all together again, I led the way and we clambered, climbed and walked our way up the stream bed to look at all the little waterfalls and pools. Both Fred and I took quite a few pictures as we moved along, and I've put thumbnails for the best of them below. Look at as many of the pictures as you wish by clicking on their thumbnails:
|
I also took two movies of the other guys down here as they walked along the rocky streambed. You should look at those two movies using the movie players below:
|
|
We walked a few hundred feet upriver until the beautiful, rocky part petered out, and then we turned around and headed back. At the falls, we again split up, with the other guys going back up the bluff while I continued down the streambed as I had done coming up. When we met up again downstream, we returned to the parking area together. I think that Steve and Mario enjoyed the hike. It was not too strenuous for a first time, and being late in the day the temperature had moderated some.
We got back in the car and decided to try to have dinner at the hamburger place in Meers where Fred and I had tried to go once before, but when we got there it was already closed. So we headed out of the Refuge and back to the Interstate, stopping to have dinner at Fisherman's Cove.
Activities on May 31st (Map/Overview)
 |
The other guys came down a bit later and had their breakfast, and then we all got cleaned up and headed out back to the Refuge. Today, there were three things we wanted to do. The first would be the Elk Mountain Trail, a moderately strenuous hike for about a mile up the side and onto the top of Elk Mountain. The views should be good, and we know there are some rock arches and stuff to find up on top.
After that hike, we thought the guys would appreciate a rest, so we were going to head to the Visitor Center, walk through the museum and watch the movie about the Refuge and its origins. After that, it would be time to get a late lunch, and we hoped to be able to get into the hamburger hangout in Meers that we'd been turned away from last night. Finally, we thought that if we still had time and the guys weren't totally exhausted, we might return to the Elk Mountain area and this time do the flatter hike to the "boulder houses" at the foot of the mountain on its south side.
It was an ambitious day, and the first thing we did was to stop just off I-44 on Highway 49 to gas up and buy some sandwiches to take with us on our hike up Elk Mountain so we could have lunch up on top.
May 31: Hiking to the Top of Elk Mountain
The Trail to the Top of Elk Mountain
|
|
|
Right at the trailhead sign, we stopped to take a couple of group pictures; here are Mario, Steve and myself and here are Mario, Steve and Fred.
There were the usual warnings for me to ignore, and then the trail began by crossing a metal bridge over a small stream to begin the ascent on the far side.
The trail up to the top was steep in a few spots but on the whole was not hard at all, which was good for an introduction for Mario and Steve. The only problem was that summer was definitely here, and it was very warm, which took a lot out of everyone. Fred took the lead, and he got a number of good pictures looking back at us; here is one of us early on the trail, and here is one of us in a wooded area about a quarter of the way up the trail. Both Fred and Steve were very interested in all the flora along the way, including the flowering cactus and some sort of sage-like plant with purple flowers that had some sort of fragrance.
I, too, got some good pictures of the other three guys- one here in the wooded area and another in an open area about two-thirds of the way up to the top. I enjoy taking movies, too, and there were a couple that turned out well.
|
|
At the Peak of Elk Mountain
|
|
Of course, one thing that we did at the top was to take lots of pictures of each other to record the fact that we had successfully performed the ascent. These pictures were taken from all different angles by Fred and I, but all were taken at or around the summit. Below are thumbnails for these pictures; you can click on any of them to view the full-size picture:
|
 |
We sat at the top of the mountain for a while just enjoying the scenery (and the breezes). But the top of Elk Mountain is really not just one peak, but a series of them spread out over quite a wide area. There is a lot to explore here at the top, and we thought that we would go try to find the natural rock arch that we'd seen on another trip and show it to Mario and Steve. As usual, Fred and the guys thought that they would follow the fairly level part of the mountaintop, but I wanted to cut across the boulders, rocks, hills and valleys. So we parted company again for a while and, just before we did so, I snapped their picture.
Hiking Across the Top of Elk Mountain and Lunch
|
Along my route, I was happy bouldering- jumping from one to another and climbing up and down the bigger ones.
|
|
I also got some very good pictures of the rock formations and the valley to the south of Elk Mountain. To see these pictures, just click on the thumbnails below:
|
Fred only gave me one picture that he had taken from their route, that one of Mario and Steve climbing down a large boulder. After a while, I could hear them close by again and, not able to entice them out to where I was, I joined up with them in a shady stand of trees and we had lunch. While the three of them were eating, I was trying to get rid of a clump of tiny spines that had attached themselves to my socks at some point while I was coming across a ravine to meet up with them. That's where Fred caught us- Steve and Mario done with lunch and me still trying to clean off my socks and shoes. You can see that picture here.
