One morning, my 8-yr old son and I set out to nab 10 geocaches on the drive
between Wichita and Manhattan on K-177, and catch a K-State football game. We
were able to do both, but we also created two virtual caches, as well as hid
another cache. What a day! This is the second of the virtuals we created that
morning.
The Flint Hills are a unique topographic and biological environment in
America, nestled in the central part of Kansas. They provide some of the best
cattle-grazing areas in the world. They are particularly interesting in the
fall. There are several kinds of native grasses that seem to grow at slightly
different elevations on the hills. Around September, these grasses start to turn
different colors, and the hills become almost a color-coded topo map. It's
beautiful out here.
With some exceptions, much of the Flint Hills looks almost as it did 125
years ago. Not only on the rolling tallgrass hills, but the autumn Flint Hills
cattle round-up, which was just starting on the weekend we came through. There
were cowboys, horses and dogs all over the hills bringing in cattle like has
been done in these parts for over 12 decades. The biggest difference: the horses
and cowboys come in on trailers. But you would be hard-pressed to look at a
sepia picture of what happened in 1882 and one in 2002, and tell the difference.
Even some of the structures remain the same, like this one-room schoolhouse, The
Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse. I stopped to take some pictures of this and my son
said it would make a good virtual. It does.
This school was built in 1884, made of the limestone that outcrops from the
knoll it sits upon. It still has the bench-type seats inside. If you walk up and
look in the windows, you can almost see the kids from 8 to 18 years old all
sitting, learning the 3 R's as one class. You can feel the heat that the stove
put out, and the chill away from the stove in the winter. And you can imagine
the comfort provided by the "student/faculty lounge" which still sits
out back. The last class held here was in 1930.
This school has fortunately been well-cared for. It's part of the National
Park Trust system now. One family in particular, has taken care to restore and
preserve this link to a century ago. There is a granite plaque honoring this
husband and wife for their efforts to restore the school. To claim credit for
this virtual, email me with
their names.
Please do not post on the cache page. I reserve the right to delete logs
which don't meet the criterion. To receive your certificate, click on the
Certificate link below; the password will be the last name in the answer to the
above question, in lower case.