Doris Campground, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, OK

Site 26 

• Reservations only through Recreation.com Varying costs but $8 gets tagged on by Recreation.com. I miss the days of paying by cash in person. 
• The Good: •Beautiful surrounding area                                                                                             •No Cell service                                                                                                             •Abundant Wildlife                                                                                                       •Great hiking trails                                                                                                         •Very scenic                                                                                                                   •Great local history                                                                                                      •Great gravelbiking/mountain biking trails                                                           •Several nearby historical landmarks 
• The Bad:                                                                                                                             •Still no potable water(Mid-Oct 2021)                                                                           •No showers                                                                                                                 •Online Reservations only                                                                                                 •No cell service                                                                                                         •Doorless pit latrines                                                                                                   •Occasional road noise                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Heavy cloud cover and a light mist welcomed us for the night and did not relent until after noon the following day. The night life was busy and vocal from dusk to dawn. Bull elks bugling, mule deer snorting while running through our site, either the free roam longhorn or the bison called out to each other, the coyotes yipped and yapped, and the raccoons tried their best to scrounge up a feast. Early evening and early morning traffic noise is minimal but can be heard in the campsites. 

Only a random artillery boom was heard in the distance.

Prairie dog villages are a great way to spend some time enjoying their comedic antics and tight family structure.

Trails abound, both from within the campground and nearby. We walked a few in late afternoon and the bull elk bugled relentlessly…obvious signs of rut. We did not realize how close to a lone bison we passed until we heard a noise and looked back. How a large beast could go unnoticed in the low scrub was amazing.

We were fortunate to secure a midweek campsite but the weekend was sold out.

Temps were in the high 40’s overnight but climbed during the day to 70’s with a beautiful breeze.

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center was still closed. Both in June and October it was closed with varying explanations why. If you go onto FWS.gov it still has it closed from November 2015-January 2016…so that certainly isn’t current.

Would I camp here again? Yes, However, I will research when school kids have Fall Break and avoid that weekend because it does sell completely out.