I created this blog to share my hiking experiences and provide useful suggestions to climbing routes.
Here is my first detailed post- Mount Scott climb.
Coming from Dallas, it is hard to find a hike (within 60miles of Dallas) that climbs over 500ft. I started scanning for potential hikes near Dallas (near = 4 hour drive!). I have been to the Quachita Mountains in Arkansas before. I wanted to try out something new. Ofcourse, internet searches were pretty helpful and I set my sights on Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (Oklahoma).
My Mom is staying with me right now. I initially planned on taking her to the refuge She could always stay in a cosy cabin, while I go on with my hike. I did find any convenient place for her to stay, so, I decided to go alone (this time around I did not do my typical marketing for hiking buddies).
The refuge is a 4 hour drive from Dallas. I had two options for the weekend- start early on Saturday; climb and return the same day OR leave on Friday, stay overnight at Lawton/Camp in the Refuge/Wichita Falls and then climb early on Saturday. Normally I would have preferred the latter option. I always like to start the hike early in the morning and return back early. I decided to go with the first option though, deciding to stay with Mom on Friday night and leave early in the morning. Also, since this was my first visit to the park, I wanted to visit the Visitors center for tips on climbing routes (there are no trails to the top of Mount Scott). Teh visitor's center opens 8:00am anyways, so early hike got ruled out.
I woke up at around 3:40am in the morning and was set to leave at 4:20am. Mom had cooked Puliogare (spicy tamarind rice) and prepared snacks (Bread slice, two chapatis (wheat bread) and curds). I also purchased a new summit bag: Mountain Hardwear Scrambler. This bag is light weight and one of my friends suggested I use this bag for summit push. This climb was the first "field test" for this bag.
I stopped on the way at Wichita Falls to re-fill the gas tank and have breakfast. I reached the refuge at 8:10am. Part of the final 1hour drive was on a tollway (I-44). Surprisingly, the tolled road was decent but definitely not the best I have seen. Anyways, the visitors center was open with a few people around. I headed straight to the front desk for help on routes to the summit. The lady at the desk could not offer me any suggestions! She did confirm that there are routes to the top that are non-technical climbs. The book store at the center was closed. I wanted to purchase a Mount Scott quad map (USGS) before venturing out. I had to settle with the map that the visitor center had and in the interest of time headed to the mountain.
The plan was to park the car at the base of Mt. Scott near picnic area, around 3 miles from the visitor center. The 3 mile drive was very scenic. The first ~4 hour drive from Dallas is in the great central plains and suddenly you are in the midst of mountains, grasslands at the foothills, longhorns and bisons grazing these grasslands. The refuge brought back memories of Big Bend National Park; a feeling- of being transported back million years, of being isolated and of being humbled by mountains (nature).
I stopped couple of times to take snaps (used my iphone). I left behind my SLR camera. Though I regretted it in the beginning, I soon began to feel it was the right decision. This pic shows Mt Scott covered in morning clouds.
Slowly I started getting confused and impatient. I then decided to climb straight- from the Mt. Scott picnic area to the top. This route turned out to be decently steep- many class 2+ and few class 3 scrambles. This is how my hike up looked like (blue line indicates the climbing route):
I made it to the top in 50mins, covering approx 1100ft in 0.96miles. The route up was steep river of rocks (had to use both the hands to remain stable). There are areas of thick brushes. Lot of thorny plants (got caught in one). Saw lot of goat turds but did not see any wildlife. All in all enjoyed the hike. There is a road that goes to the summit (you might ask- why climb?- Because its up there!). I crossed the road twice.I did not spend lot of time at he summit. It was very windy. There were quite a few people on the summit. Couple of young geologists were investigating the rocks at the summit! Another poor pic from summit using iphone:
On the way down, I decided to take an alternate route (for variety). This route finally ended up to be another river of rocks. I stopped at one lookout that had a real nice view of the refuge to have snacks. I was back at the parking lot at 1:00pm. Headed back to the visitor center to look at the book store. Bought a USGS quad of Mt Scott (after the hike! but as a memento- one day plan to hang it up on the wall). I called up Mom to convey the safe climb and made plans for the night (visited temple after I got back to Dallas). The drive back was uneventful (was very very windy).
I highly recommend Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. A very beautiful, unique place in the central plains. I am guessing this place will be very warm in summer. Best seasons could be spring and early fall. I hope to be back there soon.
Hope to be back to post more adventures!
Cheers!
