The Beautiful Rolling Flint Hills

 Some folks live close to a warm sandy beach or have a mountain top view. Others are lucky enough to have a scenic view just off their deck or down their driveway. And here we are surrounded by wheat fields, corn fields, soybean, maize and cotton fields.  A little way up the road from us, the flat farmland turns into rolling hills of the tall grass prairie dotted with farms, ranches and cattle.


 The Flint Hills of Kansas are quite beautiful this time of year.  We like to take this scenic highway up to Manhattan.  There are a few towns on this route, but it is mostly wide open prairie.

Not much traffic... I might see ten cars on the road in two hours. 

The first little spot on the road to Manhattan is Matfield Green, population 47. The brown building is a cowboy cafe.  I think there is a mailbox, but not a post office.  Don't blink or you will miss all five cross streets. I love the sign that reads "Matfield Green, next 5 exits."

And you have just seen most of it now.

One of my favorite things to say is, " I see a train EVERY time I go through Matfield Green."

So here is one from today.... It seemed to be miles long.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad has apparently kept the town alive.  Train-watchers come here and rent vacation homes close to the tracks. There were people from two cars stopped next to the tracks taking photos today.  I can't imagine deliberately standing  that close to a moving train...

Someone spent a lot of time building rock walls in this area.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised as there are many rocks available. I wish I knew how long ago they were built.  This stone wall is a lengthy one that goes around a historic ranch.  It seems to go for miles.



Can you imagine crossing this in a covered wagon?

 The grass is so green because the ranchers burn off the old grass early each spring and it quickly grows back . 
 The cattle really like the bluestem grass.

I got their attention taking this photo.  It's easy to imagine huge herds of buffalo here. 

The county courthouse in Cottonwood Falls, population 903, is one of my favorites.

Several years ago I bought a small collection of barbed wire, all labeled and identified, from an antique shop in this town. I have no idea why... As I walked back to my car clutching my barbed wire, I passed a pay phone that started ringing. A sign taped by the phone said, "Have you seen my kangaroo?" I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone and was afraid to answer the phone. I was pretty sure it would be a wrong number anyway...  We remarked how bizarre it was, then a few miles down the road we passed a little cemetery. The Bazaar Cemetery.  It must have been Rod Serling on the phone....

Lots of towns spell out their names on the hillsides.


A mile up the road from Cottonwood Falls is the jumping little town of Strong City...population 485.

I think there is a cafe, church and bank.  Not much else... although maybe I haven't been all the way across the town. I have to turn left to follow 177, the scenic route.

 Now we are back in the country, still heading north.

There is a scenic overlook near here, but it looks just like everything else we have passed by.

This is the farmhouse at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Some day I am going to take the tour.  The tallgrass prairie used to cover much of North America.  Now only four percent remains undisturbed.  This preserve has almost 11,000 acres and is one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas.  A small herd of buffalo (bison actually) lives here too.

This one room schoolhouse is just north of the farmhouse. 

Trees are rare here, but the wildflowers are lovely, especially in the summer. These are last summer's photos as there really aren't any flowers blooming yet...

Lots of yellows and purples in Kansas...

I like to call this one the Little House on the Prairie...

I'm a sucker for old houses.  I wish I could see inside of this one.  Is that something in the window?

The water level appears to be high in this unnamed creek. 

Council Grove, population 1,282, has 13 sites on the National Register of Historic Places. It's another thing on my to do list.  Daniel Boone's grandson lived here in 1847.  Gen Custer slept under the Custer Elm during the Civil War. I doubt that it was called that at the time...

The town has a lot of activity, as it has a busy downtown with a lot of businesses.  I'm looking forward to checking out the antique stores one day. 

Probably not all at once, since it has only 2 small cells.  Very dark and creepy inside.... The Santa Fe Trail must have been a rough place.

This is the Madonna of the Trail, a memorial to all the mothers on the wagon trains. Someone had to raise the ruffians and horse thieves, I guess. But seriously, how many memorials are there to unnamed mothers? These led hard lives, no doubt.

Now back on the road because we are getting close to Manhattan.  This is another scenic overlook. We are pretty high above the trees.

 Fort Riley is in the distance.

Another layer of rocky outcropping close to Manhattan.  Those rock walls make more sense now...

Several limestone quarries in the area produced a lot of material for buildings in these counties.  The sides of the road show how rocky the area really is under all the prairie grasses.   It seems like it would have been easier to build the roads over the hills instead of through them.

 

I still haven't hauled any rocks home...but I don't think they would be missed.

Manhattan is about another nine miles from here...

No photos today of Manhattan, but I do have aerial shots from our trip there and back in the Stearman last year....

The following photos were taken last fall and the grass had turned brown already.

A BNSF train heading to Matfield Green, I bet!

This is our neighborhood beside the Benton Airport. You can see how flat it is around here. 

Safely back at home.


And for those of you who have stayed awake all the way to the end, a special bonus! I found this video of the Kansas Prairie Chicken, a fowl I have yet to encounter but hope to someday..
I love how they stomp their feet.  Watch this and see if it reminds you of some of the native American dances....

Thanks for traveling with me today!