My obsession with the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve began with a book, William Least Heat-Moon's comprehensive naturalist / historic exploration of Chase County, Kansas, PrairyErth: A Deep Map. Chase County is where the Tallgrass Prairie was eventually established in 1996, just four years after the book was published. It chronicles the author's multi-year experience of walking every foot of the county and reflecting on the cultural and ecological importance of the great American prairie. After my friend and colleague Jeff Clayton introduced me to PrairyErth, I knew that I had to visit the site.
I also knew that to do justice to the experience, I would have to immerse myself in the exploration, so my wife Susan and I spent four days at the Tallgrass Prairie NP, exploring more than thirteen miles of trails at different times of the day. The most magical time to explore is sunset. Not only do the sounds of the prairie come alive—with birds, insects, and the ceaseless southern wind—but also, the terraced Flint Hills reveal their contours in the low-angled light and shadows.
There are so many facts about the Tallgrass Prairie that stand out. It is immense in size, encompassing more than 10,000 acres, and it contains a substantial herd of American bison—more than 100 head, all of them contained in a 1,000-acre enclosure called the Windmill Pasture, surrounded by an electric fence and accessible via three gates that connect to separate pastures.
The highlight of our visit was hiking among the bison, always at a respectable distance, all the while sensing always the animals' presence. From the moment we entered the Windmill Pasture, we knew to be alert to our surroundings. The signs posted on the gates warned us to be vigilant and to give wide berth to the animals.
Fortunately, the bison we needed to be most careful to avoid—three dozen or so cows and calves—were grazing below the ridge where we were hiking more than a mile away. However, there were a dozen or so bulls behind and ahead of us the trail that cuts through the pasture, and even keeping 100 yards away from them, Susan and I got a strong sense of their size and power. We first spotted them by dust clouds in the distance, signs that bulls were wallowing in the dirt, and we also spotted tufts of wool evident on the trail.
Our encounter with the bison came at the end of a half-day hike over high ridges and through bottomlands, and this leg of the hike stretched a mile and a half across the Windmill Pasture. Although we took dozens of photos, the images fail to capture the intensity of the experience or the commanding size of the bulls. Susan, as is typical during such adventures, was hesitant to leave the pasture.
Our hikes through the prairie covered a surprisingly diverse landscape ... but we had to look closely at the ground to see the most striking details. Even though Central Kansas experienced an especially dry summer this year, the wildflowers were in full bloom. There were different species of milkweed but none as commanding as the large Prairie Milkweed variety (Asclepias sullivantii), its large clusters of flowers always covered with bees and butterflies, sometimes with three of more species feeding on a single cluster.
Befitting the low profile of prairie, the trail markers were low to the ground, some of them merely brown painted cinderblocks with nothing more than the trail name stenciled across them.
And running through some sections of the Preserve were remnants of the limestone fences that were built in the 1800s when Anglo settlers established homesteads.
The Tallgrass Prairie NP is bisected by Highway 177, which runs north to south between pastures. Adjacent to the two-lane highway is a Visitor Center and several buildings that were part of Spring Hill Ranch House, a three-story limestone building that reflects the grandeur of the 1880s, the period it was built.
The Tallgrass Prairie NP represents a unique partnership between the Nature Conservancy, which owns the land, and the National Park Service, which is responsible for maintaining the site and providing interpretive support (through historic and cultural programs, tours, and ecological information, all of which is provided by interpretive rangers). Among the several buildings that were once part of the Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch is the Lower Fox Creek School, a classic one-room school that is so iconic that many visitors mistakenly believe they are visiting a reproduction, not an authentic 19th century structure.
I have visited dozens of National Parks across the United States, from the majestic Rocky Mountain NP to the mesmerizing Arches NP to the mysterious Mesa Verde, but there is something special about the Tallgrass Prairie NP. Perhaps it captures the romantic notion of American expansiveness, or maybe reminds visitors of what disappeared with the Plains Indians and the bison, or maybe people sense the value of its fragile ecosystems. Whatever the reasons, it provided me with one of the most profound experiences I have had in traveling across this incredibly diverse country. It also possesses seasonal subtleties that will undoubtedly call me back to explore the prairie in fall, winter, and spring.
