Final stop today and last stop in Kansas for this leg of the journey. Once again I ended up in the middle of nowhere but exactly where I planned to be. Checking off another highpoint at Mount Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas at 4,039 feet above sea level. Fun fact: also not a mountain. Barely made it there before the sun disappeared but made for some great dramatic photos.
At the highpoint site there are some metal signs with the name Mount Sunflower, a sunflower sculpture made of railroad spikes (not pictured here, was hard to capture on camera in this low light), and a memorial plaque. Luckily, even though this is private land the owners encourage people to visit.
Of course no highpoint would be complete without a mailbox and visitor log book of some kind. This one is kinda neat – looks like an old farm mailbox on the outside but plastered with stickers within.
Just off to the side is an old tree stump with mile marker signs pointing in all directions. In case you were wondering, Stockholm, Sweden is 4,838 miles (7,786 kilometers) from right here. Bjärred, Sweden is 4875 miles (sorry no metrics, sign gets unreadable).
Alternate angle of the mileage signs. Big Fork, Montana 1153 miles. Drayton, North Dakota 903 miles.
The only other human structure out here is a small picnic shelter that has a little free library sitting on the table and is filled with books. Actually this is a damn brilliant idea: imagine you are on a road trip, boom now you can swap books.
First trip with my new-to-me 2015 Toyota Tacoma. Of course I had to take some gratuitous shots. This was on a Tuesday night and to put it mildly it’s a bitch to get out here so naturally I had the place to myself.
It wasn’t long before all color faded from the sky and darkness set in. No light pollution but lots of haze & dust from the heat. As I drove through the high Kansas plains to find a place to sleep the full moon had everything aglow to guide my way.
Lat = 39.0219116 , Long = -102.037262 -- Show at Google MapsAuthor’s Note: Due to my lazy nature and/or busy schedule, I’m posting this from the future in July 2021. Original visit date September 1, 2020 which is during the time that the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. I was travelling solo and always masked up when not outdoors and socially distanced. Sadly my trip got derailed due to close contact with infected parties and I had to bail out early (luckily I tested negative upon return). Needless to say this wasn’t my favorite trip and I’ve been putting off posting it. Anyways, enjoy it now, travel safely, and get vaccinated.
aww. I’m sad to se the ducky I left behind is gone. maybe he found another home though.