Natural Wonders of Western Kansas
- Monument Rocks
Steer down byways in Western Kansas, and you may stumble across some remarkable and unexpected scenery. In the state’s extreme northwestern corner, Parks Road leads to the Arikaree Breaks (a two-mile wide “break” in the terrain), a rugged badlands landscape of yucca-studded cliffs, caves and gullies. Formed during the Ice Age, the loess soils harbor two species of sage and16 rare native plants and grasses ideal for cattle and wildlife. Stop in St. Francis for a self-guided tour brochure.
Southeast of Oakley, a soft sedimentary layer known as Niobrara Chalk has been exposed and sculpted by eons of wind, water and river ice. The result is spots like Monument Rocks (from Oakley, 20 miles south on US-83, eight miles southeast) where otherworldly bright-white turrets, spires and other formations rise from the prairie like dissolving sand castles. Fifty miles east, Castle Rock (15 miles south of Quinter) resembles a moonscape, a bizarre maze of narrow cuts and canyons cleaved into green cropland.
- Cimarron National Grassland
Follow the past
“What we find out here either swam in the ocean or flew above it,” says Chuck Bonner, who has an educated eye that comes from a lifetime of fossil hunting. He and his wife, Barbara Shelton, have explored Western Kansas’ fossil beds for decades. They display their finds at Keystone Gallery and Museum (18 miles north of Scott City). Their guided fossil hunts—on nearby private land they have access to—give novices an opportunity to unearth prehistoric treasures dating back 80 million years.
Standing atop Point of Rocks in Cimarron National Grassland, hikers can sense—and see—the human history that passed this way. Washboard ridges furrow the prairie earth, a well-worn path left by thousands of covered wagons traveling the fabled Santa Fe Trail. Hikers can follow in their footsteps. Cimarron’s 108,000 acres in the southwest corner of Kansas protect 23 miles of the route designated as a national historic trail, one of the longest public segments between Missouri and New Mexico.
The Sandsage Bison Range and Wildlife Area (a half mile south of Garden City) offers the chance to see bison (commonly called buffalo) in a setting of native prairie reminiscent of what pioneers saw 150 years ago. A volunteer group, Friends of the Sandsage Bison Range, leads free guided tours of the 3,670-acre refuge. Visitors bump along the roads in a truck or open-air trailer, eager to spot the 100 or so bison that roam among feathery sage and blooming wildflowers.
- Webster State Park
Webster State Park fun
“Roughing it” is relative in Webster State Park (eight miles west of Stockton). A new knotty-pine cabin, one of many for rent in Kansas State Parks, stands atop a hill with a vast lake view. It makes a great base for exploring the park, where 3,700-acre Webster State Lake spills across the Solomon River Valley. Anglers and pleasure boaters share the waters, casting for walleye and bass, and skimming across the surface on wakeboards and water skis.
On shore, sand beaches and docks rim protected coves. Recreation areas provide plenty of diversions for campers, with a baseball diamond, sand volleyball court and horseshoe pits. The cabin provides the perfect respite after a day filled with activity. Stoke up a blaze in the fire ring, ready the fixings for s’mores for the kids, and settle back on the wide covered porch to watch a pastel sunset transform into a star-filled sky.
- Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge
The skies themselves seem to be in motion during spring and fall migration at Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge (15 miles southeast of Phillipsburg). Thousands of sandhill cranes and tens of thousands of geese—Canada, snow and white-fronted—settle at the refuge in February and March, and again in October and November. Occasionally, birders here thrill to the sight of a whooping crane, one of the most endangered birds in the nation.
The birds come to rest among 10,800 acres of prairie grasses, creeks and bottomlands. Visitors seek refuge in the landscape, too, biking