Meador Manor

May 28, 2012

My third and final day of my brief foray to Kansas City would feature day hikes at Knob Noster and Harry S Truman State Parks southeast of Kansas City, closing the second half of a big loop back to Bartlesville that night. The Hampton Inn breakfast area was again packed so I returned to Denny’s for another Grand Slam and then, as I’d done the day before, headed east on US 50. This time I continued on past Powell Gardens for another 30 miles, turning south at Knob Noster. Noster is Latin for “our” so the town’s name means “our hill” and refers to two knob features in the landscape just northeast of the town, which I did not view. Instead I turned south for the short drive to the state park.

Whiteman AFB

Adjacent to the park on the east is Whiteman Air Force Base. It opened in World War II as Sedalia Army Air Field for glider and paratrooper training, later became Sedalia Air Force Base for the B-47 Stratojet bomber, and was renamed after 2nd Lt. George A. Whiteman of Sedalia, a fighter pilot who perished in the Pearl Harbor attack. The base became home to the fourth Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile wing, with large underground bunkers and launch control centers, for thirty years. It is now the only permanent base for the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, which can strike high-value targets anywhere in the world from this base in central Missouri. The large base also hosts various other air force, army, and navy units. I didn’t see any of the B-2s flying while I was at Knob Noster, but evidently aviation enthusiasts do like to camp at the state park and watch the big flying wings take off and land over at the air base.

Knob Noster Park (click image for slideshow)

Knob Noster State Park

Using a park map as a guide, I parked on the east edge of the park at the south end of the developed area, at the trailhead for the Clearfork Woodland Trail, which is actually a small loop off the larger Hawk Nest Trail. I’d spend this first visit in the park’s northeast quadrant, where the campgrounds and most of the hiking trails are located. The southeast quadrant is a golf course, while the northwest quadrant has a group camp and a newer trail shared with mountain bikes and with denser growth which has not been managed as long as the Clearfork Woodland area. The southwest quadrant has another group camp and an equestrian trail, which was damaged and under repair.

Clearfork Woodland Trail

I immediately saw some prairie roses, which would be the most colorful feature of the landscape in this area. I was on the Hawk Nest Trail, arcing through the woods toward the Clearfork side loop. I shot a full panorama of the area and followed the trail as it bobbed around one of the hollows. A butterfly posed on the trail, showing its wings, and the view across the loop was quite beautiful. Prescribed burns have helped clear out some of the undergrowth, making this a charming area with good circulation on a hot and humid day.

Hawk Nest Trail

Hawk Nest Trail

Soon I was back on the Hawk Nest Trail, heading south. This wider trail led around beautiful tall oak and hickory trees, with denser undergrowth. Sturdy bridges led over creeks, with the tall trees reminding me of some of the more scenic portions of Bartlesville’s Pathfinder Parkway. The trail climbed and curved between the tall trees and sunlight streamed across the undergrowth. The sun filtering through the trees and curving trail made this a perfect woodland hike. The park includes an orienteering courses, and I passed their starting point at a bridge, where I crossed another creek and then popped out of the woodland at the special use area, a huge clearing with a few picnic tables and fire rings as well as more prairie roses.

Discovery Trail

I walked through a picnic area and over to the campground, missing the trailhead for the North Loop at the playground but finding the one for the Discovery Trail on one side of the camp area road. The Discovery Trail is a loop trail off the larger North Loop Trail to the west. The main feature of the smaller Discovery loop is No Name Creek, which runs nears the park’s Visitor Center. The trail runs along the high bank above the creek, climbing to afford a view of the meandering creek below. I found a spot where I could climb down into the creek bed to a fallen tree and strike a pose. I walked up the creek bed a ways, and then returned to the trail and made my way around past the Visitor Center and back around the loop until I intersected the North Loop Trail.

North Loop Trail

North Loop Trail

This trail led through some creek bottomland and then up through some more pretty trees to a clearing and fire line. The park is managed to control some of the second and third growth timber of what was prairie land in presettlement days. I see plenty of prairies in Kansas and Oklahoma, so I don’t at all mind the pretty woodland of tall trees which has developed here. While I liked portions of the North Loop Trail, I preferred the Hawk Nest area.

