Lawton Campground on Lake Lawtonka

The full moon rises over Lawton Campground in SW Oklahoma.

I wanted to get to Lake Lawtonka for some paddling, while Jean wanted to visit Medicine Park.  With the help of Mother Nature’s vagaries, we ended up doing both.

Lake Lawtonka was created in 1905 with the damming of Medicine Creek.    It has a 19-mile shoreline, and a map can be found on P.109 of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s book of maps titled “Lakes of Oklahoma.”  It can also be found in the DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer for Oklahoma, P.50, grid F-4.  It is on the east end of the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, one of the first refuges created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, and the second-most visited wildlife refuge in the country with over 1.5-million visitors annually.  It also is located on the north edge of Fort Sill, the only one of the original forts created during the Indian Wars that is still operated as a military fort.  It is now the home of the Army Field Artillery School.

As the sun sets, a lone sailboat drifts south along the foot

of Mount Scott.

The forecast was for three days of winds below 10mph, which in Oklahoma is as rare as finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  We loaded up the RV and headed south.  It was a great trip but for the blown tire on the trailer trying to be a spoiler.  I wrote about that on the 5 November post, “Highway Angels.”  Between the trip and dealing with the tire, it was 4 p.m. by the time we settled in the campground operated by the City of Lawton, so we just enjoyed the quiet and the sunset.