I finally went on my first real adventure since moving to Kansas (aside from the adventure of the move itself!) I decided to go for a bike ride over to Clinton Lake, which we had driven past several times before and I figured it would be a neat place to check out on such a beautiful day (it was about 74 and sunny). There are lots of multi-use paths in Lawrence that you can use for biking, walking, rollerblading, etc. One thing I did not count on for this trip, however, were the Hills of eastern Kansas. They are MONSTER hills. I biked up a long one heading west, and was excited when I got to the top to find there was a big down hill ahead. It was so steep and long, it was like I was on a roller coaster! There was a sign I had never seen before either, telling me to be careful on my bike. But about halfway down the hill, I realized it ended in a short valley, and the other side was another monstrous hill! Since it was early in my ride, this hill wasn't too bad. Below is a photo looking back from the top of the second hill. Hopefully the image is large enough that you get a notion of just how long and steep that downwards hill was!
After a few more hills, I finally made it to the State Park. I just sort of biked there on a whim, not checking the map before I left so I didn't know how far it was. The park road was nice and smooth, but as soon as I got about 1/4 mile in there was a bend in the road, and a huge downward slope. As you can imagine, at the bottom of this slope was another killer hill. This was way worse than all the other hills I had yet faced. For those of you familiar with Madison, it was like the Old Sauk Road hill times 2. The top was so steep that I had to get off and walk my bike up, and even then it was hard work!
After that hill, however, I reached the park gates. One of the sign directories told me there was a beach (as well as camping, picnic areas, etc.) and I headed in that direction. After spending most of my life just steps from a large body of water, I was excited to find a beach again. I went up and down a few more big hills, and passed a few turn offs, but none of them told me the beach was that direction. I decided to turn off at the camping area, supposing that it must be near the water. I biked through the camping area, and reached a red fence and stairway that looked promising...
After a quick hike down the hill, I could see the lake!
But it wasn't the beach. The ground here is covered in flat rocks of varying sizes, and despite the water being clearer than Buffalo Lake, it didn't look like a place someone would go swimming.
I decided to follow the coastline, surmising that the beach had to be just around that next bend. The ground along the water was pretty uneven, so I needed to watch my step. Along the way, there were huge patches of these great big flowers that look like a cousin of sunflowers and black-eyed Susans.
I frightened a flock of birds nearby, and they made a large ruckus as I walked on.
Close to water's edge were flocks of these tiny gray and purple butterflies
By this point, I had rounded the curve so many times (it just kept going!) that I figured the beach HAD to be around this final one, because I could see that the land was about to turn out towards the water again and I didn't see a beach along there. But as I rounded the bend, this is what I saw...
I kept walking, disappointed that there was no beach (only a big rotted tree) when I spotted this fella!
A deer!!! I spent all summer living in the middle of nowhere, hoping to photograph a deer and having very few sightings with a camera, and here I am on my first adventure in Kansas and I spot one!
But wait a minute...there's another one! A momma and her baby!
Hold the phone! There's a third!
Not done yet! Another little Bambi!
I couldn't believe my luck! A little deer family! But upon closer inspection, it looked like two moms and their babies. Lesbian deer! Can you believe it! (Haha...)
Here are a couple oddities from my hike. There was a rock with a hole in it stuck onto a rotted tree branch, and a bunch of these yellow things scattered around in the woods. I'm assuming they are some kind of fruit or nut, but couldn't find a tree source.
The following photos I took on my hike back. It was relatively uneventful as I made my way through a different path in the woods. It followed the coastline and was very rocky (as you'll see below), very unlike the hikes I took over the summer. All-in-all, it was a good adventure, despite never finding the beach. I ended up drinking all of my water and calling for Travis to come pick me up (those hills! I couldn't do it again!)
