Flint Hills Adventure Route

[TripLeader]

Part 1 [Foundation]

Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!

-Walt Whitman


The Flint Hills are a region in the eastern half of Kansas. Shale and limestone are often exposed near the surface. Ranching and farming have been taking place there for last 150 years.

Late in the Winter of '24-'25, my friend K. suggested we take our Jeeps out into the Flint Hills during the Spring. I quickly accepted the invitation. We picked a date in early March 2025. We knew routes existed; but we did not know the routes. The research began. We settled on a known route posted by a motorcycle adventure rider. We set the expectation we would deviate as desired. We made note of the potential camping spots.

The departure date came closer. Prepping the Jeep and trailer began. I found the trailer wiring needed replaced. A new harness, some new retaining clips, a couple hours of time had the trailer's taillights back in business. Let there be light.



I took the trailer out for a shakedown run. It had been a few years since I used it for its intended purpose.



I washed the Jeep and trailer. In hindsight, the wash turned out to be for the dust to have a nice clean place to collect.



I packed the trailer with the action packers, but left some room for more action.



Everything was set to go the night before.


Some might say that even the hills in Kansas are flat. You be the judge. Here comes the trip report.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 2 [Stonebridge]

"If I went West, I think I would go to Kansas..."

-Abraham Lincoln


We met up about 8 a.m. on day one. We were somewhere southwest of the state capital of Topeka. There would be three of us in two Jeeps. K. & T. would be in the mango '95 YJ Rio Grande. I'd be in the silver '05 LJ Rubicon.


We headed west. The route we had agreed upon was a route we had found that ran north and south through the state. It started at the Kansas-Nebraska line, near the Kansas town of Marysville. It ran down to Elgin, at the Kansas-Oklahoma line; prime flyover country. We had bought Kansas gazetteers. We plotted the route and wrote in places of interest on the pages.



We were headed toward the town of Alma. We had determined to start there and the head south on the FHAR.



We just had one place to visit before Alma. A place called Stonebridge. Sites like it were half of what the trip was about.












Construction began in 1862 and took three years to complete. Life was different back then.






It was restored in 2005.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 3 [To Alma]

“There was only the enormous, empty prairie, with grasses blowing in waves of light and shadow across it, and the great blue sky above it, and birds flying up from it and singing with joy because the sun was rising. And on the whole enormous prairie there was no sign that any other human being had ever been there.”

-Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie


We followed the dirt roads west to Alma.















We made a stop for coffee at a gas station full of locals beginning their weekend errands. The trip could now begin in ernest.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 4 [Southbound]

"The four horsemen of the prairie are tornado, locust, drought, and fire, and the greatest of these is fire, a rider with two faces because for everything taken, it makes a return in equal measure."

-William Least Heat-Moon


This was now the FHAR proper.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 5 [Chalk]

"In Kansas, dreams do not give compound interest."

-Marcet Haldeman-Julius, letter, August 12, 1930


We stopped at the old site of Chalk.



Time has been standing idle here for decades.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 6 [Continuing On]

Back to the dirt roads.









We stopped for the wild horses.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 7 [Allegawaho]

Ladies, gentlemen, friends: Hear me while I speak for my people, the living and the dead of the Kanza or Kaw Nation. I am glad to be here with you at this celebration. We come back to the old reservation where the tribe lived many years. We dedicate this fine monument as the resting place of the remains of the Unknown Indian. It will be a permanent memorial to our tribe, of which he was a brave warrior.

From this monument hill, I look down, and across the rich Neosho Valley I see the old homes of my ancestors. Where have they gone? I see the bluffs, ravines, and streams where they hunted and fished. Many of them lived and died here long ago. Only a few are living who once called this their home. The others have gone over that long trail of the stars to the Happy Hunting Grounds beyond. A few of the young members of the tribe come to this celebration.

You welcome us with signs and gifts of friendship. It warms our hearts. When we return to our Oklahoma reservation, we will tell of your great kindness. We will not forget.

In old days, it was necessary to have a head chief. I am proud to say that my grandfather Allegawaho was Head Chief when the tribe was moved from here in 1873 to its new reservation in Oklahoma. It is my duty to speak these words of thanks for my people. On behalf of the Kaw Nation, living and dead, I now thank Mr. Frank Haucke and the many Council Grove friends for building this fine monument in memory of my people who once lived in this beautiful place. Let it be a pledge of peace and friendship as long as the grass grows and the water runs along the Neosho Valley. The Great Spirit will reward your kindness. This is my prayer and the prayer of my people. We thank you.

I have spoken.

-Pete Taylor, Monument Dedication Speech, 1925


Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park marks the last inhabited village of the Kanza Tribe before their forced removal.



The monument at the top of the hill is a 35 foot tower for the Unknown Kanza Warrior. The nearby residents had it constructed in 1925 after erosion along a nearby streambank exposed the remains of a Native American, who was then buried under the monument.

 

[@just_rich_young]

I'm enjoying your trip report.
I drove it south to north until I got just north of Alma when a combination a deer and an unexpected curve ended my trip.