Rural Kansas "Rocks" Foundation President Harpo was one of the attendees at today's 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography 24 nominees announcement, held at "The Barn" headquarters of the Kansas Sampler Foundation near Inman, Kansas.The list represents sites from across the Sunflower State - including literally all four corners - and certainly go a long way to dispelling the myth that Kansas flat and boring.
The names of the Geography finalists are part of an ongoing series of nine similiar contests encouraging people to express their opinions of what they treasure most about Kansas.
A selection committee chose these 24 finalists from a list of 76 public nominations. The criteria for each finalist was that it has to do with nature and is unique.
People have until midnight February 17, 2010 to vote for their top picks at www.8wonders.org. Paper ballots can be picked up at one of the finalists or by calling 620-585-2374. One e-mail address may be used three times to vote. The public's vote will determine the Top 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography.
Following are the 24 finalists, in alphabetical order:
* Alcove Spring, near Blue Rapids in Marshall County, was chosen because of its historical significance as a stop for Indians, fur traders and emigrants on the Oregon Trail. Visitors can still see the wagon ruts, an intermittent waterfall and a long-flowing spring.
* The Arikaree Breaks of Cheyenne County are known for dramatic steep-sided, rugged canyons and sweeping vistas of short-grass prairie.
* Bartlett Arboretum at Belle Plaine in Sumner County is the oldest arboretum between the Mississippi River and the Rockies, with hundreds of species of native and exotic trees. It features both formal and natural gardens.
* Big Basin Prairie Preserve in Clark County includes a mile-wide sinkhole, a bison herd and St. Jacob's Well, a deep, funnel-shaped spring.
* The Brenham Meteorites, near Haviland in Kiowa County. Scientists estimate a meteor fell over Kiowa County some 20,000 years ago, forming the largest strewn meteorite field in the world and one of three U.S. craters authenticated by the presence of meteorites. As the meteor fell, it broke into pieces. The Brenham meteorites, named for Brenham Township near Haviland, are some of the best known and most sought after in the world because of their crystals, which look like stained glass when cut.
* Cimarron National Grassland in Morton County is known for its early pioneering advancements in conservation. It contains the longest publicly owned section of the historic Santa Fe Trail and the only known outcrop of Jurassic-age rocks, thought to be 150 million years old, in Kansas.
* Coronado Heights near Lindsborg in McPherson County is not only a historic landmark but a natural platform of Dakota Formation sandstone. It features a scenic overlook of the Smoky Hills and Smoky Hill River Valley.
* Cross Timbers State Park, near Toronto in Woodson County, features an ancient forest ecosystem and rugged sandstone-capped hills.
* Elk River Hiking Trail, Montgomery County, is a 15-mile-long national recreation trail on the edge of the Chautauqua Hills region. The trail threads through boulders and up rocky bluffs and has been rated the best hike in the state.
* The Four-State Lookout, at White Cloud in Doniphan County, offers a view of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa from a viewing platform. Views include glacial hills and the Missouri River.
* The Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States, near Lebanon in Smith County, is a small park that represents the center of the 48 contiguous states.
* The Gyp Hills Scenic Drive and Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway, in Barber and Comanche counties, are known for their stunning rust-red buttes and mesa capped by layers of sparkling white gypsum.
* Kaw Point Park in Kansas City, Wyandotte County, is a public park commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition that stopped there in 1804. It features a view of the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers and the Kansas City skyline.
* Konza Prairie, near Manhattan in Riley County, is an internationally recognized research site for tallgrass prairie ecology and has trails for public hiking through the Flint Hills.
* Lake Scott State Park, Scott County, features springs, canyons and bluffs amid the western Kansas prairie. A 100-acre spring-fed lake lies in Ladder Creek Canyon. The park is also known for its craggy canyons, scenic overlooks and historic connections with the El Cuartelejo Pueblo Indian ruins.
* Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, near Canton in McPherson County, is known for its prairie and for being the only place in Kansas where the public buffalo and elk can be viewed in their natural habitat by the public.
* Mined Land Wildlife Area, Cherokee County, was once stripped for lead and zinc mining but has since been reclaimed and now features woodlands, grasslands and lakes.
* Mount Sunflower, Wallace County, has been recognized by the U.S. Geological Survey as the spot with the highest elevation in Kansas — 4,039 feet above sea level. It provides vistas of the high plains and the short-grass prairie.
* Mushroom Rock State Park, Ellsworth County, and Rock City , near Minneapolis in Ottawa County, both showcase rare Dakota Sandstone formations deposited 100 million years ago and since exposed by the forces of erosion.
* Native Stone Scenic Byway, Wabaunsee & Shawnee Counties, features an area known for dry stacked stone fences and stone outcropping among the rolling Flint Hills.
* Pillsbury Crossing, near Manhattan in Riley County, features a flat, stone creek bottom that forms a natural ford and a long, broad waterfall that has been a landmark for generations.
* The Post Rock Scenic Byway of Ellsworth, Lincoln and Russell Counties, is known for dramatic limestone outcroppings along K-232, the rugged Dakota Sandstone bluffs at Lake Wilson, and the long post rock fence rows. It's in the Smoky Hills and anchored by the towns of Wilson and Lucas.
* Schermerhorn Park, near Galena in Cherokee County, represents the small part of the Ozarks that extends into Kansas, including steep bluffs of Mississippian-age limestone, a 2,500-foot-long cave, WPA-era stone terraces, hiking trails and a nature center.
* Fort Hays State University's Sternberg Museum of Natural History, at Hays in Ellis County, features the fossils of Kansas: fossilized remains of giant fishes and marine reptiles. The fossils are some of the best, most scientifically important evidence that Kansas was under water during the last half of the Cretaceous Period, more than 66 million years ago.
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