Skyline-Millcreek Scenic Drive

Location:  The forty mile drive may be started from either I-70 exit # 335 about 20 miles West of Topeka, or from downtown Alta Vista.

Nearest Towns:  Topeka, Alta Vista, Alma, Paxico, Dover

Fee:  None

All photos copyright H. J. Schuster, 2000.  Please ask permission before use.

Exiting from the fast-paced and crowded I-70, the Skyline-Millcreek Drive is definitely a road less traveled by.  But the extra hour or two spent on this country road as it threads it's way through the Flint Hills is a journey inward as much as it is a journey onward.

The weary travelers back on I-70 will eventually reach their destinations and report confidently--and erroneously--"There's nothing to see in Kansas...  It's flat as a table top!".  Of course, this "Flat Earth" mentality is inaccurate, but it's the easiest conclusion to reach.  It's far easier to stay on the Interstate Highway--it's very route chosen to avoid hills--than it is to turn down the winding country road.

At it's East end, the road quickly climbs the bony spine of the Flint Hills, and follows a circuitous route before dropping into the Mill Creek Valley near Alma.  The road less traveled then follows this serpentine creek for most of it's way until terminating at Alta Vista.  Of course, the route may be followed from West to East as well.  There are rewarding views during all times of the year, but perhaps late Spring with it's wildflowers, and Autumn when the grass turns red and the leaves turn all  colors of the rainbow are the best seasons.

In life, as well as on the road, it's best to take time to stop and smell the flowers.  Throughout the growing season, these grow in abundance along the Skyline-Millcreek Drive.

For miles, the road winds past houses, barns, and cows.  In a state where cows outnumber people, this is as good a place as any to see the critters up close.  Time here is not measured by the calendar, but by the cow. 

Spring brings calving, and the occasional wet snow or cold rain.  On these nights, ranchers keep an all-night vigil, making sure any calves that come during such weather are warmed up and dried off. 

Late Spring brings green grass, and the cows with their new calves are "turned out to grass". 

Summer brings with it worries of if there will be enough rain to keep the grass growing and ponds full of water for the cattle to drink .   Also, grass must be cut, baled and stored for the winter ahead. 

Fall brings with it the annual round-up and weaning of that year's calves.  Most of the ranchers will sell their calf crop either in the fall or early spring.  The check they receive at this time is basically their only income for the entire year.  Other segments of agriculture are sometimes subsidized by the government, ranching is not.  These folks succeed or fail by their wits and hard work .

During the winter, with it's snows and cold weather, the cows must be fed hay and looked after.  Then Spring returns, and the cycle of the cow-calf man begins anew.

West of Alma, and about half-way along the Skyline-Millcreek Drive, you encounter Millcreek and it winds through the Flint Hills.   It eventually empties into the Kansas River near Rossville.

Along the route, here and there you will notice the remains of stone fences.  These stones, lain by hands now long since laid to rest, were constructed in the days before barbed wire.  The building material--stone--was close at hand, still many hours of back-breaking labor were required to build these fences.

A rancher stops to visit with me near this old roll of barbed wire.  We talk about cows and the weather--the usual stuff.  He's been out checking some cattle and is worried about the lack of rain during the growing season.  It will have to rain before next year, he worries out loud.  Always worrying.  It goes with raising cattle. Too much rain, too little, sometimes both.    The gingerbread stone houses nestled peacefully along the route belie the yearly struggle to make ends meet here.  This isn't an easy life.   But, for most of these folks, it's the only life they've ever known.  Maybe, the rancher predicts, ....Maybe next year will be better.  And so it goes here in the Flint Hills.

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