Today we decided to drive up through the Flint Hills, to a town called Council Grove, about 1.5 hours NE of Wichita. The Flint Hills are some of the last Tallgrass Prairie lands that used to stretch from Canada to Mexico. Now It’s mostly Kansas and into Oklahoma. The grass is emerald green and about 3-5 high though the spring and summer. Now, it’s dying back, so the hills are more golden. In the spring, ranchers will use controlled burns to burn off the old grown and rid the land of invasive species, leaving the deep root base to produce new growth. This provides exceptional grazing for cattle.
The hills are vast. I’m used to eastern Washington and Oregon where the plains go for miles, but they are nothing like this. As far as you can see, there is grasslands. The horizon in 360 degrees is exactly the same. It’s like being on the ocean. At home (Western Washington State) there is always mountains and trees blocking the skyline. There is nothing here, just more grasslands!
There are lots of deciduous trees to break the landscape. They are big, and leafy, and beginning to turn gold. The land is beautiful, with lots of rolling hills, deep cuts for (now pretty dry) rivers and creeks, and the sky is just never ending.
Kansas weather is fascinating to me. The wind is high in the fall, and blows constantly. I’m told it blows even in the high summer, but it’s hot, making one feel like they are in an oven. There is just nothing to stop it. No foothills or mountains, and with the exception of some tree windbreaks, it can blow without anything to stop it.
In Council Grove, we went to Trail Days. This is a café and museum on the Santa Fe Trail, located in the old Rawlinson-Terwilliger home. This stone house was built in the 1860s and is now a restaurant and museum. The food is part of the experience. You dine in the historic house eating food made from scratch using local ingredients and the recipes of the times. The menu includes dishes from the American Indians, old world (including German, Swedish, French & Italian) and meats including Bison and Elk. The website makes it clear that the dining is part of the museum experience. We tried to make reservations by email (as suggested) but never heard back.
We arrived at Trails Days at about 2pm. When we walked in, all but one of the tables was full and there was one cook. The building was lovely. The website had made it clear that they were staffed by volunteers, and to have patience. They weren’t kidding. One table had received their food (looked like an incredible schnitzel), and everybody else still had their menus. An older woman arrived at that time and began to take orders. We gave our order and moved outside to sit on the side porch. About 45 minutes later we went in to ask for our water. About half an hour after that, we got our food. The man who had been cooking delivered it and stayed to chat. After he left, we had to laugh. Clearly, they served literally one table at a time and enjoyed talking to their guests. The food was great, homemade breads, and greats fixings. We finished with a wonderful dense chocolate cake that was not something you can generally get anymore. All in all, it took about 2 hours, so make sure that you aren’t starving if you go.
We stopped at the Kaw Mission Historical Site in Council Grove. It wasn’t open, but the grounds were beautiful and there were signs talking about the Kaw Indians, their place on the Santa Fe Trail, and the Indian school run on the grounds. This is someplace I would definitely like to come back to and see when it is open.
Our final stop (unfortunately also closed) was the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. So much land in the hills has become cultivated farmland, that only 4% of the 170 million original acres remained (most of it in the Flint Hills) that a National Preserve was formed in 1996. The Preserve occupied the land of the Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch. It’s an amazing place, and I intend to come back next time I am in the area. I took a lot of pictures as I roamed, and I’d love to know more about the original working farm.
We headed back to Wichita as the sun set. Near the end of the trip, we passed through El Dorado and saw the large, man-made lake and state park. This lake was made in 1981, and is on the edge of the Flint Hills. It’s huge, and completely freaked me out when I saw it this morning. Throughout the lake is a drowned forest. Throughout lake bare tree branches can be seen reaching up through the surface. And not just a few. LOTS! I was able to get a picture from the car (at 75 mph so it’s not great but you can get an idea). This was actually pretty light, and some areas were just packed with dead branches and trunks.
I am the daughter of a research marine biologist and grew up on the water in Western Washington State. This lake completely terrified me. I wouldn’t take a boat anywhere near it, or even swim in it. If this is the surface, I can’t imagine what is underneath!
More pictures of the Flint Hills below.
Suzanne’s Travels 