Elk City Lake

I've always heard about the awesome trails at Elk City Lake in SE Kansas. The Kansas Wildlife and Parks website lists 8 trails plus the Corps of Engineers manages land featuring camping and trails so we had to decide where to go. We settled on the Elk River Trail in the Corps area. In addition to being very scenic you can backpack on this trail. We wanted to camp along the shore of the lake in a secluded area. We set out around 3 pm and began hiking. Right away this trail becomes very strenuous. It was around 100 degrees so I was glad we brought a lot of water but feared we didn't bring enough. There are cave like rock formations, crevasses and steep bluffs overlooking the lake. After about 3 miles we stopped and found an awesome spot to camp under a willow tree next to the lake. It was very cool! Growing next to the willow was the largest Button Bush I've ever seen COVERED with various species of butterflies. I can't wait to go back there but would like it to cool down a little first. Taking the kayaks would also be a great way to reach these remote spots where privacy is at it's best!!

Here is a map showing some of the various trail heads.

Here are some photos I took along the way:


The sunrise was amazing


A Kansas jungle


The trail is rugged and interesting

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

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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!

Kanopolis State Park

This is one of my favorite parks in the state for camping and hiking. I started coming to this park as a kid and still love it! It really hasn't changed much, would someday like to ride horses out there...

Some of the sights visitors can expect to see while hiking the trails at
Kanopolis State Park.

Elk River Hiking Trail

Found these old photos from a few years ago. Not the best quality, but thought I'd share them anyhow.