Rock City

Man, Rock City rocks! Haha. Anneke and I were returning home from a weekend trip in Nebraska when we stopped by Rock City for a break. It is located just southwest of Minneapolis, KS. The park features rolling prairie and about 200 massive Dakota sandstone boulders! It is a National Natural Landmark where you can see more of these boulders than anywhere else in the world! I have always wanted to go there but had never made it until now. We were the only ones there which made it very peaceful. It was really cold out so we only hiked around for about 20 minutes. Then I snapped a couple of photos and we took off...

The Faris Caves

In the mid 1880's, a Coloradan miner by the name of Charles Griffee purchased land adjacent to the Smoky Hill river and just west of the old Fort Harker in Ellsworth county. With trees being scarce along the open prairie during this time, pioneers had to be resourceful. A practice not uncommon was to use dugouts along rivers and bluffs for shelter and housing. Griffee, using his pickaxe and mining skills hollowed out 3 rooms(roughly 12' square with 10' arched ceilings) in his Dakota Sandstone bluffs as a living quarter. Offering cool air and fresh spring water, I'd guess this was pretty good living to a person settling on the prairie.

For reasons yet unknown, Charles Griffee sold his land to the Faris Brothers(Winfield and William) in 1893. Their brothers Henry and Irwin were already established along the Smoky Hill Trail with a hunting ranch on the Clear Creek crossing.

The caves have served as a home, smithy, refrigerator and schoolhouse...

Members of the Faris family in front of the caves

Need directions? Click Here


Hidden in dense vegetation and covered with inscriptions

Visiting the Faris Caves really opened my mind to a very fascinating history of Ellsworth county. Stories of gunslingers, murderers, gambling, prostitution, lawlessness and indian attacks are all things that made Ellsworth "The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas"! If it strikes you fancy, check it out!

My Yak

At Curt's request...

Here's some photos of my first and only time out on my new kayak. These were taken on the Ark out front of my house in late Autumn. Now the river is completely frozen over so I can't go till Spring! I think I'm going to cry wa wa!

My yak is a Liquid Logic model Saluda. It's 12' long which I think will be a great length for Kansas' lakes and rivers. There is plenty of storage space and I've already fixed up a plastic fishing kit that will fit under the front deck rigging real nice...

My first post

Curt and Derek were nice enough to invite me to be an author on Konza Life. It's pretty fitting now that I'm back from California and we pretty much go on all the same outdoor adventures together. I take a lot of photos and will be posting some on here. I love fishing (esp. catfishing), camping, kayaking, backpacking, hiking and just being outside in general. Everyone who knows me knows that. People say, "Jer, how many fish have you caught in your life?" and I reply, "I dunno, maybe 25,000? Haha.

Jer's Yak

Jer got himself a hell of a buy on a very nice yak a few weeks ago... I'll try to talk him into posting about it soonest!!!

My Yak

Last March Derek called and told me Gander Mountain had a kayak on sale that I'd drooled over the summer before. We went to look at it and I saw the price was about $300 cheaper than it had been. I went home to think about it and see if I could somehow scrape up the $600 I'd need after a long winter of not working. We went back the next day to pick it up, only to find when we got to the register it was marked down to a dirt-cheap $450!



It's an Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 Angler edition. They call it an "Angler" because they added the two pole holders behind the seat on each side. Whoo hoo. If you're familiar with the Prowlers, it obviously doesn't have all the bells and whistles like the newer ones. However, it's light years beyond the little 9 footer I've been using. It's great for lakes and it's a little slow turning in creeks and rivers which can be a pain in the ass... but there's so much storage space and even plenty of room for Trout. It takes on a little water through the scupper holes so I plugged them to keep my feet from standing in water and to keep my butt from getting wet. The seat is thin so I need to buy a pad to make longer trips more comfortable, and I plan to add extra pole holders in front of the cockpit as well as a few other accessories. I bought a cooler from Coleman called "The Stacker" that fits perfectly in the back and holds a case of refreshing beverages (beer) as well as perishable food items.

We've had it out as many times as we could this last year and it's been a pleasure to paddle. It'll float in 4 or 5 inches of water fully loaded which makes it ideal for shallow rivers like the Arkansas. BTW, Have I told you about our recent yak trip down the Ark? I need to post about that sooner than later!