Red Hills of Barber County

Behold! The majesty of southcentral Kansas and more commonly referred to as the "Gypsum Hills", the Red Hills of Barber County hold a beauty unique to the state of Kansas.

Following a route found on the Natural Kansas website that lead us south of Medicine Lodge along Highway US-281 and west of Hardtner, our drive took us through countless vistas of the beautiful countryside and into remote reaches of the Kansas/Oklahoma borderland.

The US-160 Scenic Byway is a wonderful drive, but being able to stop and snap photos so easily on the quiet dirt roads was an excellent choice in my opinion and I must thank Jim Mason at Natural Kansas for the Wildlife Drive suggestion. Truly awesome!

There seems to be quite a bit of info on the web about these hills, so other than including some links, I'll let our photos do most of the talking... Hope you enjoy.

Our first stop, quiet and peaceful

The weather this day was HOT and DRY! I realized early in the journey that having a cooler full of water bottles was a very good idea!

I guess this is why they call them the "Red Hills"

Trout is one lucky dog!

Another awesome view!

Outcroppings of Gypsum begin to show as we get further northwest

A close look at some of the outcroppings

Bison roam free in miles of open range

For more information on the Red Hills visit:
Natural Kansas
GeoKansas
Kansas Photo Tour

Woodson County, Kansas

A few pictures taken in June...

What a great time to be at the lake!

...Through the Woods

It's time to get up time!

I have so many posts I want to do, I guess I haven't been able to do any of them! Well, I finally got around to rebuilding my computer recently and am hoping to get some posts flowing again. I have TONS of pictures to post! Until then though...

Making sure Jeremy doesn't get away with too much a brag!

Indian Artifacts

Derek was nice enough to take a few pictures of some points and a hammerstone I've been lucky enough to find over the years. The hammerstone was found at an old Indian campsite on the Walnut river in Butler county not far from where I live now, as well as the preform and two well made points. The small point is made of burlington chert which most likely came from missouri, and the preform and the larger point are a permian chert native to the area. Sadly, both of them were snapped off at the base. The Cowley county piece (on the left) is made of Kay county chert from Oklahoma. I managed to find a lot of other stuff at the site in Butler county, including a glass bead, several thumbscrapers, a bronze 1867 2 cent piece and various other metal and ceramic objects.

Drum

I drove up to Cottonwood Falls this morning with the intention of catching a few drum, and I wasn't disappointed. Eventually this little angler came along and joined me, telling me all varieties of tall tales just like a fisherman should, and he enthusiastically agreed to pose for a picture before he left to go home and eat dinner.