Beautiful Kansas: Wilson Lake

When the first Europeans settled the treeless Kansas prairie, they had to be ingenious in order to overcome the lack of wood. They built cabins out of the soil by digging up bricks of dirt bound together by plant roots. They collected dried bison manure (buffalo chips) to make fires. But what about when it came time to fence in their livestock?

The settlers discovered that the local limestone was fairly soft to cut, but became much harder when exposed to the air. They set about cutting logs of stone to use as fenceposts, giving this area its nickname, Post Rock Country.

Post Rock Country is now home to a massive reservoir with the clearest waters in the state, Wilson Lake.

The lakeshore hills are thick with cedar trees, crowned with windmills and filled to bursting with deer, antelope, hawks, songbirds, waterfowl and sunflowers.

Wilson Lake and its surroundings look like a bit of Utah transplanted to the plains.

For instance, these stone columns (the remnants of a stone arch) can only be reached on foot or by boat.

It feels remote and primitive, a feeling made more profound because on all of my visits so far I have been alone on the 3-mile trail the entire time.

Mother Nature works very hard to create a masterpiece out of nearly every Kansas sunset...

...and this one was no exception!