A lady at the hotel recommended a visit to the Konza Prairie, part of the Flint Hills. Her grandfather used to own vast chunks of land there.
I don't know about you, but I get rather tired of warning signs.
The trail starts out flat enough. After all, this is Kansas.
There are three trails you can take. We opted for the Nature Trail. Would have been nice to have a trail guide but the box was empty, of course.
That is one thing I can fix.
Download the Nature Trail Here (pdf)
Download the Kings Creek Loop Here (pdf)
There is no map for the Godwin Hill Loop but........
There is a map for the Homestead Trail
About 25 yards down the trail, I spied one of the larger assassin bug nymphs I've seen.
Assassin bugs have a pointy beak that they use to stab and then suck the juices out of unfortunate victims landing in this instance, on flowers.
This is an adult assassin bug. It was too windy to get a clearer picture.
A nice looking tree.
There were three or four of these bridges.
Part of the reason for the hike was also to locate one of these - a honey locust tree.
I needed some thorns. Why would anyone need thorns?
They work real well for constructing Deviant Art. More info is Here.
Wow! It's actually getting hilly. I guess the Flint Hills really are hills.
Lots of flowers are in bloom.
This is where we came from.
This is where we are going to. It was a bit of a hike.
Looking west, from the top of the hill.
Looking South East
Looking North West.
Lots of these orange flowers about.
Crab spider, waiting for a meal.
Collared Lizard basking on one of the few rocks.
Well I'll be! A Rugusa type rose.
I only saw a few of these blooming.
There were a number of areas like this where I guess there are periodic run-offs.
I am guessing these are wild violets.
I do believe this is a black swallowtail.
Black swallowtails are hard to photograph. They are quite wary.
Seed pods all over the place here.
Another collard lizard. They seemed much less concerned with human presence than their counterparts in Nevada.
Don't know what these are, but they were sparse.
A rocky outcrop.
A fawn either sleeping or on its last legs.
Boy I really like this new camera. This blue bird was about 25 yards away.
More thorny possibilities
This is a good reason for downloading available guides before you make the hike.
I highly doubt marker 24 details the history of a dead tree.
The Konza prairie is worth a stop.
A word of caution: I would make the hike when the possibility of lightning exists because for miles around, you can end up being the tallest object.
