Wichita Mountains

Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge is 60,000 acres of rocky hills and pristine prairie just over the border of Texas in OK.  In the early days (pre-white settlers) it was home to millions of bison, elk and lots of other wildlife.  Following a pattern seen across the west, the elk and bison were wiped out by hunters and the land was empty of large fauna.  Teddy Roosevelt came along and made a deal to bring bison from New York to repopulate the prairie.  Then came elk from Wyoming.  Someone else thought it would be nice to have some longhorn cattle so they came from Mexico.  Quite the diverse population, eh?  The bison re-population has been so successful that every year surplus are auctioned off, hopefully to find happy homes elsewhere.  You can read more here https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Wichita_Mountains/

We went to view the massive herds of bison and elk.  Below is our bison:   This lone male was happy to represent the species.  

Our bison herd

We also found longhorn cattle.  Again the lone representative.  No elk were spotted.  Actually, it makes me happy to know that the animals have enough room to disappear from our view.  I’ll take the ranger’s word for it that they are out there.

Our cattle herd

Prairie dogs however were abundant and very entertaining.  These communal tunnel dwellers chitter, chat and pop up like a game of Whack-A-Mole. 

We left Wichita Falls heading to Colorado City, TX and nice state park intending it to be a one-night stand on our way to Carlsbad, NM.  Beanie however had other ideas.  Despite our most diligent efforts, he disappeared under the slide as we got ready to go.  Time passed and finally it was best to concede that another night in the lovely state park was the best option.  We love Texas state parks and this one was virtually empty of other campers and a very nice stop over.  Yesterday we managed to foil the Lord of the Rig (Beanie) and made the drive to Carlsbad, NM.  We’re about 17 miles north of Carlsbad in a park owned and operated by the Escapees, an RV club we belong to.  We stayed here last year also and are planning 4 nights this time.  I wrote about it here:  http://chucklewagon.blogspot.com/2015/12/cocoon.html

The price is right, the WiFi is good, the site is very pleasant and the people lovely.  Today we head to Carlsbad Caverns.  Last year the elevator down 800 feet to the cave was broken so we contented ourselves with staying on the surface.  Word has it that it got fixed for President Obama’s visit earlier this year so we’re hoping to benefit.  Stay tuned!