Black Mesa / Wichta Mountains Trip
April 5-7, 2013
April 5 - 1st stop - Gloss Mountains
--------------------------------------------
We left Claremore at noon. Drove out and stopped first at the Gloss (Glass) Mountains east of Enid.
Click the link to read the two names. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Mountains
Mesas really with a quartz like mineral at the top that crunches under your feet.
Over 500 feet to the top (stairs!) and the view is great. You can see for miles. Next stop in Guymon for dinner.
April 5 - 2nd stop - West of Guymon
--------------------------------------------
After dinner, about 30-40 miles west of Guymon, I kept looking for windmills to photograph with the sunset.
I realized recently that in eastern Oklahoma you don't see very many windmills. We saw lots of them out here
but most were either falling apart or were too far from teh road to get photos of them.
Then I found this one and it was a hit! Spent the night in Boise City.
April 6 - 1st stop - Black Mesa
--------------------------------------------
We got up at 4:30 AM to leave Boise City. We still had an hour drive to Black Mesa and I really wanted to capture the sunrise. My original plan was to take pics of the sunrise from the top but seeing as how we would have had to walk about 8 miles before sunrise I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It turned out OK though. We walked the first 2+ miles by flashlight and then stopped at a decent vantage point to capture the sunrise.
April 6 - 2nd stop - Palo Duro Canyon
--------------------------------------------
After the mesa we drove to Lawton, OK and got a hotel room. 9 hours of driving!!
We stopped at Palo Duro Canyon southwest of Amarillo, TX on the way.
April 7 - 1st stop - Wichita Mountains Wildlife Preserve
--------------------------------------------
Just north of Lawton (and north of Ft. Sill) is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
I didn’t know what to expect, but when we got there everything was so much bigger than I expected.
We picked one of several trails, one that wasn’t very long, but uphill all the way.
The view at the top was excellent.
April 7 - 2nd stop - Turner Falls
--------------------------------------------
On the way home we stopped at Turner Falls.
Besides the natural waterfall, which was amazing, there was an old castle. Yes, castle.
