Great Kansas Photo Site

One of the nice surprises related to my recent geocaching activities was the discovery of an excellent Kansas photo site. Created by Glen Soldan, Our Kansas!, is a great resource for anyone looking for some beautiful spots to visit in Kansas.

There are numerous links to both places to visit as well as other interesting topics; in addition to the photos of each area Glen has also provided useful comments. Highly recommended!

We started home about 3:30pm Monday, leaving due west on US 56 out of McPherson. We had an uneventful drive, arriving in Lamar Colorado, around 8pm; well in time for the sunset:

The next day, on Colorado highway 10, we spied a most marvelous site; mile after mile of sunflowers, visible on both sides of the road as far as the eye could see. This went on for close to 20 miles:

Later in the day we stopped at the misnamed Aztec ruins near Aztec, NM.

As we drove from Aztec through Farmington we encountered a quite severe sandstorm. The storm cleared as we entered Arizona, but resumed with an even greater intensity as we entered Kayenta, almost 80 miles south of the Four Corners area.

Speaking of the Four Corners, according to my GPS unit and confirmed via some web searches, the actual Four Corners location is actually almost 300 yards to the northwest of the specified location:

Surprisingly, 20 miles from Kayenta, up at Monument Valley, the winds and dust were almost non-existent:

Today found us spending a little time shopping at the Native American roadside stands that dot the area, along with a relatively quick trip through the always magnificent Grand Canyon:

We also spotted a nice buck very close to the road:

The Faris Caves are man-made caves hand-carved into a sandstone cliff near the Smokey Hill River in North Central Kansas near Kanopolis Lake. We visited there after a day of geocaching, though we didn’t pursue the cache located at the site. Other caches found that day included Potato Hill and Soldier’s Cap.

One of the things I love about this area is the Smokey Hill River. It used to be that many of the bridges in the area were of the old iron design depicted in these photos. Sadly, most of them have been replaced by more modern designs. While safer, the new bridges certainly lack the character exhibited by the ones they replaced. Here’s some photos of one of the few remaining iron bridges, taken near Marquette, Kansas.

The wheat harvest in Kansas is turning out to be the best one in 3 years. The impact on a small town is chronicled in this story which helps underscore how important agriculture is to the overall Kansas economy.

Here are some photos of the wheat harvest north of Lindsborg, taken over the past few days:

Field of wheat being harvested:

Combine, used to harvest the wheat:

Once harvest is complete, the fields of stubble are burned off. This is done primarily when crop rotation is not practiced as it reduces the effects of disease caused by planting the same crop in the same field 2 or more years in a row. The primary downfall of burning stubble is the loss of the valuable organic matter, which is better utilized by being worked back into the soil. Given these 2 viewpoints, the burning of wheat stubble is not without controversy.