Kansas and Colorado

After completing the Katy Trail we took a shuttle back to our car. At the western terminus of the Katy Trail one can continue to follow the Lewis and Clark Trail - heading north, or you can pick up the Santa Fe Trail and head south west. There was still a strong NW wind blowing and heading north into colder (and possibly snowy) conditions didn't sit well with my Floridian acclimated body - so we decided to follow the Santa Fe Trail via the back roads. 

As we trundled into Kansas we were expecting flat and were happily met by some rolling hills (see the Stoker's blog, One for the Road). This Flint Hill area is simply gorgeous and we happily spent a couple of days hiking and exploring this area - especially the largest remaining section of the original prairie. It was enjoyable to stop in many of the towns that were stops along the Santa Fe Trail. Each town has done a lot to preserve much of their heritage and often have self-guided walking tours highlighting the local buildings of interest as well as providing the story of the native Americans.  Council Grove KS set the bar pretty high with a restaurant in a house dating from 1840's that serves authentic food from that period. I had the most delicious Indian bread, bison and a corn and bean salad. The restaurant is very popular, but only has two employees, a husband and wife, and so patience is the key. In fact - a lot of patience, we waited for over two hours for our meal.

As you would expect, the eastern portion of CO is high plains and in some respects resembles KS. Most of the towns along the Santa Fe rail line have fallen on hard times and much of the prairie is turned over to cattle ranching. We passed many cattle feed lots that were very harsh on all the senses - sight and smell being the main ones, and may have pushed me over the edge about whether to eat beef. Outside of La Junta CO on our way to Trinidad Co we came across a set of 'erratic' rocks that resisted erosion known as Monument City. These rocks rise 75 feet above the surrounding land and just spectacular.

Trinidad CO is a beautiful old town - one of the major stops for supplies and water along the Santa Fe Trail. In fact, main street is the old Santa Fe wagon trail and the old rail line still runs along the river. Trinidad also has a big mining history and so their was, and continues to be an interesting mix of cultures: Hispanic, Germanic and Italian. We ate dinner in an old church that was renovated and converted into an Italian restaurant. The food was excellent, but the singing staff were the hit of the evening. Each one had his own genre, so we went from opera to Elvis with some R&B in between. It was great. Next stop... New Mexico.