Charon's Garden Trail

Located within the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma is a hiker's dream - the Charon's Garden Trail.  This is considered an intermediate to expert-level trail, as it offers many challenges along its 2.4-mile-long path.  The Charon's Garden area of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge consists of a rocky, rugged landscape, with areas featuring huge granite boulders, scattered around on the granite surface.  This trail presents opportunities for boulder hopping and rock climbing as well as hiking. 

The Charon's Garden Trail begins at the Sunset ...

Located within the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma is a hiker's dream - the Charon's Garden Trail.  This is considered an intermediate to expert-level trail, as it offers many challenges along its 2.4-mile-long path.  The Charon's Garden area of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge consists of a rocky, rugged landscape, with areas featuring huge granite boulders, scattered around on the granite surface.  This trail presents opportunities for boulder hopping and rock climbing as well as hiking. 

The Charon's Garden Trail begins at the Sunset Campground, starting off to the southwest.  The path will be fairly smooth at the start, and will lead across a small creek, then through a wooded area.  After about a half mile, you'll make a sharp left and begin to head to the south.  As you continue along the trail, you'll enter into the area west of Elk Mountain, where the boulders start to appear.  Soon after, you'll see the landmark known as Apple and Pear, two massive boulders that seem to resemble the fruits.  This section of the trail is located in a major boulder field, and you'll have to do some boulder hopping to continue. 

After the boulder field, the trail will lead through some dense brush and trees.  Granite boulder-covered hills surround you in this area, providing unique scenery, and a waterfall just off the trail provides a great place to take a break.  The path from there will follow a winding creek around to the east and back to the south, then will lead to Treasure Lake, where the trail ends.