I’m not sure you can take a direct path to Greensburg. I can’t seem to. I always plan to get there nearer the May 4th Anniversary or earlier in the day when I finally do get headed that way.

Lately, I try to time my yearly pilgrimage with a visit to my friend Dennis Hodges at Elm Mills, his family’s summer cabin south of Pratt. Dennis is an ex-pat, living most of the year in Budapest, Hungary. So far, it’s been easier to get to Western Kansas than it has to Central Europe.

After our visit last year, I set out for Greensburg toward the south on blacktop along the Oklahoma border through the Gypsum Hills. In my mind, I’m thinking that the boring state highway to the north and “the scenic route” that I was on, were likely equidistant. Wrong. Much longer and to my dismay and I was already running late. So instead of accepting that I’d be there when I get there, I tensed up and stressed out and missed the whole experience.

This year, it was to be different. I left myself more time (in my head) and knew that it was a longer route. I even assumed that I could run a few minutes late. Besides, they’re friends now.

So, getting a little later start and taking a little longer to say my goodbyes, I stopped a couple of time to shoot some pictures and marvel at the clear cloudless day as a backdrop for the rising red hills, mesas and buttes. Hmmm, they’re not as striking as the southwest U.S., but they have a unique beauty and the blacktop is blissfully without traffic. So after a bit of meandering, I realize I’m still going to be late. Again.

Please plan to spend a little more time exploring The Gypsum Hills (also known as the Gyp Hills) in Central Kansas, just north of the Oklahoma border. The area has many red cedar trees and the ground contains iron oxide or rust, hence one of the area’s other names, the Red Hills.  Kansas Travel

The area was Medicine Hills to the Native Americans, and the stream that passes through the area and near the community of Medicine Lodge is the Medicine River. But wait, the area has also been called Cimarron Breaks.

Much of the most interesting scenery in along dirt roads on the open range. I didn’t take the time to leave the paved highways, and still enjoyed the drive along US Highway 160 between Coldwater and Medicine Lodge, and south along US Highway 281. The state of Kansas has designate the 42 mile route, from Coldwater to Medicine Lodge, the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway.

The area has interesting geology, with sink holes, over 100 caves that have formed in the gypsum, and several collapsed natural bridges. An ancient sea carved the mesas and ravines in this ranch country 65 million years ago. The landmark Twin Peaks, nearly identical cone-shaped buttes, tower on the horizon.

Yuccas, prickly pear cactus and evening primroses dot the countryside in May and June. Spring-fed ponds pop up in grassy valleys that end abruptly where the red earth pushes skyward into craggy, red monoliths. For a closer look at the land, rent a mountain bike or ride a horse on miles of backcountry trails. Midwest Living Magazine

In the 1870s, young “Bat” Masterson and Wyatt Earp were among those who came to hunt the great bison herds of the Gypsum Hills. Other famous figures of history also left their mark on the region. Temperance leader Carry Nation lived in Medicine Lodge. She began her crusade in Barber County when she smashed a saloon in Kiowa. Visit her home and the Stockade Museum, replica of the original stockade in Medicine Lodge during the Indian Wars.

From the late 1870s to 1885, the Comanche Cattle Pool covered the Gypsum Hills. Fifteen cattlemen “pooled” their holdings into a herd of 80,000 head. It was the largest cattle operation in frontier Kansas with pool cowboys working some two million acres of land. Kansas Byways

As you travel westward, stop at the two overlooks to get better views of the impressive red hills in all of their unusual formations. Take an extra hour to “dare to do dirt” and take the scenic gravel drive south of the byway to immerse yourself in the lush cedar-trimmed red hills. Or plan an extra day or two to go on a trail ride. Gypsum Hills Trail Rides

Tags: Budapest, Elm Mills, Greensburg, Gypsum Hills, Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway, Hungary, May 4th Anniversary, Medicine Lodge, Oklahoma