Return Cross-Country Highpointing Trip, Stop #1
 |
| Vanity Shot at the Summit |
For the return cross-country trip home to Washington, D.C.,
I opted for a different route. I still
wanted to visit a few more highpoints, but I realized that, being winter, my
options were decidedly limited, all the more so since I visited so many
highpoints on the way out. I finally
settled on a route that swung north from New Mexico so as to include the
highpoints of Kansas and Missouri, before swinging south enough to claim the
highpoint of Mississippi (I missed it on the way out), and then ultimately
heading home. The highpoints were all a
little bit out of the way, but there is no clean and easy way to visit these
places. Luckily I had my fiancée in tow,
which made it a not so lonely endeavor this time around.
 |
| It's All Off-Road from Here! |
Now Kansas has a reputation of perhaps being the flattest
state in the country, so I was not expecting much from its highpoint. Indeed, my biggest concern was in being able
to get there. Reading through the
directions, I noticed there was plenty of off-road traveling. That worried me a bit with the snowstorm that
had recently passed through the area. I
had no way of knowing the local road conditions though, so I figured I would
just see what they looked like by the time I got there and prepare for a long
hike if need be.
 |
One More Mile!
|
As we zigzagged through eastern Colorado, alternating
between heading due east and due north, we eventually made it the
Colorado/Kansas line. The highpoint of
Kansas is about a half mile from the state line, so we knew we pretty close, longitudinally
speaking. We turned off of the main
highway onto Road 3, which was bedecked with a small sign that said, “ Mt.
Sunflower / 12 Miles”. The road was an
unpaved farm road that was in generally great condition. Snow was minimal, so I could really keep up a
good speed. Any concern I might have had
about having to “snowshoe” in, was quickly allayed.
 |
Made it!
|
Eventually, after the 12 miles had past, in seemingly the
middle of nowhere, there was another sign indicating for me to turn left and
continue for one more mile. The road
retained its character, but the sense of remoteness was beginning to grow. Shortly though, we reached a junction. Ahead, there was a sign indicating “No
Outlet”, and to the right, a handmade yellow sign that indicated “Mount
Sunflower” with a little hand-drawn sunflower on it. The highpoint was visible in the distance and
we were happy to have made it all the way here.
Yay!
 |
| View of the Summit Shrine |
As I suspected, the area in the vicinity of the highpoint
was quite flat. Nonetheless, the
elevation rang in at an impressive, 4,039 feet!
Like I wrote, we were really close to Colorado, which might have been
the influential factor here.
 |
| Trail Register -- 4039' Elevation |
Mt. Sunflower is one of the few highpoints that is on
private property, which can have its own set of issues associated with it when
it comes to accessibility. Fortunately,
the owners of the farmland are very accommodating and keep the highpoint open
to visitors every day, all year round (which is not always the case with other
such highpoints).
 |
| Family Marker to Commemorate their Homesteading (Note the Crack) |
 |
| Definitely in the Right Place! |
The shrine commemorating the highpoint is quite
elaborate! It sets within a fenced-off
square of land. Inside, there is a large
wrought iron sign that boldly labels the spot “Mt. Sunflower” and “Highest
Point In Kansas”. There is a small
boulder within which presumably is a stand-in for the summit. There is also a large “sunflower” made from
railroad spikes that emanates from it.
Behind the rock, there is a very large stone marker that is suspended
which commemorates the fact that the owner’s family has been homesteading in this
area since 1906! Finally, to the left
there is a mailbox that contains the summit register within as well as a
newspaper clipping which details a recent case of vandalism that occurred on
the site. Here is a link to a news
article that gives more information on the incident and explains why the stone
marker is cracked:
 |
| Sad. Who Would Vandalize this Site? |
After signing the register, we paused to take in the view,
but it was pretty much the same in every direction. There was a picnic shelter conveniently
located next to the highpoint, but we were not equipped with packed lunches to
properly take advantage of it. Perhaps
on a nicer day, it will find good use among those who know about it.
 |
| Picnic Shelter Next to Highpoint |
All in all, I was pretty happy with my visit here. The owners managed to make a nondescript
piece of land feel pretty special and even imbued a sense of history into
it. I love that I drove in the middle of
nowhere to find it too. It was a small
adventure, but a very memorable one all the same.
 |
| View from the Top! (yeah, I know...) |
No comments:
Post a Comment