While the name is deceiving the Wichita Mountains are filled
with wonder and life. What is lacking in height is made up in surprise. After
over a year in Lubbock we found ourselves traveling back to St. Louis for a
funeral, with no time to prepare flights were unreasonable so we made the
drive. On our return trip we stopped for the night in the Lawton OK are, about
30min from the Wichita Mountains. Needing a chance of pace and bit of exercise
after several days of driving and eating we were happy to discover this area has
great trails that are easy to navigate and designed for short 2 hour hikes.
As this is almost the same distance as Carlsbad NM I would
not recommend this as a weekend trip from the Lubbock area unless you are
really burnt out on the trails to the west. But I would highly recommend this
if you are going on a road trip, I think I could have easily camped and spend
several days in this area enjoying the unexpected beauty that makes up the Wichita
Mountains.
As an aside, I have recently been reading quite a bit on Quanah Parker and had hoped while we were so close to get a chance to visit the star house. The man who owns the home is willing to let you see it however you need to time your visit with when he is closing up the restaurant (and that time depends on how many customers) We did not have ½ a day to wait for the restaurant to close so had to pass on this opportunity, if we are ever back I would like to see in person this incredible part of west Texas history.
