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| Bulletproof by necessity, though no guns allowed. |
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| A sycamore, the tallest tree species in Kansas. |
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| Downstream. |
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| The old bridge preserved beside the new bridge. |
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| Back toward the bluff. |
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| It rattled as I walked - scary! |
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| Good for another 100 hundred years! |
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| A tiny bit of color caught my eye in the winter landscape. |
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| The most color I found all day. |
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| I thought they were turkeys, but they were buzzards recycling some unfortunate creature. |
I spent the afternoon driving through Wabaunsee, Lyon and Morris counties. I took my camera in case I happened upon something amazing. I started at Echo Cliff. It is a small park beside the Mission Creek, where a sizable bluff makes a picturesque and unusual setting. Unfortunately, all facilities placed in the park are routinely destroyed by teenagers. The current park installments are made of incredibly heavy welded metal. It will surely slow the vandals down, but it will not stop them.
Follow this link for more information about Echo Park - and better photos!
Kansas Sampler.org
I found an intriguing road somewhere south of Echo Cliff and thought I would explore it for new landscapes. A small hand-lettered sign warned there were surveillance cameras in the area. I prefer to not get shot by a militant landowner, though as far as I could tell it was a public road. I backed all the way out to the township road, where I noticed old clothing lying along both sides of the road - no visible blood stains. I came across the vultures soon after. I tried to prevent my imagination from jumping to conclusions...
4 comments:
Echo Cliff Park is one of those small gems in the Flint Hills that I came upon back in 2001 ( http://tallgrasspixels.net/flinthills/echo/echo.htm )and shortly thereafter I got a few emails. One was from a fella that said back in the 70's he and his hippie band use to have weekly practice sessions there, one the reasons being that their "music sounded good". Well, it probably did with the acoustics of the "Echo Cliff". Another fella told me he and his girlfriend spent many times visiting the Cliff. Shortly thereafter I took my best friend down there and she wouldn't use the giant metal rest room because it was full of spiders, so while I enjoyed the swallows flying along the cliff she squatted behind a tree. Ah, the memories of Echo Cliff Park.
Thanks for the memories of Echo Cliff! I was trying to remember the first time I went there. I believe a group of us rode our Harleys there in the late 70's. Over the years, the signs, the tables, and the "restroom" have all been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Everything that is there now is heavy welded steel and concrete - and NO restroom. The most enduring are the oak trees. They just seem to continue to thrive - and the old bridge, of course! By the way, what band practiced there? It wasn't Kansas was it?!
No is wasn't "Kansas" and the fella that told me that is residing in Colorado and I probably won't see him until next Summer. Meanwhile the guy next door to me related that he and his motorcycle buds use to stop off at Echo Cliff and he'd scale the cliff from bottom to top while they drank beer. Course he also admitted to me that they were the rage of the back roads on their cycles from Harveyville to Lake Wabaunsee, of which he admits he's fortunate to still have all his limbs.
I suspect there has been an immeasurable quantity of alcohol consumed at the base of
that ancient bluff of limestone...
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