Lake Buteo

I crossed the park road and walked down past the WPA area and a modern shelter to Lake Buteo. This pretty little eight acre lake was built in 1927 and is quite shallow. It has beaver, muskrat, frogs, snakes, a variety of fish, and even freshwater jellyfish. I suppose there should be hawks about too, since Buteo means hawk in Latin. There is a trail encircling the lake, which crosses the small spillway on stones scavenged from the crumbling walls, made superfluous on this day with no outflow. The old curving stone walls of the spillway had a significant erosion gap.

Lake Buteo

I crossed the earthen dam, enjoying the panorama of the lake, and walked southeast along the lake shore, past a tree with a large distinctive knot and on along the lakeside. I clambered down to sit on a tree which had fallen into the lake and enjoyed a snack lunch there, watching dragonflies darting about the water plants, including large skimmers constantly zooming back and forth.

Leaving my perch, I walked to the marshy southeast end of the lake, which often floods through the action of beavers. One tree had a great gall. I began the trek back along the other side of the lake, seeing my lunch perch across the way. I passed a huge but dead tree and a bridge led across a small inlet back to the dam area, where two butterflies were mating.

I’d walked a total of 6.8 miles on the five trails in the eastern section of the park, and someday shall return to explore Opossum Hollow to the west. And I’ll no doubt revisit the two best trails in the east: Hawk Nest and Lake Buteo.

Tightwad Bank

Tightwad

I wanted to be back home by 10 p.m., which explains why I forsook the long Opossum Hollow Trail to the east and instead drove 50 miles south to Harry S Truman State Park. I leave out the period after the S since Harry’s middle name really was S; that is not an abbreviation. Along the way I had to chuckle at the town of Tightwad, population 69. I was even more delighted when I found there was a Tightwad Bank.

Harry S Truman State Park

Harry S Truman State Park has only two trails, neither of which turned out to amount to much. The Bluff Ridge Trail was rocky and a bit overgrown in places. A tree had two large galls and the trail eventually led along the ridge, with only glimpses of the lake far below. Finally at its far end was an overlook with a panoramic view. On the return loop was another tree festooned with galls.

Harry S Truman Reservoir Overlook

It was in the 90s and with full sun and I was quite heated, but I decided to brave the short nearby Western Wallflower Trail. It led across an open prairie top to another overlook, this time viewing westward across another arm of the lake. I could see the Highway 7 bridge I had passed over to reach the peninsula upon which the park is situated. Powerboats roared by, with a large marina visible across the lake. On the return trek I saw a Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.

Homeward Bound

I ended my third day of summer break zigzagging my way homeward across Missouri, feeling I was in the boonies when I saw a turnoff for either highway Z or highway ZZ. I pulled over to shoot the pavilion in downtown El Dorado Springs and later passed a turnoff for highways N or M, which was coincidentally the name of the Agatha Christie mystery I’d listened to on this trip: N or M? I had a tasty dinner at Cheddar’s in Joplin, and afterward was startled by the rays of sunlight bursting through the clouds near the Baxter Springs exit on I-44. I pulled over to see the setting sun pouring through a donut hole cloud. I admired the way the clouds around me were lit and then headed down the interstate with sunset-banded clouds above. This trip was a great start to my summer break!

Donut Hole Sunset

Click here for a slideshow from these day hikes

< Day 2 of Summer Break 2012: Pirates of Powell Gardens

May 27, 2012

It took a long time to edit all of the photos from my first day of summer vacation and even longer to get them and the video posted via the Overland Park Hampton Inn’s very slow WiFi. So that post did not go up until the next evening, and my post about my Sunday adventures would not go public until noon on Tuesday.

On Sunday I awoke to find the hotel breakfast room packed, so I drove down the road for a Denny’s Grand Slam and then headed east down US 50 to Powell Gardens.

