Sunday, May 17, 2009

Wichita Mountain Hike


I hiked the Charons Garden Trail on Friday and it was wonderful. I got to the refuge at daybreak and saw tons of wildlife. It began with a wild pig running across the road, but that was the first of many types of animals. Overall I saw about 300 buffalo, about 100 Longhorn Steer, dozens of Roosevelt Elk and Deer, and one perplexed Coyote. I say perplexed because he was amongst a heard of Buffalo that could not have cared less about him. Obviously, he posed no treat to them. All had calves along, but seemed very relaxed none the less.

Another treat were the hundreds of prairie dogs. I had never been there when the prairie dog offspring was there, and it was quite a treat.

Then I headed out for a 2 hour hike. I took Abby. It was her first hike, and she did great. She walked about 8-10 feet in front of me the whole time and was able to follow the trail
even when I had trouble seeing where a turn went. She also bounded over fallen trees and bounded through creeks....not bad for a dog who does not like water. We did not see a single person on the hike, so we truly felt alone.

As you can see, some wildflowers were in bloom and was surprised to find many cactus. I will post more on my facebook page where there is more room.


3 comments:

Jmom said...

Great pictures son. I bet that was a beautiful hike!

Jimmy said...

Sounds very relaxing!

Laura said...

sounds like my kind of hike! I love things like that, but when you have six kids in tow, you rarely actually see any wildlife! lol