Charon's Garden Wilderness Area — Public Lands Institute

Geological age: ~525 million years ago (bedrock)
Epoch: Cambrian period; Furongian epoch; among the oldest exposed rock in the southern Great Plains; basement exhumed through erosion of overlying Paleozoic and Mesozoic cover
Taxa: 388 plants, 167 birds, 552 insects, 22 mammals, 27 fungi, 38 reptiles, 10 amphibians, 34 arachnids
Most observed: Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)
American Bison (Bison bison)
lace hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii)
Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
Prairie Lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus)
Native lands: Comanche (Nʉmʉnʉʉ) · Kiowa · Wichita (Kitikiti'sh) · Apache; Wichita Mountains used as refuge and gathering ground; Comanche and Kiowa held this territory until Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation established 1867
Ecology: Mixed-grass prairie; post oak savanna; granite outcrop community; federally listed black-capped vireo habitat; no mechanized access
Hydrology: Ephemeral streams draining granite uplands; vernal pools in boulder depressions; no permanent surface water
Acreage: 5,723 acres
Conservation: Federal Wilderness Area (within Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge)
Endangered species: none documented
GPS: 34.7260° N, 98.6880° W