We are now in Kansas heading south back to Texas. We stopped over for a couple of days in the area of Oakley, Kansas. This in an area of what they call high plains, mostly big farms and oil fields with very few trees. It is very windy here. Not a lot to see here but there is a National Natural Landscape in the area. It is called Monument Rocks but is also known as the Chalk Pyramids. It is not a national park so there are no facilities or services at the site. It is actually on private range land but it is open to the public if you can find it and don’t mind driving down a long dirt road through some oil fields. We decided to go out and view the formations and it was pretty sunny day in the seventies. However when we got there you would have thought it was in the forties because of the very strong wind, it was blowing so hard it was pushing our shirts up and making it hard to walk around.
The formations are about 70 feet tall and are made up of Niobrara Chalk and were supposed to have been created millions of years ago when this area was part of an inland sea. It is an interesting location to visit if you are in the area but I would not make a long drive here just to see these formations. If in to western/cowboy things there are lots of stuff to see in this area of Kansas.
On the drive there we did see Mule Deer and on the way back we saw a couple of birds that had captured snakes for their dinner. We did mange to get a few pictures of the birds with their dinner.
Hawk carrying a snake and part of a tumble weed
Hawk carrying a snake
Hawk carrying a snake
Starling Nest
Starling Nest