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The Water Cooler
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Backpacking in the Wichitas
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<blockquote data-quote="SMS" data-source="post: 2232423" data-attributes="member: 42"><p>IIRC, you <em>have to</em> park your vehicle, with permit displayed on the dash, at or just outside the Sunset Pool trailhead area. That being said you could make a longer loop from there before entering the Garden's to camp...maybe park at Sunset and hike to the summit of Elk Mountain and find another way down the backside and then head into the Gardens area, maybe make for Crab Eyes.</p><p></p><p>There is a pretty cool boulder slide area on the west side of Elk Mountain...scrambling over the top (some deep holes and long drops so hiking in that spot with little kids could be tricky) and underneath through the caves is fun. There aren't a lot of defined trails in the Charon's Garden area, which I sort of like...just pick a destination and find your way too it.</p><p></p><p>The biggest limiting factor on the last hike was water. We went in late Sep or early October I think. We didn't get far in before the water dried up. I found one bend in a creek under some shade that had a good sized murky pool of water. We dropped our packs and walked in a ways to see if we could spot some more, but there was nothing. That pool was our anchor....we camped within a few hundred yards of it and filtered/filled up there several times. For our day hikes from the camping area we were fortunate to find a running spring on the backside of Elk Mountain.</p><p></p><p>Mind the little ones in the bushes...there are more than a few abandoned mine shafts in the area. My son found one when he stepped into some bushes to go to the bathroom...a few more inattentive steps and he would've been 5+ feet down in a water filled shaft.</p><p></p><p>I've still got the topo I ordered from the USGS and cut to fit into a map pocket....if you are coming to the Run 'N Gun I could bring it along and we can look it over.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SMS, post: 2232423, member: 42"] IIRC, you [I]have to[/I] park your vehicle, with permit displayed on the dash, at or just outside the Sunset Pool trailhead area. That being said you could make a longer loop from there before entering the Garden's to camp...maybe park at Sunset and hike to the summit of Elk Mountain and find another way down the backside and then head into the Gardens area, maybe make for Crab Eyes. There is a pretty cool boulder slide area on the west side of Elk Mountain...scrambling over the top (some deep holes and long drops so hiking in that spot with little kids could be tricky) and underneath through the caves is fun. There aren't a lot of defined trails in the Charon's Garden area, which I sort of like...just pick a destination and find your way too it. The biggest limiting factor on the last hike was water. We went in late Sep or early October I think. We didn't get far in before the water dried up. I found one bend in a creek under some shade that had a good sized murky pool of water. We dropped our packs and walked in a ways to see if we could spot some more, but there was nothing. That pool was our anchor....we camped within a few hundred yards of it and filtered/filled up there several times. For our day hikes from the camping area we were fortunate to find a running spring on the backside of Elk Mountain. Mind the little ones in the bushes...there are more than a few abandoned mine shafts in the area. My son found one when he stepped into some bushes to go to the bathroom...a few more inattentive steps and he would've been 5+ feet down in a water filled shaft. I've still got the topo I ordered from the USGS and cut to fit into a map pocket....if you are coming to the Run 'N Gun I could bring it along and we can look it over. [/QUOTE]
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