You Aren't Even Goin' To Believe This

May 4, 2025

Historic Lake Scott State Park, Kansas

Today I finally made it to the place I hoped would be the highlight of my tour. All the Kansas scenery I've seen so far has been great, but I had a feelin' what I had in store for the next two days would be the thing that, if I do a good job describin' it, sparks a major bike tourist migration to Kansas. All I can say for sure is that this first day might have been my best bike trippin' day ever. Believe it or not!

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the first 10 miles out of Scott City because it was basically more of what you and I have seen all week. Then things started changing.

"Dude, you are in for some even better scenery ahead," said this friendly cow.

"G-2 is right," agreed these young cows.

I turned onto the highway that led to the state park. It didn't have the big shoulder typical of Kansas, but it didn't need a big shoulder because it had very little traffic. I could already see this was going to be my kind of place.

I saw a sign for the historic Bellweather Barn, so I decided to check it out. It was nice, I guess. Now it's a wedding venue or something like that.

The next sign pointed me to a historic battlefield. The Punished Woman Fork battle site was the scene of the last Indian-U.S. Cavalry skirmish in Kansas. As usual, it didn't end well for the Cheyenne Indians.

I've been to other Great Plains battlefields before, but this one was easily my favorite. Surely, that's due to the rustic gravel road that leads to the entrance, and the rustic-er gravel road that leads deeper into the site.

The ridge on the right is known as the Devil's Backbone.

Get ready for a ton of photos from that site. It was fantastic. All by itself, it probably induced me to post more pictures on one journal page than I've ever posted before.

The thing I can't believe is that I was the only person there for the two hours I spent hikin', picture-takin', meditatin', and enjoyin'. It was a solemn place too. How could it not be when people died there.

I learned a lot from this monument at the top of the hill.

The Cheyenne women and children hid in that cave while the battle took place. So sad. Then they escaped by climbing up the ravine behind.

There were hiking trails for me to stretch my legs on. They were most enjoyable. I truly like hiking while on bike trips. I'm not sure G-2 has the same appreciation for hiking. He always seems to get himself in trouble.

Here are the next sequence of photos showing what I saw on my hike.

Unfortunately, no camping is allowed on this historic site. I have no doubt I could have found a hidden place to camp, but somehow that seemed disrespectful.

So, I headed back down the rugged road, which led to the gravel road, which led to the paved road into the state park. That's right, everything I experienced so far wasn't even in Lake Scott State Park yet. I worried the state park might be anti-climactic after the Punished Woman Fork Battlefield site. I shouldn't have worried.

ME and Son of Bing Bong and G-2. We're a team.

I wasn't lying when I wrote this on the register.

I'm not sure, but I think the animals down there aren't cows. They look like bison from this distance. Bison are very similar to cows though, so I could be wrong.

I could live in the house up there. I don't think I could convince The Feeshko to move in with me though.

It was an almost perfect day. (Didn't Lou Reed say that once?) The wind helped me get to where I was going. The scenery was the grasslands and rock formations I love so much. The warm sunshine and 75-degree temperature at my campsite were sublime. What more could a humble bike tourist like me ask for?

Today's ride: 21 miles (34 km)
Total: 266 miles (428 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0