Colby (badlands)

Happy Friday the 13th.

I woke up this morning to a high wind advisory. It had been predicted, and in fact had started up yesterday. It did keep me off the road until it at least started to get light as I wanted to minimize hazardous conditions driving the hour out to the badlands. There are a lot of semis on the roads out here.

The Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park is a bit off the beaten path. Even Colby, where I am staying, is off the beaten path, and the Badlands are an hour south. It is worth mentioning that, although Kansas is grouped with the midwest states, the eastern third of it is actually high desert. It borders Colorado on the west, and is kitty corner from New Mexico to the southwest.

This park boasts the iconic Niobrara Chalk formations, set amongst wild buckwheat and agave plants. As it is an ancient seabed, fossils are found here (although none visible from the trail). Various wildlife species also call it home, but in the high winds, they were all hunkered down and the only living organisms I saw were limited to flora. Two trails are available, a 0.4 mile out and back that takes you to an overlook and a 2.4 mile out and back trail that winds around the rock formations. I walked both. The rock formations are dramatic, but I also loved the grasses, especially in the wind. I would love to see this area also under different conditions. However, I will get more Niobrara rocks and badlands as I head north, so this was a good introduction.

On the way back, I stopped at a few of the small museums in this area. The first was the Buffalo Bill cultural center in Oakley. This is mostly about the large bronze stature displayed out front, but the visitor center also has historical information, as well as free coffee. Down the road is the Fick fossils and history museum, also in Oakley. This is a very eclectic museum, featuring everything from gems to historical exhibits to some pretty impressive fossils. Finally, I went over to the Prairie Museum of Art and History , in Colby, a few blocks from my hotel. This museum features the large collection of artifacts from the Kuska family. I think they would have been considered hoarders except that the collection also contains some significant and valuable objects. It contained everything from art glass to furniture to dolls and a whole lot of of other stuff. The museum also houses collections of donated items from the community that give a historical perspective. A gallery is reserved for exhibits by local artists. And outdoors, they have collected a number of historical buildings that show what life was like on the prairie during early settlement.

I was just as happy to head back to the warmth of my hotel room for a meeting (professional, but not casework) and to work on my images.

This is my last day in Kansas. Tomorrow I head north to Nebraska.

Additional images are found in the Gallery .