I am out on the Flint Hills Trail that goes westward in Kansas from Osawatomie to Herrington. Well, that is the ultimate goal but for now the completed trail ends at Council Grove, Kansas. This is part of the Rails-to-Trails efforts of the Conservancy by the same name.
Tall Grass Prairie once extended from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Iowa, Illinois, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. It covered 170 million acres! Today, only 4% remains and I am walking through the longest contiguous area of remaining. This is the 117-miles of Kansas’ Flint Hills Trail. So many things make this area “one-of-a-kind.”
The eco-system of tall grass prairie offers home to plants, flowers, and wildlife unique to this area. Its geology is remarkable. The Flint Hills were formed by layers of limestone and shale. The limestone contained large deposit of hard, dense flint. Native people used the flint to make tools and weapons.
A process called “differential erosion” formed the rolling hills. The limestone, with the flint concentrations, withstood the erosion of the rain and snows throughout the region, while the softer shale washed away. The tall grass grew in the thins soil layers that covered the hills. The same flint that protected the limestone from erosion, made plow farming difficult. So, cattle graze on the same land that once fed innumerable bison buffalo. These trails have tells to tell.
I am walking through the communities that grew up through the westward expansion of America. Each community has its own heritage. Its own history. Its own tells to tell.
Osawatomie and Rantoul find their origins in the righteous cause, even if debatably fanatical pursuit of the abolitionist movement of the nineteenth century. John Brown had moved to Osawatomie from New York to stoke the flames of ire against the immoral and inhumane practice of slavery. His eccentric methods contributed to a violent fracture of our republic. Osawatomie proclaims itself to be the “Cradle of the Civil War.” The first casualties of the conflict between free-state advocates and “pro-slave proponents” were recorded just outside of Osawatomie.
Likewise, Rantoul, a small community of less than 200 residents, was named after Massachusetts Senator Robert Rantoul. He was another active abolitionist who was committed to end the morally despicable institution of slavery. Much of “Bleeding Kansas” history can be found here. The trail have tells to tell.
My spirit is stirred, disoriented, and troubled as I hike on this trail. I hadn’t expected this experience. I try to hike is a rhythm of simply looking to see and hear what is on the trail as I walk. Then I pause to reflect on what I have seen and heard. Drink it in. Listen to the lessons the trail may teach me. Be a good student and try to learn. Next, I respond to what is being stirred inside me. I guess that’s what I am doing now – responding to the tells the trail has told. I am glad you are here to give me company. These are hard lessons. I want to stare these things in the face. The disgrace of man’s inhumanity to man through a cultural practice that became a cultural norm, then embraced as a societal “Right”, and then carried into the very fabric of society as a cultural institution. Slavery was, and is, a debased practice.
Whenever any immoral practice is accepted and woven into the fabric of a society that the abhorrent becomes viewed as a fundamental right, then we are injured. We are less than we should be. I am thankful that the “institution” of slavery was abolished in America. I need to look it in the face and see it abhorrence. I can’t afford to hide from it, try to erase its memory, or paint it with some rose-colored brush that diminishes its ugliness.
These are the tells this trail have to tell.
I move on to Ottawa. Here is a wonderful community. Large in contrast to other towns along the trail. More than 12,000 people live here. Ottawa has its own haunted past. It was built on land bought from the Ottawa Reservation, that’s how it got its name. The Ottawa People were relocating to Oklahoma and in 1864 the settlers purchased the land from the Native People. One of the many beautiful stories of Ottawa is its university. Ottawa University began as a caring work among the tribe children. Its genuine compassion was appreciated, and the tribe endowed the school with 20,000 acres of land.
Ottawa continues to wrestle with Nature as the Marias des Cygnes River flows alongside Ottawa. Flooding is always a challenge. Perhaps it reflects the wrestling between my own soul and this trail that I’m walking. What lays ahead? I don’t know. I didn’t expect the stirring that I felt here thus far.
Still, there are more wonderful communities ahead. I look forward to walking through Pomona, Vassar, Osage City, Miller, Admire, Allen, and Council Grove. The 97-miles of completed trail transit this beautiful prairie. I look forward to one day hiking from Council Grove through Wilsey to Herrington, the final 21 miles that will complete this 117-mile Flint Hills Trail.
I look forward to listening to the tells these trails have to tell. I want to share them with you. Until then, let’s go walking together!
*This is the transcript of what I shared in this week’s Podcast. You can hear it on any major Podcast Host (like Apple Podcast or Spotify). Look for Wandering Monk Hikes Podcast. This episode is entitled “These Trails have Tells to Tell.” Thanks for joining me!