"Stunning" was the term Mike Hayden used to describe the places chosen in 2010 as winners of the Kansas Sampler Foundation's "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" contest.
"Kansas is a beautiful and geographically-diverse state, but many of the state's natural wonders remain unknown even to people who've lived here all their lives," said Hayden, a former governor who was then secretary of wildlife and parks.
He said he hoped people would see the list and decide to visit the areas involved.
Attractions include plains, waterfalls, rock formations
Plains, waterfalls, historical landmarks and rock formations that look like mushrooms are all among the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography."
The Kansas Sampler Foundation, based at Inman in McPherson County in central Kansas, created the list to educate the world about Kansas and encourage travel here.
The foundation initially named 24 finalists, then held six weeks of public voting on its website to narrow that down to eight.
Natural wonders declared ineligible for the list because they'd already made Kansas Sampler's "8 Wonders of Kansas" list were Monument Rock and Castle Rock in Gove County; Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and the Flint Hills in Chase County; and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and Cheyenne Bottoms wetlands basin in Stafford and Barton counties.
Here are the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography:"
Konza Prairie
The Konza Prairie near Manhattan in Riley and Geary counties in northeast Kansas stands out because it is an "internationally recognized research site for tallgrass prairie ecology" and because the trails there offer an excellent way to experience the state's rolling Flint Hills, the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website said.
It said the Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University jointly own the Konza Prairie, which it described as being a "unique outdoor laboratory" that encompasses 8,600 acres of protected native tallgrass prairie.
Mushroom Rock State Park and Rock City Park
Mushroom Rock State Park in Ellsworth County in central Kansas and Rock City Park in Ottawa County in north-central Kansas were chosen for the list as a "duo entry," the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website said.
That was because both are found in the state's Smoky Hill physiographic region and both "showcase rare Dakota sandstone concretions, up to 27 feet in diameter, deposited 100 million years ago and since exposed by the relentless forces of erosion," that site said.
Coronado Heights
Coronado Heights, a hill northwest of Lindsborg in McPherson County in central Kansas, is thought to be near the place where Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541 gave up his search for the fabled seven cities of gold and began his return to Mexico. Coronado and his men may have used the site as a lookout or encampment.
The Works Progress Administration in 1936 built a stone castle that stands on Coronado Heights, which is the southernmost bluff in a series of seven, said the travelks.com website.
Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area
Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area for many years has provided a safe, shallow place where people can walk on flat, natural rock to cross Deep Creek seven miles southeast of Manhattan in Riley County in northeast Kansas, said the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website
The area is owned by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and features a waterfall that is 60 feet long and five feet high. The crossing is named for pioneer J.H. Pillsbury, who settled the property involved in 1855.
Maxwell Wildlife Refuge
Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, located north of Canton in McPherson County in central Kansas, stands out because "its midgrass prairie provides the only place in Kansas where both bison and elk can be viewed in their natural habitat by the public," the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website said.
About 150 bison and 75 elk live at the refuge. It offers a year-round tram ride, which often goes "right into the buffalo herd," the "8 Wonders" website said. The elk can generally only be seen from December through March, it said.
Alcove Springs
Alcove Springs, located near Blue Rapids in Marshall County in northeast Kansas, is known for the springs that have been there many years, the waterfall that can be seen there each spring and the site's historical significance as a stop for Native Americans, fur traders and pioneers using the Oregon Trail, the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website said.
The springs were named by pioneers from the ill-fated Donner Party, who stopped there in 1846, then continued west before some of them resorted to cannibalism after they became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Four-State Lookout
The Four-State Lookout — located at White Cloud in Doniphan County at the state's far northeast corner — provides a "spectacular view of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa from a platform atop the rolling loess hills of the glacial hills region with the Missouri River rolling through the foreground," the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website said.
The public is able to see that view from a newly constructed, handicapped-accessible deck, said the travelks.com website.
Gyp Hills Scenic Drive and Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway
Stunning, rust-red buttes and mesas, capped by layers of sparkling white gypsum, adorn the landscape along these two scenic driving routes in Barber and Comanche counties in south-central Kansas, the "8 Wonders of Kansas Geography" website said. The scenic drive is 22 miles long and the scenic byway is about 42 miles long, it said.
"With craggily canyons and vibrant red dirt, the earth around here looks a little different," said the travelks.com website. "The Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway is a landscape that is straight out of a western film."
Contact Tim Hrenchir at [email protected] or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Waterfalls and rock formations among '8 Wonders of Kansas Geography'
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