{"id":685,"date":"2015-01-18T21:42:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-18T21:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/?p=685"},"modified":"2015-01-18T21:47:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-18T21:47:26","slug":"focus-on-the-backroads-wichita-mountains-national-wildlife-refuge-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/?p=685","title":{"rendered":"FOCUS ON THE BACKROADS:  WICHITA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE  OKLAHOMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"pp-lightbox-1421617616\" class=\"pp-lightbox-placeholder pp-gallery-placeholder lightbox-1421617616 mceItem\" style=\"display: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/p4\/placeholders\/lightbox-placeholder-1421617616.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>Located in the southwestern part of Oklahoma, near Lawton, is the \u00a0<strong>Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge<\/strong>. \u00a0The 59,020-acres are \u00a0home to elk, deer, buffalo and other wild life. \u00a0It is also a popular area for hiking, rock climbing, camping and other outdoor activities.<\/p>\n<p>This area was established in 1901 when President McKinley proclaimed a portion of the mountains as the Wichita Forest Reserves, managed by the Forest Divsion of the U.S Department of the Interior. \u00a0In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt issued a proclamation creating the Wichita Forest and Game Preserve, which became the nations first big-game animal refuge. \u00a0In 1906 3,680 acres was\u00a0added to the refuge . \u00a0In 1907 the park became the Wichita National Forest and Game Preserve. \u00a0The area&#8217;s name was change again in 1936 when Congress renamed it the <strong>Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge<\/strong>. \u00a0Today over 1,000,00 visitors experience this area every year.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge<\/strong> is like an amazing Island as you approach it. \u00a0After driving trough Oklahoma flat lands you come upon this wildlife oasis. \u00a0A trip to this area is a must for any \u00a0<strong>Texas (or any other state) Backroader<\/strong>! \u00a0The perfect destination for a vacation or a long weekend camping trip. \u00a0It is truly where\u00a0<em>Buffalo Roam.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>note: \u00a0<\/strong>A must when in the area. \u00a0You must visit the <strong>Meers Restaurant<\/strong> in Meers, Oklahoma. \u00a0Meers, Oklahoma was once a booming gold mining town with a population of over 500 folks. \u00a0 \u00a0Meers&#8217; population now consist of one family, their pets and their restaurant and store. \u00a0Meers is considered to be the home of the best burgers in Oklahoma &#8211; I for one know that this is true! \u00a0These burgers are made from Texas Longhorns that are raised on the family&#8217;s near by ranch.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The mountains are calling and I must go. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>John Muir<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Located in the southwestern part of Oklahoma, near Lawton, is the \u00a0Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. \u00a0The 59,020-acres are \u00a0home to elk, deer, buffalo and &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,14,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backroads","category-oklahoma","category-state-parks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/030855dave-and-melba-birthday-1-6.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=685"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":707,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions\/707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}