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Photo illustration by jerry wang Road trip: Take a ride with friends and enjoy the attractions throughout the Kansas countryside.
DAY TRIPPER
DISCOVERING THE BEAUTY AND ODDITIES OF RURAL KANSAS
// JENNIFER DIDONATO
I could only laugh. My car had died and now sleet and lightning had decided to show up during our hour-and-a-half wait for the tow truck. It was the perfect end to our strange and beautiful escapade through rural central Kansas.
THE DRIVE
Curious to see what Kansas had to offer poor, time-deprived college students, a few friends and I headed west on I-70. The land gradually morphed from flat plains to grasscovered buttes and rocky outcroppings as we entered the Smoky Hills region near Salina.
Campfire fragrance greeted us as wispy smoke clouds rose from behind the hills. Rounding a bend, we saw patches of what was once flaxen prairie grass, now blackened and smoldering. The Smoky Hills were literally
smoking and not far from the first destination on our trip.
A discrepancy in GoogleMap's directions — nearly two miles of roads missing — added an extra hour to our drive. I soon found myself on a couple doorsteps in the middle of nowhere. One kind man gave me directions:
"Go down this road here, take the dirt road to your left, then take a right on the other dirt road..."
After more failed attempts, I pulled up to a newly built log cabin. The owner gave me more instructions containing references to ambiguous dirt roads.
ROCK CITY
"You know what?" he stopped himself. "It'd just be easier if I took you there." We followed him in his red pickup truck to the site, only a few miles away. He pulled off to the side of the road and returned my wave of thanks as we pulled into Rock City.
Kansas used to be covered by an ocean, says Dan Suchy, a geologist at Kansas Geological Survey in Lawrence. During that time, calcium carbonate minerals precipitated around small shell fragments. Over time, the calcium carbonate continued to grow outward in a hard, spherical formation known as a concretion.
Eventually, the ocean dried up and softer materials surrounding the concretions eroded away, leaving giant spherical boulders standing on the land.
Rock City, a privately owned park, looks like the unearthly terrain of another planet you'd see in a 1950s sci-fi flick. It is a field, roughly the size of two football fields, containing about 200 concretions, some rising two stories high, some only half-domes protruding from the
ground.
Garrett Johnson, Fredonia senior, visited Rock City with some friends a few years ago on a road trip and marveled at the unusual landscape. "It seemed a bit alien," Johnson says. "I pictured myself walking through a Lord of the Rings movie or maybe Chronicles of Narnia."
Some people have left more than just footprints. Kirn says the site was once a common meeting place among pioneers and Native Americans. Visitors can see names scratched into the rocks, which date back to the 1800s.
The park also contains picnicking areas. Janel Kirn, president of Rock City, Inc., says that visitors are invited to walk around, climb up and even picnic on the rocks. "We ask that people take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints," she saws.
In 1920, the park was nearly destroyed when Highway 18 was being built. Kirn says the builders thought the best source of highway material would be the concretions — crunched up. But people in Ottawa County put a stop to that idea. Kirn says Rock City now brings an estimated 5,000 paying visitors annually from May 1 through September 1, charging a fee of only $3 in season, and nothing off-season. We came during the off-season, so we got our climb-time in for free.
MUSHROOM ROCK
It was a windy day, so we ate lunch in the car, driving an hour south on Highway 81 to another unique concretion grouping outside of Marquette, Kan.
A tiny, five-acre park, Mushroom Rock State Park contains only a handful of concretions, a few small trails that wind around them, and a primitive bathhouse.
These nearly 25-feet-tall concretions are less spherical and more disc-like than Rock City's. Rather than standing on the ground, they perch atop softer sandstone bases, or pedestals, giving them their mushroom shape.
"At Mushroom Rock, the material was eroded from the top down," Dan Suchy, the geologist, says. "The concretion protected the sandstone underneath from weathering, so it stayed longer than the surrounding materials. It's just a remnant of what was once encasing that concretion."
Carvings cover the sandstone pedestals of Mushroom Rock and Pulpit Rock Formations, reminiscent of hieroglyph-littered obelisks. While older carvings like the ones at Rock City seem historic and charming, at Mushroom
He's bigger than last year, and a year of studying the position will be a huge positive for the Kansas secondary. The running game could be great this year. Sophomore James Sims led the team with 742 rushing yards last year as a freshman. With freshman standout Darrian Miller, as well as the lightning-quick redshirt freshman Brandon Bourbon, it's safe to say the running game will excite fans in the fall.
