Elk Mountain Trail

The Elk Mountain Trail climbs to the highest accessible point in the Quartz Mountain range, a series of ancient granite domes and peaks that rise dramatically from the flat agricultural landscape of southwestern Oklahoma above Lake Altus-Lugert. The Wichita Mountains of which Quartz Mountain is an outlier are among the oldest exposed mountain ranges in North America, formed from Precambrian granite over 500 million years ago and now reduced by erosion to rounded domes and scattered boulders. The summit area offers panoramic views across Lake Altus-Lugert and the surrounding wheat fields and rangeland of Kiowa County, with the blue water of the reservoir creating a striking contrast against the red granite and golden grassland. The boulder-strewn summit terrain requires some light scrambling, and the exposed rock surface can become extremely hot in summer midday conditions. The trail passes through scattered blackjack oak and shinnery oak woodland growing in thin soil pockets between granite outcrops. Scissor-tailed flycatchers, painted buntings, and other southwestern Oklahoma specialties frequent the scrubland along the lower portions of the trail during the breeding season from May through July.