2023-08-22: Mount Sunflower

Mount Sunflower, elevation 4039'. Kansas highpoint, U.S. state highpoints 32/50.

It was the fifth day of my week-long solo Midwest roadtrip. I was somewhere in rural Colorado, where I had been wandering around for most of the day after leaving the Pawnee Buttes earlier that morning, on my way to Mount Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas. 

Western Colorado is incredibly flat and empty, quite like the states to its east, and the vast majority of my drive had been on dusty dirt ranch roads, occasionally broken cattle guards. A brief stint on I-70 made me so thankful for pavement before the GPS once again spit me out on those long, empty dirt roads.

There aren't a lot of roads or people out here, so it's a little bit more difficult to get lost than one might think. Unlike my drive that morning, here my GPS actually directed me well, and every road that it took me to actually existed. I've read that these roads can be nearly impassable during the spring when they turn to mud, so I was glad to be here on a dry day in the summer. Once I crossed the unmarked border into Kansas, signs began appearing for the summit, although they were far less clear and frequent than at Michigan's Mount Arvon.

Old directional signage near the border.

One of the roads to Mount Sunflower. While Kansas is notoriously flat, there are some topographic features as seen in the hills here.

Finding Mount Sunflower wasn't very difficult, and getting to the top wasn't a major challenge, as the 'mountain' is a simple drive-up that doesn't seem notably higher than any of the surrounding plains. Even the 102 degree temperature when I arrived wasn't terribly problematic. The greatest challenge to this peak was the wind. The high plains are known for being extremely windy, and I experienced this first hand on Mount Sunflower. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the wind threatened to rip the mop of hair right off of my head.

The summit of Mount Sunflower is pretty typical of midwest driveup highpoints, which I was getting used to after a few days of dedicated peakbagging out here. The landowners have installed a great iron artwork depicting the peak's name with an appropriate sunflower, along with some information about the family and reminding visitors to watch for cowpies and give cattle the right of way. There's also a register, as usual, and a pavilion to provide shade on not quite so windy days.

Signage and register at the 'summit'.

Wind turbines soak in the powerful gales on the plain.

Unlike several other highpoints, I stayed here for some time. This was partly because I wanted to be out of the car for awhile, but mostly to take in the beauty of the plain. There's something oddly compelling about this region, the open fields, the empty skies, towering thunderheads in the distance and powerful winds sweeping by. The sky quite literally seemed 'big', unencumbered by trees or mountains or buildings. 

With no houses or roads anywhere in sight, it was really wilderness. Not the forests and mountains of the northeast, this was something different. I felt just as alone as I would on any remote mountaintop. It was a very odd feeling, but one that inspired me somehow.

More turbines in the distance. Note the fence in the foreground for a sense of scale.

Cattle near the summit. None were close enough to interfere with my summit activities.

This sense of isolation was broken as a great black pickup truck tore down the road and stopped at the summit. The man inside explained that he owned the cattle at the highpoint (although not the land; he simply leased it for grazing). We talked for a little bit before he went on the check out his cattle and I left for my next goal. I was starting to heat up already in spite of the wind, and I still had quite a bit of driving to do tonight.

One farewell shot of the summit sign and landscape.

That night, I drove farther south and a little west to the city of Guymon, Oklahoma (my first time in the state). For the first time on this trip, I made it to my destination earlier than expected, and was able to relax a little bit that night. I got a hotel room and took a much-needed shower, talked to Audrey and my parents a bit, and prepared for tomorrow's attempt on yet another highpoint.