Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge (Oklahoma)

As we continued our trek to New Mexico we spent this afternoon at the 59,020-acre Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in southwest Oklahoma. The USFWS refuge provides habitat for Bison, elk, deer, coyotes, red-tailed hawks, prairie dogs, and Texas Longhorn cattle.

It was 95 degrees when we arrived, so we spent the majority of our time driving around and watching wildlife from the road. We saw numerous bison, long horn cattle, lizards and prairie dogs, and also spotted a coyote in the distance. We also drove to the top of Mount Scott and took in the excellent 360° views.  

Despite the heat we did hike an one mile portion of the Narrows Trail into a canyon but turned back before completing the full hike due to concerns about heat sensitive gear we had stored in the car.

This was by far the best wildlife refuge I have visited.