Indian Dan State Wildlife Refuge — Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2022

The hike description omits detail about the trail and the choices to make at intersections. At about .6 miles a Y intersection demands a choice: go right to follow the riparian area to a smallish pond on a trail that looks very sparsely used or go left up the slope to steppe terrain and moe elevation gain than the 200ft indicated in the hike description.
We went left and by the time we reached 1.5 miles (after taking a right at another Y) we had gained 400ft. Double the 200 indicated.

Still it was a peaceful and solitary experience up to a bowl among the steppes with several rusting farming machinery relics framed by sage and scrub grasses.

I spied a coyote as he spied me and quickly headed into the grasses. Lots of bear scat. Very few birds though a prairie falcon rewarded our patience with a swift pass overhead.