Day 15

June 23, 2017                                                                                                                    Day 15

I woke up today with the sun peeking through the trees and complete silence.  Opening my door, I was greeted with the song of birds and the lush grass of the field I was in.  After my normal morning routine I headed to Glass or Gloss Mountain.  Apparently, back when the mountain was named some guy mistook the “a” in Glass for an “o” and to this day it is still debated on what the actual name of the mountain should be.  In either case, it received its' name due to the “sparkling” appearance the mountain throws off when the sun hits the crystals that are embedded in the rocks.   It is definitely I sight to see towering over the flat expanse of the countryside.

Stepping out of my vehicle my shoes landed on hard red earth causing little puffs of dirt to drift up. Loaded down with my water pack and my Nikon camera I headed for the trail.  It was a short but steep jaunt up the mountain.  To try and describe the beauty that befell my eyes would be impossible.  It is something one must see and experience for themselves.  For me, I felt pure upholstered joy and wonder and could not believe that I have been given the opportunity to see this.  After taking about a million pictures I hiked back down and got in my vehicle to head to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge.

Back on the road, I was relaxed and at that point in time truly happy and thankful.  It was only 80 degrees and I had the window rolled down with the cool breeze blowing against my skin while I listened to Today's Comedy on Pandora and then to the country station when I lost service.   I arrived at the Wichita Wildlife Refuge and once again was taken aback by the raw beauty of the landscape. The array of colors within the landscape reminded me of a painting. The landscaped was a painted with yellows, greens, purples and reds.  The mountains beyond were a brilliant orange, red, purple and blue color.  Once again, there is no way to describe the beauty that bestowed my eyes.  

With that said I will just talk about what I did while there.  First, I stopped at the visitor center and looked around at their displays and then I bought a sticker and some post cards.  Afterwards, I headed to Mt. Scot and decided what the heck I should totally drive my vehicle and camper up a mountain! Why? I don't know.  I honestly couldn't explain half the things that I think I can do but probably shouldn't.  The drive went without incident; yet, ever since I had an ATV accident many years ago when I get to a certain incline whether I am inside a vehicle or on it I panic.  I'm not afraid of heights and love being high up but for some reason when I get to a certain degree it's like all common sense disappears and all I see is me tumbling down to my death.  Needless to say I had a death grip on the steering wheel and didn't breathe until I reached the top.

Back on flat ground I saw longhorns, bison, scissor-tailed flycatchers, meadow larks, and my first ever eastern collard lizard! At 14:00 the dilemma of finding a camping site began.  When I finally found service I called and found free camping within the Great Plains State Park.  The roads upon which the free camping was located were horrendous.  My camper should never have made it down those roads and I am pretty sure I was slowly breaking my camper.  When I finally arrived at one of the locations and began setting up I just had a horrible feeling in my gut about staying there.  So taking my moms' advice I listened to my gut and left that area and headed back to Wichita Wildlife Refuge to pay for camping.  

It cost $10.00 to camp there for the night and there was no cell phone service so I could not try and figure out where I was to go the next day. Originally, I had planned to stay in one spot for the day to relax and plan but alas that was not in the cards for me.  All in all it was a great day and I got to see my first ever Greater Roadrunner!!!!