Wichita Mountains & Turner Falls

Oklahoma's two most dramatic natural landscapes anchor this two-day loop south and southwest of Oklahoma City. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is one of the oldest federal wildlife preserves in the country, its granite peaks rising above tallgrass prairie where 650 bison roam freely alongside Texas longhorns and elk — the Wildlife Loop Road and Mt. Scott summit provide access to all of it. Turner Falls in the Arbuckle Mountains is the largest waterfall in Oklahoma at 77 feet, dropping into a natural swimming pool carved from travertine rock in a cedar canyon that feels nothing like the surrounding plains. The two parks sit 90 miles apart, making them natural anchors for a two-day southern Oklahoma circuit.