INTO THE HEARTLAND

The Tall Grass Prairie is a collaboration of The National Park System with The Nature Conservancy. This area of Kansas is located in what is known as the flint hills. It is a beautiful rolling landscape with occasional outcropping of limestone and flint. This area was home to several American Indian tribes, one of which was the Kansa, hence the State of Kansas. The Tall Grass Preserve is a small example of what once was a vast area running through the mid section of the country from Canada to Mexico. The native grasses are being slowly reintroduced to the area along with a growing herd of Bison. It was interesting to visit this Prairie after our experience of The Tall Grass Preserve in Oklahoma in the spring. There were no campgrounds associated with the Prairie Preserve but we found a great spot in Cottonwood Falls, a city park with a swimming pool. For the most part we had the entire park to our selves for only $15/ night honor system.

About 100 miles to the west there is a very large salt-water wetland. A salt-water wetland in the middle of Kansas? In prehistoric times Kansas with in the middle of and ocean therefore there are abundant amounts of salt in Kansas. The significance of a salt-water wetland is that it provides an excellent stop over for birds making their annual migration between arctic breeding grounds and South America. Unfortunately it was blazingly hot while we were there. 100 degrees Fahrenheit! Despite this adversity we managed to see some new birds.

Pushing westward our next stop was at Scott Lake State Park, a beautiful canyon in an otherwise flat western Kansas. The wild life was great and another new bird!

We climbed slowly out of western Kansas into eastern Colorado on our way up into the Rocky Mountains. Next stop is the Great Sand Dunes NP. The scenery will take your breath away. The sand dunes measure 30 miles by 10 miles at 8,100 ft. elevation. The surrounding mountains in the background are up to 14,000 ft. Here we explored the dunes and surrounding area. This area provides a very unique ecosystem found nowhere else in the world. In fact it is home to several species that live only here. We walk out to the dunes, went on a few hikes and drive on some of the worst gravel roads but well worth it to get to a hike into a waterfall. We also find a couple of new birds for our life list.

We are now on to Crested Butte. Here we visit with our friends Don and Gretchen from the Caribbean 1500 days. Crested Butte is a small town in the mountains with only one year round paved road leading in or out of town. In it’s former life the town was a base for the many mining towns north in the mountains. Aspin Colorado is north by about 13 miles, a 6 or 7-hour hike, by car it is 2½-hour drive around the mountains. The town now is home to about 2000 people and has a ski slope so tourism plays a big part in the local economy. The ride to and from Crested Butte brought us through some amazing mountain passes. Don and Gretchen brought us to a small lesser-known National Park. The Black Canyon Of the Gunnison. The Canyon is about 2500 feet deep but only 1700 feet across therefore little light gets to the bottom thus it is the Black Canyon.

We are now in the town of Durango where our Caravan officially starts tonight with a get together and dinner. Arriving a few days early let us do some birding along the Animas River where we were able to see several new birds. Of coarse we had to visit a local brewpub for lunch.

So for now we will close until we have more stories from the caravan. Our internet capabilities are meager at best so pictures will have to wait!