A Buffalo Encounter
The Natural Arch and Tunnel
 |
The natural stone bridge turned out to be right alongside the large mass of rock that we were all walking on when Fred snapped our picture. You can only actually see it if you approach the mass of rock from the northwest; from any other direction, the bridge blends in to the level of the rock mass. But once you get around the far side, it is easy to spot. We took quite a few really good pictures of the rock arch, but I winnowed all those pictures down to five, and I have put thumbnails for them below. I hope you'll click on those thumbnails and look at the full-size pictures.
|
Very close to the stone bridge there was a much smaller bridge, which was actually more of a tunnel through the rock mass. I have no idea how the tunnel formed, but it was very interesting. To demonstrate, I asked Mario to lower himself to the tunnel entrance and then crawl the three or four feet through the tunnel so I could get a picture of him emerging from the tunnel at the end nearest me.
The natural stone arch was our other objective for climbing Elk Mountain (other than simply getting to the top). But before we headed back around the north side of the top of the mountain to pick up the trail down, both Fred and I took more pictures of the scenery we saw, and I want to include some of those pictures here. So click on the thumbnails below to view the full-size pictures:
|
The Hike Down Elk Mountain
I tried to get ahead of the pack so I could get back to the vehicle first and get out the cooler; I wanted to have drinks ready for everyone when they arrived. I just made it, and the refreshments were certainly well-deserved and well-received by Steve, by Mario and myself and, of course, by Fred. We relaxed for quite some time at the vehicle. Looking back on it now, I think that the Elk Mountain hike was probably a bit much for an introduction to hiking for Steve and Mario. It wasn't the length of the hike so much as it was the unrelenting hot sunshine. Steve and I, particularly, tend to sweat a lot, and so we lose electrolytes faster than, I think, Fred and Mario do. The hike probably would have been fine, and we would all have enjoyed it more, had we been here a month or so earlier, but we did the best we could. I should certainly point out that Steve and Mario did very, very well under trying circumstances, and they deserve a great deal of applause for their performance in this initiating hike. Kudos to them both.
After we had all recovered, I cooled the vehicle down, Fred took a picture of the dam and bridge just upstream from where we were sitting in the picnic area, and we headed off for a respite in the air-conditioned Visitor Center.
May 31: At the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
 |
There were actually two buffalo (I presume they were real at one time) in the museum- the one in the inset picture at left, and this one just outside the theatre. In the theatre, we watched a short movie detailing how the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge came into existence, and the efforts of the people here to protect and extend the number of buffalo, Texas longhorn cattle and elk that have been brought to the park over the years.
|
|
Mario and I got a bit tired of doing that, so we just sat down and waited for them to finish. Then it was time to head off and get some lunch.
May 31: Lunch in Meers, OK
|
|
Even after we put our order in, it seemed as if we had to wait an inordinately long time; I was definitely not impressed with the service. And if you'll use the player at left to look at the movie I made of the restaurant interior, you'll see why I wasn't impressed with the cleanliness or decor or ambience or any of that, either. But the restaurant was supposedly famous for its food, after all, but even when that came I thought it was all very ordinary. All in all, I could not fathom why the restaurant had the reputation it does. After three tries at eating here in the past, when we finally did get to do so, it was a bust- at least as far as I was concerned. Oh, well.
May 31: An Evening Hike to the Boulder Houses
 |
We drove back around through the park until Elk Mountain came back into view, and we turned back to the Elk Mountain trailhead. But this time, instead of crossing the stream and heading up, we took the trail along the stream.
|
|
This brought us around the base of the mountain. We found that the bridge we needed to cross was under reconstruction, but that there was a detour that took us around to a low‑water crossing where we could get across the small stream. From the low-water crossing, Fred took a picture looking back downstream to the bridge.
|
|
It then crossed two more dry streambeds, went through some more woods, and finally rose gently upward and out onto a plateau between Elk Mountain and another low mountain to the southwest. As we were traversing the plateau, Fred got a picture of the rest of us on the trail.
We had come about twenty minutes along the trail now, and unlike our memories of it, the trail began to descend into the valley between the two mountains; it was not the level trail we remembered it. Mario and Steve had relied on our saying that the trail was, indeed, level when they acquiesced in a second hike. Since we turned out to be wrong, though, we couldn't blame them for not wanting to continue; they had certainly done their fair share of strenuous hiking earlier in the day. So we all decided that this would be as far as we would go.
Instead of immediately heading back, we took a few minutes to relax in the early evening sunlight and get some pictures. Behind us and to the southwest there was another mountain, made all the more interesting for the two balanced rock formations that Fred got an excellent view of with his extreme zoom lens. While I was making a movie of this end point of our evening hike, Fred got a picture of the southwestern side of Elk Mountain, and was able to include me on my picture-taking perch when he did so.
|
|
Activities on June 1st (Map/Overview)
 |
We got the vehicle all loaded and I checked out and then we headed out back to the Refuge one last time. Today, we had to be heading back no later than about one in the afternoon, so Steve could get back in plenty of time to get ready for his work shift at seven in the evening. So there were just three things on the agenda. First, we wanted to introduce the guys to boulder hopping at the boulder avalanche at the base of Mt. Scott. We knew we would not go all the way to the top, but we wanted them to see what it was like. Second, we wanted to stop at the Winery of the Wichitas, a place we'd seen along Highway 49. And, finally, we wanted to take a short drive through Medicine Park on the shore of Lake Lawtonka. All three of these destinations are marked on the map above.
