Continuing my journey to summit the highest point of all 50 states of the United States (Plus Washington DC & Puerto Rico) with Kansas. Mount Sunflower is located in the middle of nowhere on the western edge of Kansas, right next to the Colorado border. It is rolling hills and pasture land, a region of the USA called the High Plains. The landscape contains more cows than human inhabitants. The nearest town Weskan, KS has a population of 123 people.
Mount Sunflower resides on private ranch land but is open to the public (just watch out for roaming cows). An easy drive up a dirt road takes you to this gradually elevated high point boasting a summit of 4,039 ft tall. There is no hiking required to top this high point, just navigating back country roads.
Although obviously not a mountain, Mount Sunflower does contain wild sunflowers, a native flower that is also the Kansas State Nickname - The Sunflower State. A beautiful garden with some stone markers gives Mount Sunflower some unique charm amongst the rolling hills of no man's land. And a Bonus is the mailbox with a notebook inside where fellow high pointers can sign their name as proof of their journey to the top of Kansas (just remember to leave the owners a beer)!
Also highlighted in this video is a visit to the Historic Depot Museum in Kit Carson, Colorado and the Kit Carson Observation Tower. My Grandpa Merlyn (yes I have a grandpa named Merlyn!) on my father's side was born in Kit Carson in 1922 and lived there as a baby for two years before moving to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was a fighter pilot for the Navy in the Pacific theater of World War II, and died of a heart attack in 1977 (nine years before I was born) so I never had the chance to meet him. My brother and I wanted to visit his birth town and learn more about it on the high plains of Colorado.
Mount Sunflower: 0:00
Kit Carson Historic Depot Museum: 15:34
Hidden Trail Brewery & Outro: 24:12
Outro Song: 25:58
Outro Song - Explorer's Theme - written and performed by me on piano