Ohio Trip 2019: Part 1 - Kansas Dirt Roads
Our first day of the Ohio Trip included several hours of driving on dirt roads in Kansas. When we said we like to travel on backroads, we meant paved backroads. However, our itinerary for the day included visiting Monument Rocks and Castle Rock in Kansas. The only way to get to these is via dirt roads and a heavy reliance on Google Maps, as the dirt roads were not on our paper road atlas.
It might have been easier to get to the rock formations had we come from I-70, but we had gotten off I-70 back in Limon, CO some 190 miles earlier. At Limon, we took highway 287 south to Kit Carson, to stop at the Trading Post for pie and ice cream. From there we headed east on highway 50 into Kansas.
Monument Rocks, also known as the Chalk Pyramids, is a National Natural Landmark. It is located on private land and the only access to it is via dirt roads. Castle Rock is a similar group of rock formations, also on private land, located thirty miles east of Monument Rocks as the crow flies, but it took us an hour and a half on a series of dirt roads to get to Castle Rock from Monument Rocks. Along the way we passed cows among the oil wells and storage tanks. Luckily most of the dirt roads were dry. We kicked up a lot of road dust and the dirt clung to the back window of our Highlander. After missing a turn and then noticing how steep and muddy the intended road looked as it dipped down to a stream, we decided to force Google Maps to reroute us. Our Highlander has all-wheel drive, but we didn’t feel like getting stuck in the mud. Most of the dirt roads were in pretty good shape; however, the last half mile to Castle Rock was a little rough.
Both rock formations are pretty impressive in person. Right Buddy (RB) went a little shutter crazy as the blue skies that day provided a nice contrast with the white chalky rocks. The rock formations at Monument Rocks are grouped close together, with the two sections about a quarter of a mile apart. Castle Rock stands all by itself, with another group of rock formations a little less than a mile away down a really rough dirt road. We chose to walk the dirt road from the Castle Rock to the other group of rock formations. In between, there were abandoned car tires all along the sides of the dirt road. We’re not sure why they were there.
Another series of dirt roads led us to Cedar Ridge State Park, our planned stop for the night. The cabin that we rented had a wonderful view of the sunset from the deck. We arrived in plenty of time to cook dinner and sit down to eat on the deck, listening to the gobbles of wild turkeys while the sun set.
(RB)