FEWER MENTAL MISTAKES BY PLAYERS AND COACHES
"I don't know if it's 100 percent different, but its definitely a difference because I understand where our team is at," Gill said. "Last year I really had no idea until we got to some football games, and then you're on the run trying to make those adjustments."
Those adjustments are being made in the off-season now, not in the fall when the games count.
“It’s a lot more comforting out there,” Webb said. “You know what the defense is doing, and obviously you’re a lot more comfortable with the offense.”
EXPECT JORDAN WEBB TO START AT QUARTERBACK
There were times last year when players weren't getting the right play call from the coaches before the snap. These things tend to happen under a new coaching staff. Coach Turner Gill has said he focused on getting his players mentally tougher, repeating that sentiment more than once during spring practices. Things are getting easier in year two, though.
Sophomore Jordan Webb started in seven games in 2010 and threw for 1,195 yards, second most all-time for a KU freshman. An injury in the team's week seven loss to Texas A&M sidelined him for three games, but he returned to start in the season finale against Missouri. Coach Gill said that while Webb and senior Quinn Mecham are both more poised this year, Webb has the small edge at this point.
It's still early, obviously, and anything can change between now and August, but Webb looks to be the favorite to start in week one.
- Edited by Erin Wilbert
State, Bunting finally made her way to Kansas to see the Jayhawk team firsthand.
"The coaches were great, the team was great, and I just felt like this is where God wanted me to come."
"The upperclassmen just encouraged the freshmen to just be a part of the team." As Bunting's time at Kansas went on, her leadership qualities began to mature and flourish. She was becom-
ness of Bunting's leadership, and on April 5, 2011,
Bunting received the University of Kansas' 2011
SEE SWIMMER ON PAGE 8A
SOFTBALL
BY HANNAH WISE
Jayhawks earn first conference win of season
Brad Tollefson/LA VENTANA YEARBOOK Kansas outfieldier Liz Kocon is met at home plate by her teammates after she hit a home run in the sixth inning during the 9-5 win against Texas Tech Wednesday in backyard Trauma.
hwise@kansan.com
On the night, four different Jayhawks tallied two hits apiece. The offense also tallied four home runs from senior Brittany Hile, juniors Marissa Ingle and Liz Kocon and sophomore Mariah Montgomery
Kansas earned its first conference victory of the season with a comeback in the sixth inning against Texas Tech in the first game of the night. The offense rallied against a three-run deficit to score seven runs off five hits, winning 9-5.
Irad Tollefson/LA VENTANA YEARBOOK
"It was a shot," coach Megan Smith. "It was a sign that we weren't dying, that we are going to fight. I think it kind of put a boost of confidence in our team."
Montgomery's homer put the Jayhawks on the board in the second inning and was immediately followed by Ingle's. The runs set the score at 4-2 in the Red Raider's favor.
In the sixth inning, freshman Laura Vickers hit a double to center field to plate two runners. Sophomore Alex Jones' slap hit then brought Vickers home after she had advanced to third off a single from freshman Ashley Newman. Sophomore Maggie Hull hit a pop fly to give Newman the opportunity to score, setting the score in Jayhawks' favor at 6-4.
Hile then hit a two-run home run followed by a home run from Kocon.
"Somebody got the spark on
them and we just kept rolling with it," Kocon said.
The defense was also strong against the Red Raiders, especially considering that Texas Tech's offense is leading the Big 12.
"Julie Jenkins had an unbelievable catch in center field. We moved Alex Jones to pitch and we put Julie in centerfield and she robbed someone, Smith said.
I really think that boosted our team."
Jones pitched the final three innings of the first game, allowing only one hit.
The nightcap was a complete reversal of the first contest. The Jayhawks were run-ruled 10-0 in five innings. Texas Tech pitcher Brittany Talley essentially shut down the offense, throwing four strikeouts and allowing only two
"We just never got in a groove," Smith said. "Kristin Martinez threw really well, but we had a bad play that cost us runs. We just never could recover and never could get clicked."
The Red Raiders recorded 11 hits in the contest. They scored all ten of their runs in the second, third and fourth innings.
hits.
Despite the loss, the team is
4
happy with the victory. "We got some breaks and hit the ball and we are really excited about it," Smith said.
The Jayhawks are now 1-11 in conference play and 28-15 overall. They will play a home weekend series against No.15/16 Baylor Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
—Edited by Jacque Weber