A Great Plains park is home to ancient sandstone monoliths resembling portobellos and chanterelles.
In CentralKansas , just beyond a bit of forest , into the sweeping grasslands , and down a lone crushed rock route , is a mushroom-shaped cloud - shaped rock more than three fib tall . It emerged from what used to be the bottom of the sea , and is now surround by a 12 or so ancient sandstone monolith that resemble gargantuan portobellos , chanterelles , toadstools , and maitakes .
This is Mushroom Rock State Park , the only place in the universe where you’re able to see such geological oddities . Despite being the smallest of 28state parksin the Sunflower State , and the fact that you might miss it if you do n’t pay close attending to your GPS , it ’s worth try out along the 80 - milePrairie Trail Scenic Bywaybetween Canton and Ellsworth .
“ Everyone has parti pris or misconceptions that Kansas is flat and boring , ” articulate research geologist Jon J. Smith of the Kansas Geological Survey . “ And then you find these niggling pockets of eldritch geology that seem so out of plaza . They still check some mystery and wonder and are just as interesting as if I did n’t jazz how they were imprint . ”
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as luck would have it , we do have a sense of how these rocks occur to be .
Their origins particular date to the Cretaceous Period , a geological interval of time between 144 and 66 million years ago , when a massive inland sea covered the Great Plains . Tectonic plates pushed upward against each other , impel the water to ebb and flow until it eventually disappeared . As it did , a born deposit called calcium carbonate dribble through the ocean ’s sandlike bottom and began cementing grains of sand . Some of these cement clumps , or “ concretions , ” grow boastful and bad , and the loose gumption washed away . Wind erosion finally expose the big formation of what is know as dakota rock .
historiographer say the rock were landmark . First , as a meeting place first for Indigenous Americans , and after for the European pioneers who drive them out set out in the early 1800s . fabled Internet Explorer John C. Frémont and backwoodsman Kit Carson passed through what is now the car park on their expedition between 1842 and 1853 . They were searching for the best path to the Pacific Ocean and also guided the Kansas Pacific Railway in the 1860s to establish a westward line . That railway , since merged into the Union Pacific Railroad , is still in operation a half mile north of the park .
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free-and-easy visitor did n’t arrive until much later . By 1963 , the only way to visit the mushroom rocks was via a rasping - hewn trail through privately owned kingdom . Then Ellsworth County built a road through the arena , enabling vehicular travel . TheEllsworth Historical Societysecured the five acres and donated it to what is now theKansas Department of Wildlife and Parks . In 1965 , the site was officially give as a body politic parking lot .
Those in search of amenities might want to judge Kanopolis State Park , which extend camping ground and cabin lease , 30 - plus miles of tramp trails , and water recreation on Kanopolis Lake . It ’s about 10 miles to the south of Mushroom Rock State Park on Highway 141 . There ’s alsoRock City , a privately possess park 40 mil north in Minneapolis , Kansas . About 200 sandstone bonce of varying size dust the field , but they do n’t look like cool mushrooms .
That ’s why geology buffs , rockhounds , nature lensman , and everyone else should head to Mushroom Rock State Park alternatively . Wendy Bowles , a park environmentalist and student - hitch usher with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks , says that citizenry from all over the mankind pass through , even if the park is a bit off the beaten path .
Photo by Pamela Dittmer McKuen
While many visitors are simply enticed by the park ’s photogenic quirky factor , Bowles mention that a little minority seem attract to the remote placement — there ’s almost a unearthly chemical element to it . She read she ’s found several wooden mark in the crooks of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that are adorn with leather and beads . She ca n’t speculate as to what they ’re for , but remark that are positioned in a way that argue they ’re intend to be seen .
A myopic stroll on the compass north side of the park leads to another iconic constitution named Pulpit Rock . Its divided pedestal looks like the Harlan Fiske Stone fungi is wearing pajama pant . There is also a small hill with superimposed overhang that resemble what some have-to doe with to as hen - of - the - Ellen Price Wood mushrooms .
" The ultimate portion of Mushroom Rock State Park is similar to the fate of all real things above sea level , they languish to be near to it , ” say Smith . “ It ’s just a matter of how resistant that material is to the effects of wind , water , and gravity . ”
Luckily , even more of the formations seem to be emerging from the dry land . Just give them a few thousand year .
