On my way back east from Colorado, I decided to take a short out and back off I-70 to the high point of Kansas. After about a couple miles of pavement, the roads turned into dirt. It was good dirt. I pretty much cruised at 60mph, unlike the other dirt roads I've encountered on this trip.
Mt sunflower is located about 20 miles south of I-70 just across the border from Colorado. At just over 4,000 feet it's higher than almost all of the Catskills. You wouldn't know it from here. It's quite flat, though there are some small hills. I'm sure it wasn't easy to locate this as the high point.
This is cattle country. To enter the high point, I had to drive over some cattle guards. There is plenty of sign that the cattle graze near high point. Maybe 10 feet below the summit a herd grazed.
The high point is on private land, so high pointers are incredibly lucky the landowners allow easy access to its summit.
I really wanted to make it here on my cross country ride, but passed up on it with the coming of winter. For whatever reason, this was another of the state high points that was etched into my mind. I arrived here at sunset making it a memorable stop. An almost full moon rose to the east. There was a picnic table, so I fired up my stove as the winds picked up.
So strange to see a high point that is so flat. No really a mountain, is it. More like just another part of the plateau. Did you spend the night there?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to go explore the strange hills and gullies of eastern Kansas. I forget what the area is called. Very interesting land forms.