Powell Gardens

Powell Gardens (click image for slideshow)

Back in 1948 Kansas City businessman George E. Powell acquired a 640 acre farm 30 miles southeast of downtown in Johnson County. Soon he was a co-owner of Yellow Transit Freight Lines and after years of enjoying the farm on weekends he donated it to the Boy Scouts in 1969 and they used it as a camp until 1984. Then the Powell Family Foundation teamed up with the University of Missouri’s School of Agriculture to develop the farm into a horticultural facility called the Powell Center. They parted ways in 1988 and Powell Gardens was established as a not-for-profit. It now employs 35 to 70 people through the year, with a new garden area opening every few years.

I arrived at 10:30 a.m., paid the $10 entry fee, and picked up maps at the Visitors Center. It wasn’t long before I was seeing colorful orchids and more as I headed southeast toward the Island Garden. The nearby lake was surrounded by seven small fairy houses and forts for youngsters and the young at heart to enjoy. Various girls dashed into the Light Wings fairy house, a rounded wooden structure reminding me of a hive.

From the shore I could see the wide lowest waterfall of the Island Garden and, up high on the hill to the side, the Meadow Pavilion which, like the visitor center and the later garden chapel, was designed by renowned Arkansas architect Fay Jones. He is well regarded for Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka Springs.

A fellow photographer was down by the shore as well, shooting the nearby Island Garden falls. I’d see many folks with lenses dwarfing mine this day, but I did not see any of them on the long nature trail later that afternoon. It pays to travel light!

Island Garden

The Island Garden

Soon I was crossing the bridge to the Island Garden, with its multilevel waterfalls and pools. The wind was buffeting spray back across the wide arc of the lowest waterfall, and across the lake was what looked like a pink tent: another fairy house.

The island pools have a Monet theme with pink and white water lilies and lotuses to admire. I soon left the Island Garden behind for the Woodland Garden, or what they term the Rock and Waterfall Garden.

Rock and Waterfall Garden

Rock and Waterfall Garden

It was warming up, so I was grateful for the cool shade of the woods with a meandering waterfall stream created with dirtcrete. I found a perfect shady spot near the shore to relax and view the panorama of the Island Garden and Chapel. Nearby was the Star Tetrahedron Fairy House, which now reminded me more of a Land of the Lost pylon than a pink tent. A wind toy was making the most of the stiff variable breeze.

Perennial Garden

Adjacent to the woodland is the Perennial Garden, with its Miss Mary and New Testament Daylilies and Oriental Lilies. There was more color by the trailside, including Arabella Clematis, Asiatic Lilies, and Oakleaf Hydrangeas.

Asiatic Lily

By now I was quite thirsty, so I sidetracked to a restroom building which sported on its exterior a pop machine as well as Coronation Gold Yarrow and Bush Clematis, which required inversion to see into its bell. Beside the trail was a profusion of Sichuan Deutzia, which I approached for a macro shot.

As I re-entered the woodland, I passed a Fairy Outpost, covered in colorful paintings with equally colorful children’s scrawls. Along came Bigleaf Hydrangeas which earned a closeup. A low plant nearby had even larger pink petals, but there was no sign to aid in identification. Also near was a botanist’s creation: Let’s Dance Starlight Reblooming Hydrangea. I rested on a bench in the cool shade, posing for a self-portrait. A fence beside my bench framed one of the tiny waterfalls.

Skeleton Island

The Meadow and a Kiss on Skeleton Island

Then I was out of the woodland and climbing the big hill of the meadow. I ascended to the pavilion, where I used my 20x zoom to spy on what for this boy was the best fort, the Skeleton Island one across the lake. I caught an elderly couple up who were up on the lookout sneaking a kiss.

The Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel

I walked over to the chapel. Like Thorncrown, it has a winding approach through the woods, but this one is situated out into the open with a view of the lake, whereas Thorncrown is thoroughly ensconced in the woods. Fay Jones learned the trick of an more confined entry which then explodes outward from his mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright, although here Fay does this in the outdoors, in contrast to Frank’s use of confined interior home entryways.

I entered through the big doors to an impressive interior quite reminescent of Thorncrown, but with a big view of the lake and sky behind the altar area. The design has a nice diamond motif at the top of its doors and each ceiling support, which struck me as similar to the tetrahedron atop the Star Tetrahedron Fairy House.

Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel

I exited the chapel and walked around to its low pavilion, finding a lower level there with restrooms and a plaque about Marjorie Powell Allen. Back out front was the matching fountain, echoing some of the chapel forms in metal rather than wood.

Skeleton Island Flag

Over to Skeleton Island

I crossed the bridge back over the Island Garden, past the largest living wall in North America, where they leave out the mortar between the sandstone blocks and culture plants which spring through the cracks. Some Prickly Pear Cacti were in bloom, with even more color by the island shore.

I crossed over to tiny Skeleton Island, the wonderful fort created by Convergence Design and Henderson Engineers. There was a fun “treasure map” for the kids. A chain of geese swam by as I approached Shipwreck Cove.

It was only a few steps to the Pirate Fortress, with its fake cannon and ship’s wheel, although they hadn’t solved the problem of keeping the wheel mounted with all of the tugs and turns from the children. I mounted to the lookout, with the skull and crossbones flapping overhead.

Then I crossed back onto the mainland to see the Ice Haus fort and deliberately broke the rule of keeping the cameraman out of the shot when I shot the final fort, Mirror-Mirror, although I was disguised a tad by the distortion, which turned me into a daddy long-legs.

Butterfly Garden

Butterfly Garden

Speaking of long legs, there was a giant Praying Mantis watching over a big splashpad for the kids over by the multilevel Butterfly Garden, with its stairstep falls. Oh, and various butterflies, of course, which deigned to pose amidst the conspicuously colorful flowers.

Heartland Harvest Garden

The 12 acre edible landscape of the harvest garden is the largest in the nation and so new only bare ground appears in my Google Earth satellite shot of that area. I posed in the Apple Court and liked the Vineyard with its Hyssop planted beneath the vines. I trooped onward toward a big barn and silo in the distance. The silo had a spiral staircase leading up to an observation deck. There’s also an elevator, but I eschewed that, of course.

Fun Foods Farm

I took in the panorama of four food gardens laid out in quilt patterns and the farm area. Then I climbed back down the spiral and made my way over to the large working windmill, busy pumping water for two fiberglass animals awaiting climbers.

There was a mint garden with a selection of leaves to sample. I disliked most of them except for the Candy Mint. A giant metal mantis was begging to be climbed, so I obliged it. Thank goodness no one was about, since my first attempt at the self-portrait just looked wrong in so many ways.

A bird looked much better on his branch than I did mounting my metal mantis. Another bird hopped on the ground ahead of me, calling out to warn others of this weird farm prowler. I took that as my cue to quit the farm and hit the trail.

Turtle on the Trail

Byron Shutz Nature Trail – A Day Hike!

It was 90 degrees with full sun, so I was the only one of the dozens of patrons at the gardens who braved the 3.25 mile Byron Shutz Nature Trail. It leads around the rim of the farm acreage, making its way past wetlands, across an old Osage Orange fencerow, over creeks, across remnants of the former prairie, and past a pond built to cool the rock saws at a former quarry. The pond featured lotuses and cattails, and the trail had some coneflowers, but for the most part it lacked the varied color of the manicured gardens. There are bird boxes all along the trail.

A low ridge provided an eastern view across Johnson County and then the trail dived down into some abandoned orchards and pines with cones dating back to the Powell Center days. I was impressed that almost all of the 24 marker signs along the trail were present and intact: few marked nature trails endure so well.

I tried to get a turtle to walk with me along the trail, but he was just too slow to keep up. I popped out at the other end of the trail, between the meadow and the woodlands. I traipsed back across the island to the visitor’s center. There I visited the last garden, the tiny Courtyard Garden at one end. In a rare lapse, this one was a bit neglected even though it has the plaque remembering the Powells.

I’d walked 6.75 miles and was hot and hungry. So I drove back to Overland Park, showered, and headed out for an early dinner at a nearby restaurant, fortifying myself for another late night of editing. The final day of this three-day sojourn would take me southeast of Kansas City to Knob Noster and Harry S Truman State Parks.

Here’s a video I shot at Powell Gardens:

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike

< Day 1 of Summer Break 2012: Starting Summer in the Paris of the Plains

Day 3 of Summer Break 2012: Knob Noster and Truman Parks