Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge protects 59,000 acres of granite-knobbed prairie, mixed-grass meadow, and oak woodland in the southwest of Oklahoma. The granite peaks look like rounded sugar lumps dropped on the Great Plains. Free-roaming bison, elk, white-tailed deer, prairie dogs, and longhorn cattle live across the refuge.

The Mount Scott Road climbs to the top of the highest peak with views back over Lawton and across the plains. Other parts of the refuge are walking-only: the Charon Gardens Wilderness on the western side is a maze of granite boulders with hidden pools and good rock-scrambling. The refuge is open from dawn to dusk and is free to enter. The visitor centre near the eastern entrance has trail maps and a small natural history exhibit.

things to do sight nature
A story
The refuge's bison herd descends from fifteen animals shipped by train from the Bronx Zoo in 1907, as part of one of the first successful species-recovery programmes in the world. American bison had been almost wiped from the southern plains; this small group, released into the Wichitas, became the core of a herd that now numbers around 650.

Other places in Things to Do