Paty stopped her rental car at a cattle guard in western Kansas. Snow covered the last stretch of road, and she wasn't going to get stuck this close to the summit. She walked the remaining four-tenths of a mile. Ahead lay the highest point in the state, almost indistinguishable from the land around it.[1]

For Paty, who writes the Outdoor Pilgrim hiking blog, this was state high point number 29. She had flown into Denver, visited Oklahoma's high point, and headed for Kansas the next morning. Her January 2021 trip joined two nearby stops on a list she was working through. Snow threatened to send her home without the second one. She could manage the walk; she was less sure about getting the car there.[1]

Along County Road 3, she followed frozen tire tracks through a landscape she compared to arctic tundra. The absence of traffic let her drive as slowly as she liked. The county road had been plowed, but the private lane beyond the turnoff had not. Deep ruts showed that other vehicles had made it through. She followed them as far as she dared.[1]

Across western Kansas, ancient streams deposited sand, gravel and other debris washed off the Rocky Mountains. That material built the enormous wedge called the Ogallala Formation beneath the High Plains, according to the Kansas Geological Survey. Mount Sunflower sits on it at 4,039 feet above sea level, blending into its surroundings. A visitor arrives thousands of feet above sea level with very little left to climb.[2]

On the ranch, a sunflower made from railroad spikes supplies the landmark that the horizon does not. The Harold family welcomed visitors across their land, and the summit acquired a picnic table and a mailbox holding a guest register. Writing in 2015, Ken Jennings reported that more than a thousand people came each year. He also described an invitation to stop at the ranch house and tell the family about the journey.[3]

Inside the mailbox during Paty's visit, a previous traveler had left a suggestion: bring the owners a beer to thank them for their hospitality. The suggestion asked the next person across the cattle guard to arrive with something for the hosts. On a covered picnic table nearby stood a small lending library. Anyone who had come all this way to cross a place off a list could also pick up a book.[1]

In the January cold, Paty had little reason to linger at the table. She wanted to get back to the car and warm up. She hadn't brought the suggested beer, and doubted it would last long in the freezing weather anyway. She signed the register instead. Then she headed back to the rental car, leaving her name in a mailbox above the rest of Kansas.[1]

Sources

  1. Paty, Outdoor Pilgrim: Mount Sunflower visit
  2. Kansas Geological Survey: Mount Sunflower
  3. Ken Jennings, Conde Nast Traveler: Kansas highest peak

Hero photograph: Fredlyfish4, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped and resized; derivative under the same license. Actual Mount Sunflower monument.