June 1: Boulder Hopping on the Mt. Scott Boulder Avalanche
 |
|
|
When we started off, I went fifty feet or so up the boulders where Fred got a picture of me standing on a boulder. I went a little further to get pictures of Fred and Mario starting out and then a picture of Fred leading Mario through the boulders. Fred was a bit ahead of Mario testing the way up, and right about this point he turned to get a few pictures of Mario. To see these pictures, click on the thumbnails below:
|
I stayed where I was for a while, as Fred and Mario worked their way up the avalanche by going more to the side than I had done. Fred thought this would be an easier route for Mario to cut his teeth on. They were doing quite well. As they were progressing, Fred got another picture of me waiting on my boulder, and, after a few minutes, Fred let Mario lead the way. I stayed put and watched their progress until Mario got quite close to me- actually on the boulders just below me, when I asked him to pause so I could get a good picture of him climbing up. And, at that very moment, Fred captured me taking a picture of Mario's ascent.
Once Mario had reached me, I gave him some advice on the route he might follow through the boulders, and then I went up another fifty feet or so to stand on a new perch. While I was waiting at my new spot, both Mario and Fred continued their ascent. As they got closer to me, I went ahead and ascended yet another fifty feet or so, and stopped to look back at Fred and Mario. They seemed to have paused and were in conversation, so I took the opportunity to snap a picture of the view from the boulder avalanche.
|
|
|
While Mario descended, Fred came up to join me on my final perch. We paused to take in the beauty of the surroundings, and debated whether we should go up any further. Although I might have liked to, I didn't want to leave Steve cooling his heels much longer; we knew that it mustn't be a whole lot of fun just waiting for us (even though Mario would soon be joining him). So we decided that we, ourselves, would start our descent. We were moving more rapidly than Mario but, even so, Mario reached the road way ahead of us, and we could tell that Steve had gone back to the vehicle. We took a number of pictures at our topmost point and during our way down, and you can see these pictures if you click on the thumbnails below:
|
When we got to the bottom, we walked back down to the vehicle to find Steve and Mario waiting for us. Without delay, we made a U-turn, cranked down the air-conditioning, and headed off to the winery.
June 1: The Winery of the Wichitas
 |
There were no actual grapes growing here; the guy running the store told us that the actual vineyards are about six miles away up towards Meers. But he stocked all the bottles of pressed wine, and Fred bought two of them. We'll take one to Prudence as a gift when we go down there in two weeks, and Fred will keep the other. I imagine that it will be one wine bottle he does not discard when it is empty, since the label has a buffalo on it.
Also in the winery store, we found a lot of local artwork, much of it quite good, and I found two buffalo artworks that I thought Fred might like. His house is so full of buffalo art already that I usually try to get his approval for any new purchases. He did agree on a couple of the pieces, so we bought them and I'll put them away for future birthday and Christmas gifts. I'm so predictable.
While we were making our purchases, Mario was using the facilities and Steve was looking around the shop with me. When we were all done, we hopped back in the vehicle and headed off to our last stop.
June 1: A Short Visit to Medicine Park
 |
Two old bridges lead across Medicine Creek and into town. The central portion of the historic town is now very touristy and artsy. Many of the original rock homes have been preserved, and, on the whole, they've done a nice job keeping the rustic flavor of the town intact.
We drove through town and out past the dam, and then up and partway around the lake. There were lots of boaters and swimmers out, since it was such a warm weekend. We went far enough to get the flavor of the area, and then turned back to work our way through town again. We noted that they are building a walkway along the creek below the dam- kind of a very simple riverwalk through the center of town. I think it will be quite nice when it is done.
Just below the new, large dam, there is a smaller, older dam, and here there is a very pretty waterfall where lots of folks come to go swimming.
|
|
The Trip Home
The drive back was uneventful, and by four-thirty we were back at my house, where we unloaded our stuff. Before Steve and Mario headed home, Fred and I presented them each a Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge cap to commemorate their trip, and in our appreciation of their being such good sports in trying so many new things- the hiking and climbing foremost among them. They were real troopers, and we can only hope that, even with the difficulties we encountered and the exceedingly warm temperatures, that they enjoyed themselves, and that perhaps we may be able to do something similar in the future.
You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.
|
June 13-16, 2008: The Texas Folk Life Festival in San Antonio |
|
May 6-14, 2008: A Trip to Florida |
|
Return to Index for 2008 |
