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wiz2525 — Apple and Pear
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Published: 2008-03-23 22:36:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 645; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 24
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Description
These two behemoths are 3 to 4 stories tall. They sit on the edge of a cliff on Elk Mountain in the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. It is one of my favorite locations in these mountains.Related content
Comments: 10
Ah, my favorite two boulders to walk past on every trip to the mountains.
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That hike was always my favorite. We used to could camp at will out at Sunset Lake (or anywhere back in them days) the night before and then get up and take the trail around Elk Mountain. Go down into the 'rock caves' at the foot of that cliff where those two rocks were perched (in the winter only due to the rattlers) and then wander around out in that area. Found mining caves, in the spring after a rain found water falls that only appeared briefly after the rains. One time went up on TOP of one of those 'mountains' along a creek and found CRAWFISH in a puddle of water. Cooked and ated 'dem little buggers'! Been up in those mountains 100's of times, but that is my favorite area.
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My dad and I go up there twice every year: once in the summer, once in the winter. He claims I'm like Daniel Boone when we're up there because I drag him everywhere. I made him climb up a rockface over on the new trail at Burtford lake. The new trail they found is really neat. I always go off the trails and into the trees. I found this tree that was burned in the wildfire that revealed the trail, it was literally split in half with one side had fallen to the left side and the other to the left. It was completely burned which is what made it so amazing. I took a photo of it, I'll have to find it and try and submit it.
Crawfish, really? That's certainly different! Did they taste good?
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Tasted like a poor man's shrimp! Delicious! They got into this 'let nature take it's course' thing up there and one of the prettiest parts of the trail was ruined for at least 50 years. I took an editor of a magazine I was working with up there to see some of the stuff, and she took a picture of the trees in that grove. That ran on the cover of the Wichita Falls magazine to initiate the 3 part series I sold them on. The next year the trees were gone. This year, though, it was totally the drought and super dry conditions. Medicine Park even took a beating. 8^(
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Sounds yummy! Oh, that's cool! I'm gonna try and find that since I live in a little town about 15 minutes away from Wichita. Ugh, I know, stupid drought. Made us ration water in school and outside of school and... bleh. -.-' Yeah, Medicine Park going downhill was the saddest part of the year because it's so beautiful in Oklahoma and the surrounding places.
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I was in the Tx Army Natl Guard. I was a Forward Observer. Called a lot of missions at Fort Sill. I'll never forget the tale I heard involving an Army Reserve Unit who had their guns aligned 180 degrees in the wrong direction and were conducting a night fire mission. They hit the old stone walled restaurant/hotel in Medicine Park in the middle of the night! No one was injured, but the Reserve Unit had their guns taken away and were turned into a 'mess kit' repair unit. (Probably not actually, but you KNOW they got ripped and whomever was in command was in command no more!) Do you remember hearing about that???
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Oh goodness, that would scare me! That old hotel is one of my favorite places to go... My dad may have told me about it or my uncle since they were both in the Military.
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awesome!!
i was trying to tell people about this a while back
we didnt have a strong enough lense to capture it
and you got the glow just right!
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In the winter, mind you (any other time is at your own risk) you can traverse the rocks in the valley for its entire length in what we called the Rock Caves, under boulders as big as these two, looking up and seeing the sky between the rocks. On past them, for a few days after any rain (but only a few) there is a pleasant two or three story water fall. I've camped at it's base. There are mining caves around in this area as well. I love Charon's Gardens. My absolute favorite section of the Wichitas. (In any other season but winter, rattlesnakes LOVE the Rock Caves. They are still there in winter, but, ah, a bit slow on the uptake.)
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that sounds amazing
we are going to make a trip back out there sometime
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