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Mount Scott Nature Trail in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge is a 2.8 mile out and back trail located across from Mount Scott that features a lake, prairie lands, and great view of the surrounding mountains. The trail is a good for all skill levels.
Mount Scott Nature Trail in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge – About the Trail
After finishing up at the Orange Loop over in Medicine Park we decided to eat lunch at the little day use park across from Mount Scott. It has plenty of picnic tables hidden under the trees and chemical toilets. This area is one of the few places within the refuge that has open toilets. We ate our lunch about 100 feet from the trail head.
Once again the trail isn’t marked. Just a refuge gate and what looks to be a utility road only open refuge officials. But it is the trail according to AllTrails. The entire trail is packed natural surface. The trail is wide as a vehicle with the center over grown in parts. Even with the tail grass on the trail, the trail is well maintained. Depending on the season you may have several water crossings as you cross several creeks. When you get to the lake the trail is about finished. The trail ends several 100 feet (maybe more) from the U.S. Military Base Fence.
Our Hike
We started our hike in the late afternoon. Even with the cooler temperatures of the mid 60s to the low 70s with a slight breeze the trail got warm. In the summer, this trail will be difficult when the temperature reaches 90+. The sun beats down on for most of the trail. You do go into the trees for a short time. But that’s for about 5 minutes then you are back in the direct sunlight again. The out and back trail took about an hour and fifteen minutes to complete.
We saw very little animal life on the trail. We heard the birds chirping and came across a juvenile Scarlett King Snake sunning itself across the trail. Lake Elmer Thomas was nice but the area was so overgrown and a recent snake siting we weren’t interested in exploring more of the lake area. We continued further down the trail and the further we got the more overgrown it got. When we saw the fence for the base with no trespassing signs everywhere, we turned back.
We liked the trail and its has some beautiful views with the potential to see some wildlife along the trail. The water crossing adds some difficulty as well. But for most of the year its a dry creek bed. But its still an easy trail and is a good trail for beginners, trail runners, young children, and a first day shake down trail.
Would we do this trail again? Maybe. It depends on the time of day and how hot it is. If we have family or friends with us on the hike and they haven’t been on the trail before. I would recommend this trail if they are wanting something easy and want some views.
About the Images
The images were shot mid afternoon. It was windy and sunny. I had some issues getting some of the images to stay in focus. I was able to fix some of the issues in post. I used my Sony a6000 using my Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS. I then edited the images with Adobe Lightroom CC and Topaz Labs Denoise AI and Topaz Labs Sharpen AI and DXO NIK Collection
About James
I luv that kind of stuff