Kansas Hiking for a Japanese Magazine

Yesterday was Veteren's Day and as a government employee I had the day off. What to do with all that time...sleep? read a book? How about guide a day hike on the Elk River Trail for three gentleman from Japan? Great idea!!

For those of you who may not know, my friend Jan and I have a hiking and backpacking guide service called Cottonwood Adventures. Typically, our focus is on getting women involved in backpacking through trips and outdoor education courses. Our reputation has spread(scary thought) and we were recruited by the Coleman Co. to lead three visitors from Japan. The visitors interests included hiking in Kansas, nature, historic Coleman products, and American culture. The visitors, all guys, included a representative/interpreter from Coleman Japan, a Japanese outdoor magazine, and a photographer.

We met at 7 a.m. in Wichita and headed east to Beaumont for breakfast at the historic Beaumont Hotel. The guys ordered a "typical American breakfast" of bacon, egs, hashbrowns and biscuits. They seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere of the small diner in the Hotel.

From the Hotel we continued east and stopped at the scenic rest stop in Greenwood Co. The guys remarked that most Japanese have never seen the horizon line -- they see it on the ocean, but not on land. They were struck with the beauty of the rolling flint hills and the sheer distance visible all around them.

Next stop was at the Conoco at the junction of Hwy 400 and 99 to top off water bottles and then on to the trail. At the trailhead we ran into friends of ours who will be joining us for a Cottonwood Adventures backpacking trip next weekend (small world!)

Throughout the journey along the trail we stopped to talk about Kansas natural history. We found a skeleton of an armadillo - an animal the visitors were not familiar with. Later in the day, we saw one rooting for grubs. This close encounter was a real treat for the guys. We discussed Kansas geology and reveled in the natural limestone outcroppings, tunnels, and cravasses.

Jan and I dropped our packs at our scheduled lunch stop before we all continuted on. The guys really wanted to get down to the lake so we bushwacked down a slope, around some poison ivy, over a bunch of fallen trees before reaching the lake shore. The phototrapher took a number of pictures lakeside.

At about 1 p..m. we truned around and headed back to the creek where all our lunch gear was waiting. Knowing that the guys were interested in Coleman products and Americana we brought two different types of Coleman stoves to prepare the meal on: the Xpert and the F1

We prepared jambalya, corn bread and carrot cake. I brought in two bottles of wine: a red zinfindel and a shiraz. I filtered water from the creek to prepare the meals and we also discussed the specific cooking technique/equipment that we use: the Bakepacker. While we were eating, our friends came by on the trail as they were hiking to their overnight spot. By the time we cleaned up from lunch, the sun was already getting low in the sky (damn winter). The photographer had expressed an interested in visiting the dam and shooting some pictures of the sunset over the lake, so we booked it on the way back to the cars. We stopped momentarily to watch six wild turkeys as they walked through the woods below the ridge we were hiking on.

On the trip home we stopped at Toot's Diner in Howard, KS for hamburgers, curly fries and pie. All in all, it was a great day. The only mishaps were: I hit a squirrel (boo hoo) abd a bird (yikes!), and narrowly missed two deer. (These theings ONLY happen when I'm driving Pat's car). Coleman will be bringing in more international visitrs in in the spring, so Jan and I may get a chance to take our business world-wide once again.

More letters from the trail next weekend!