Rumors of my blog's demise have been greatly exaggerated...mainly by me.
I
can assure you, however, my high plains rambling continues in earnest!
This past spring I was able to get out and do some serious exploration
of a region that I must admit I was not very enthused about upon my
arrival in the Spring of 2013. This spring, exploration quickly turned
into a succession of binge-explorations and hunts for all manners of
life in a region still quite foreign to me. While I certainly miss the
eastern woodlands (especially their mushrooms!), I have found myself
increasingly intrigued and amazed by the western Kansas high plains.
The diversity of terrain in an initially boring-looking area is
especially surprising. Once you navigate your way out of the seemingly
endless sea of corn there is sandsage prairie a few miles from home,
chalk badlands to the north, red and gypsum hills to the east and shortgrass
prairie everywhere in between.
 |
| Due North of Garden City, the bluff tops at Scott State Park are covered in an awesome crust of caliche. |
 |
| View from a blowout on Sandsage Prairie south of Garden City. |
 |
| Red hills of Big Basin Prairie Preserve southeast of Garden City. |
 |
| Yep, those are Bison. |
 |
| Monument Rocks in the "Chalk Badlands" north of Garden City. |
This
past season definitely made up for my first year here and I certainly
have plenty of digital proof of my ramblings. Fall is progressing
nicely (I can tell by the light snow of corn chaff in the air) and eventually winter will be here...despite my constant
requests otherwise. Stay tuned, this blog is officially undead.
And if you find yourself in western Kansas, first, know that everything is going to be OK!
Secondly, check out some of these awesome places:
Happy Hiking!
Nice post! What's "caliche"? What's a "blowout"?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Hey, maybe I should do a writeup on blowouts! They are really cool micro-habitats.
Delete