photo by: Contributed

Mary Gage and Monicka Remboldt visit Prairie Dog State Park in 2015 in Norton County, Kansas.

Lawrence writer Mary Gage had lived in Kansas for her entire life, but she realized in 2015 that she hadn’t seen much of the natural beauty of the state she called home.

So, she and her sister-in-law challenged themselves to visit and hike at each of Kansas’ 26 state parks — from familiar Clinton Lake to the dramatic rock formations of Little Jerusalem Badlands to the surprisingly prairie-dog-deficient Prairie Dog State Park — in just one year. And this week at the Lawrence Public Library, she shared what she’d learned and which parks were in her top 10 in the state.

“Get outside and see Kansas,” she told the Journal-World. “It is so beautiful, and I think that we underrate it. We just drive down I-70 to Colorado or somewhere else, and there is just quite a bit to see in our state. It may be a more subtle beauty, but we have hiking and beautiful landscapes.”

If you’re looking to take in all of that beauty in a short time, of course, you’ll have to really plan out the logistics. Gage and her sister-in-law, Monicka Remboldt, had 26 state parks on their list in 2015; now, there are 28.

Reaching all 26 within 52 weeks at first seemed like it would be an easy task. But in fact, Gage said, “it was tricky.”

“You would think that would be plenty of time,” she said. But “they are far-flung across the state,” and traveling from Lawrence to parks farther west in the state can take three to six hours.

To make things easier, she said, “we tried to clump a few together when we went out.” Two of her favorite destinations — No. 6 on her top 10, Little Jerusalem, and No. 2, Lake Scott — are separated by just a short drive and were easy to visit at the same time.

“Lake Scott is such a little oasis in that hot, dry, flat area, and it’s such a great little canyon,” she said. “The hike is also a loop all the way around the lake, about 6 or 7 miles.

“It’s just got a lot of different ups and downs,” she said. “You can see the lake from most parts of it. It’s really a wonderful hike.”

But some of her other favorites are much closer to home, such as Clinton Lake, which is No. 8 on her list.

On the west side of the lake is the George Latham Trail, a 4.5-mile loop with small primitive campgrounds all along the way.

“I love it because you’re quite often right on the edge of the lake,” Gage said. “You’re in and out of the trees, and you can see the water. I’ve been out there in wintertime and seen lots of eagles.”

Sometimes the wildlife cooperates like that; other times it wasn’t as visible, like in Prairie Dog State Park in Norton, Kansas, where the only prairie dog she found was a giant statue at the head of the trail.

And in another park, Kaw River State Park in Topeka, the animal life was a bit more annoying. As Gage recalls, “2015 was the year of the 100-year cicada hatching, and so we were just sort of buried in cicadas at that park because there are lots of trees.”

So, which state park trail was Gage’s favorite? That would be the Elk River Hiking Trail in Elk City, more than a hundred miles south of Lawrence. Gage said the 15-mile trail is a well-marked path through giant boulders along the shores of Elk City Lake that leads hikers onto the banks of the river. While the area is “rocky and rugged,” it rewards hikers with river views, cliffs, caves, waterfalls and narrow rock passageways under wooded ridges.

“So far I’ve only hiked it to mile 9, but I can’t wait to get back there and continue my journey,” Gage said.

In all of Gage’s excursions, she said she was usually lucky enough to avoid any hiccups — other than forgetting her shoes from time to time and having to hike a trail in flip-flops. The hardest part of the yearlong endeavor was to do it without canceling any trips. When traveling to the farthest reaches like Meade State Park past Dodge City, Gage said she tried to put it off as long as possible, which meant she almost failed in her mission to see all of the parks within one year.

“I kept saying, no, no, no, no, it’s too far, too far. So we got down to November, and that was our last park left. And so we finally squeezed Meade State Park into, like, the second week in December, and we luckily had decent weather,” Gage said.

photo by: Contributed

Mary Gage, left, and Monicka Remboldt visit Meade State Park in 2015 in in Meade County, Kansas.

Life comes fast sometimes, Gage said, and you never know what could happen. For her, knowing that fact of life is the best excuse to get out and see nature before time passes you by. If more people knew about these spaces in their home state, she said, then these places would be even better.

“If we just knew more about them, they might be more appreciated and used. When people appreciate a place, they are more likely to take care of it,” Gage said.

Mary Gage’s top 10 hiking trails in Kansas

#10 – Cross Timbers SP – Ancient Oak Trail

#9 – Cedar Bluff SP – Agave Ridge Nature Trail

#8 – Clinton Lake – George O. Latham Trail

#7 – Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve – Scenic Overlook Trail

#6 – Little Jerusalem Badlands SP – Life on the Rocks Trail

#5 – Konza Prairie – King’s Creek Loop Trail

#4 – Wilson Lake – Rocktown Trail & Switchgrass Mountain Bike Trail

#3 – Kanopolis SP – Horsethief Canyon Trail

#2 – Lake Scott SP – Multiuse Trail

#1 – Elk City SP – Elk River Hiking Trail