Sunset over Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park in Logan County, Kansas.
In part one of our road trip series, we explore a place that combines beautiful landscapes, folk art and a whole lot of personality: central Kansas.
While it may not be first in mind when you think of a road trip destination, the key to a good Kansas adventure is to get off the beaten track and by track, we mean I-70. The straight shot west makes the whole state seem like an endless track of asphalt and billboards, but that’s hardly the case.
Travel by state routes and back roads to get closer to the scenery. By moving at a slightly slower pace, you can better appreciate the changing environment on your journey.
The ATTA Campfire Chat series brings inspiration and vision from dynamic thought leaders whose areas of expertise inform and guide the adventure travel industry. Along with other efforts to regularly engage the global ATTA community in your remote settings, these short virtual interviews hosted by ATTA executives are designed to provide a brief but thoughtful reflection on issues you are facing now that will affect tourism tomorrow.
Adventure Travel Trade Association CEO, Shannon Stowell, hosts Kristine McDivitt Tompkins of Tompkins Conservation for a Campfire Chat about her conservation work, including the extraordinary Ruta de los Parques in Chilean Patagonia.
You will hear her story and the vision behind Tompkins Conservation as they discuss the role tourism plays in conservation. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the critical work that goes into ensuring human and non-human communities can thrive together for years to come and how our adventure travel community ca
A chalky rock face juts 50 feet up from the plains like a rebel sprout. What formed as ocean floor millions of years ago evolved into a prairie anomaly for drive-by Instagrams and road-trip picnics. Just respect the roaming cattle sharing the private property with Monument Rocks (and photobombing your shots).
When it comes to public land, Kansas claims less than any other state. There s barbed wire at every turn, and the land is 98 percent privately owned, says George Frazier, author of
The Last Wild Places of Kansas. But, he adds, rugged pockets are scattered across the state like Easter eggs. Wonder infuses these rare rocky marvels as they contrast with open flatland. Many land trusts and ranchers recognize the value of the formations and welcome the public to sites such as Monument Rocks. See for yourself by venturing slightly off Interstate-70 on your next drive across Kansas.
George Frazier: The University Press of Kansas must be preserved
By George Frazier
In late January, I received an email from my publisher, the University Press of Kansas, that an external consultant will conduct a review of the Press and put forward a recommendation to its trustees about how or if the Press will continue to operate. As a writer and armchair academic (I have a Ph.D. in computer science but work as a software architect rather than professor), this felt like one more 2020 pandemic-year kick in the gut.
Four years ago, the Press published my book “The Last Wild Places of Kansas: Journeys into Hidden Landscapes.” Since then I’ve traveled across the state giving talks about Kansas wild places. At every stop, somebody comes up after my presentation to let me know how my book put down in print what they had felt all their lives about Kansas that it is a place that matters. Books are powerful like that. They can legitimize and validate feelings that are somet