Konza 10/17/2013

Bright blue skies greeted us this morning as we set out for Konza Prairie Preserve just south of Manhattan, Kansas, and within about an hour's drive of the campground. The landscape is definitely flattening out. We were surprised that there were no signs directing us to the preserve, and it had no recognizable address on the GPS. We just followed the directions posted online.

The Konza Prairie is an 8600 acre tract of native tall grass prairie that has never seen a plow. Big blue stem grass, 1 of the grass species here, can grow up to 10 feet tall, with a root system that can reach 12 feet into the soil. Can you imagine being a settler here, trying to farm, with the need to first dig out the sod? Amazing.

We set out on the easy 6 + mile walk after eating lunch in the trailer. While the breeze was cool, we soon found ourselves shedding our jackets and enjoying the perfectly comfortable day. The trail took us up to a small ridge with views of the hills and plains. Tall grass dotted with stands of bright red bushes (that we

thought might be sumac) stretched before us. The deep blue sky, gold, yellow and green trees, and red bushes on gently rolling hills made for a beautiful sight as we walked alone on the trail. While we saw a a few cars in the parking lot (which surprised us that there were any, due to its somewhat remote location) we saw noone on the trail. However, we were not completely alone.

With every step we took, it was is if we were at the rear of a grasshopper parade. Our feet disturbed the grasshoppers who flew in every direction before us. When the wind was blowing, there were so many grasshoppers, it was not unusual to have them blow into your hands, face or body. When the wind calmed, all you could hear were crickets and the snapping of grasshoppers as they moved around us.

Konza Prairie gave us the opportunity to see Kansas exactly as it looked 200 years ago.

After our walk, we headed west to our stopping point for the evening, Wakeeney, Kansas. We passed fields of sorghum (think the stumpy corn with a plume on top), wind farms (congregations of wind mills), and several abandoned farm houses in the fields along the interstate. Sometimes we'd see an exit off the highway for a town that must exist somewhere beyond the horizon, as all you could see on either side of the highway was a dirt road going across flat land and fields. One startling sight: thousands of starlings roosting covering the roof of a building.

Most people consider the Midwest as flyover or drive-through country. How wrong they are. It's a quiet wonder waiting to be discovered.