Day 5

8:00-9:00:  Breakfast and pack up.

9:00-10:00:  Drive about 1 hour to the home of Roger and Carrie Ringer.  Go west on I-70 and take
                   the Quinter Exit 107.  Drive north about 1 mile to US 40.  Go west on 40 about 2 miles;
                   turn north (right) at the turn just before the big tree; take the first left, and go a quarter
                   mile; turn left into the yard.  

10:00-10:45:  View the south-facing house with the bermed north side.  They also have a photovoltaic
                    system that they use to supplement their electricity.  They often feed electricity back into
                    the grid.  Discuss the factors of climate, geology, and planetary science that went into the
                    design of an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient house.  They are making an effort
                    to work with the sometimes harsh Western Kansas environmental conditions.
Ringers
Roger and Carrie's Solar Panels Photo by Tom Geyer

10:45-11:45:  Drive about 1 hour to the Smoky Vally Ranch.  They will not give directions to the ranch
                         because access is by appointment only.  The Smoky Valley Ranch is a 26 sq. mile, 16,800
                         acre ranch that is unbroken by roads.  It is still a working cattle ranch and there are bison
                    on it, so they don't want people just showing up unless someone is there to meet them and
                    show them around.  It is about 20 miles south of Oakley.  It is a shortgrass prairie that
                    gets less than 20 inches of rain per year
.  For more info. on the Smoky Valley Ranch,
                    click here.
To arrange the trip call Ruth Palmer at the Nature Conservancy State Office
                    in Topeka: 785-233-4400.
                  

11:45-12:30:  Lunch at the Ranch.

12:30-2:00:  Tour the ranch and make environmental comparisons with the protected Konza.


2:00-2:30:  Drive south on 83 to Scott City and check into the Chapparal Inn.  Note the aquifer-based
                 agriculture in this region.

2:30-4:00:  
Drive 10 minutes back to Lake Scott State Park.  Take a swim, then walk the bluffs and
                Big Spring trail.  Observe
the Ogallala formation that outcrops here.  Collect samples and
                compare Ogallala rock to
the Cretaceous Niobrara limestone collected from the fossil digs.  
Scott Lake
Ogallala outcrops
Lake Scott  Courtesy of KGS
Ogalalla Outcrops Courtesy of KGS

4:00-5:00:  Take Big Spring Trail and determine the discharge of Big Spring.  There are springs in this
                 region because the permeable Ogalalla formation meets the less permeable Cretaceous chalks
                 near the surface.  
Big Springs
Big Springs at Scott Lake courtesy of KGS
  

5:00-5:15:
Drive the very short 95 South out of the park, and observe  the loess deposits over the
               Ogallala formation at the roadcuts.  

5:15-??:  Drive on to Scott City
for supper and stay at the hotel.


7 Day Home
There's no place like home.

To Day 6