Cowley County Sights
This meadowlark was nice enough to pose for me
While returning from the John Marshall Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, I made several stops. There are a bunch of places that one can go and see different sights in a southeasterly direction from my home. I had noticed another wildlife area just down the road from Tallgrass Preserve. The John Dahl Wildlife Area is a three-quarter of a square mile of Osage Hills prairie. A stream, some small wetlands, some planted crops, and a whole lot of open space. I was amazed. This place alone deserves a few days’ worth of exploration. Just driving to both parking areas in middle of the day I saw a deer and had a meadowlark pose for me.
Cowley Lake waterfall.
Next stop was back in Kansas at the Cowley County Fishing Lake. There is a nice waterfall there and it is a very pretty little lake. With spring in full swing, the redbuds are blooming, and the scenery is gorgeous.
Redbuds in bloom above the waterfall
Up close view of Redbud blossoms
Spring and plants are green again
Trees are putting out new growth
This guy has some interesting markings.
Another shot of the waterfall
Ah…spring!
After leaving the lake I headed for Kaw Wildlife Area. A couple months ago, I went to the south side of Kaw Wildlife Area. This time I was headed for the west side. This is an good sized wildlife area covering over 4300 acres on both sides of the Arkansas River from Arkansas City all the way to the Oklahoma border. Once in Oklahoma the wildlife area continues all the way to the Kaw Lake impoundment. The dam is 31 miles downstream from the border, so this is a large area.
When I saw this log with turtles, there were at least a dozen sitting here. The instant I stopped the truck to get a picture most of them bailed off into the water.
On the east side of this area, it extends several miles up Grouse Creek. There are some gorgeous places down along there. I ended up following the east side of the Arkansas all the way to the bridge that goes to Newkirk and headed on toward home.
Grouse Creek
Grouse Creek
Grouse Creek
A bridge pier from the abandoned Midland Valley Railroad stands in the middle of Grouse Creek.
Grouse Creek
Grouse Creek
Arkansas River
The last stop on this day’s journey was Slate Creek Wetlands. This is one of my favorite places to go since it is just 20 minutes away and offers plenty of opportunity to hike and take pictures. This day I parked up at the top of the hill and hiked down to the small wetland on the west side of Slate Creek.
The prairie is coming to life with lots of small flowers.
So much variety of color and size
That is a tiny flower
Looking back up the path. They mow the paths here, and so the only thing really showing green yet is where the paths are. This seems to be the place where the deer are eating and pooping too.
A caterpillar makes its way along a Locust branch
A small stream of clear water runs down through the bottoms
A small pond at the bottom of the hill
Hey look, there’s my truck!
Along the path
