Riley County Exploring

On Saturday, August 8, I made a trip around Riley County for my "Dare to do Dirt" quest.


I started by heading north on Deep Creek Rd from I-70, exit 316. This is scenic drive with views of hills all around. I passed the Deep Creek Schoolhouse, then turned east and stopped at Pillsbury Crossing. At this site, Deep Creek drops 5 feet over the underlying rock to form a waterfall about 60 feet across. I took some photos from downstream and some from the side. For an excellent description and photos of this site, see Keith Stokes page at this link:



http://www.kansastravel.org/pillsburycrossing.htm.org/pillsburycrossing.htm





After exploring around the Zeandale area for a bit, I headed west to the south edge of Manhattan, then southwest on McDowell Creek Road to the Konza Prairie. Even though it was about 95 degrees, I did walk the 3 mile nature trail and was rewarded with views of wildflowers, bluestem and many other tallgrass prairie vegetation, as well as spectacular views. For more information about the Konza Prairie see the following link:


http://kpbs.konza.ksu.edu/konzatrails.html


I went to Junction City for a late lunch at Stacy's Restaurant. I've always had good home cooked meals here, this time a good hamburger steak with great grilled onions.




I left Junction City and headed back north into western Riley County. I first stopped at the Bala stone bridge to check out this great spot. I had the place to myself. After leaving Bala, I headed north to check out the historic ghost town of Lasita, then back east towards Randolph. Finally, I headed west along Fancy Creek Rd for some great views in this valley, before heading over into Clay County and heading for home.



During the day, I also found 3 historic pony truss bridges in Riley County. There are a couple of areas in the northern part of the county I still wish to explore at a later date.





For my photo gallery of Riley County, use the following link:


http://ke2013.smugmug.com/gallery/9209071_U2yV6#614866859_snyJN