Because Kansas City seems to have lost track of the calendar – it was 80 degrees today and the Royals are still playing baseball  – we decided to take advantage to the unusually warm day to explore our surroundings and get in some hiking.  Many who know me, and a few who have hiked with me, will swear that I am only interested in hitting a trail if there is a potential to go up at some point.  In fact, I have been accused of choosing between two trails at a junction by picking the one with the steepest grade.

I’ll cop to *some* of that – and today it was an explicit requirement:  if I didn’t have a mountain to hike on, I wanted at least a hill. So off we go to Knob Noster State park to hike the Opossum Hollow Trail (go ahead, get the snickering out of your system). The descriptions I could find on-line said we might find (and I quote):

• Steep grades and inclines over 10%
• Bridges and/or structural crossings
• Water/stream crossings without bridges

Sign me up!!!

The park is about an hour’s drive south east of Kansas City so we managed to get a decent start after running a few errands and found ourselves about 40 miles out of KC when we entered the Twilight Zone.  Or at least it felt like it.  We were in the Saab convertible with the roof down – because it was screaming sunshine and upper 70s when we left the house – and suddenly we crested a hill and hit fog.  Thick, temperature dropping, visibility limiting mist.  I know you are shocked – either by the fact that there was a hill or by the fact that the weather changed so dramatically in such a short time.  Suddenly the shorts and tshirts we were wearing seemed woefully inadequate and we weren’t sure how on earth we would be able to hike in unknown woods when we couldn’t see 10 feet in front of us.

We continued down the road for another 10 miles with notion that eventually the sky would stop touching the ground.  We were about 5 miles from the park when we changed our plans and headed for the town of Knob Noster instead thinking we could get some gas and do some googling to see how to salvage this disastrous day.  We turned the corner to get to the gas station and the air was clear.  By the time we were done getting gas and a few snacks, the sun was blazing down, the temperature had recovered the 10 degrees it had lost en route, and the hike was back on.

And a lovely hike it was. We basically traversed the ridges around a hollow for 5.5 miles. We never did face a 10% grade but we certainly did climb up and down some substantial hills.

Very few trees were still in leaf but it was enough to color the landscape. The solitude was almost absolute: we only saw a few mountain bikers and a couple walking their dog near the trail head during the entire 3 hours. Bliss.

The one thing I did find frustrating was the way the landscape hinted at vistas that never materialized. Several times we thought we would get to the top of the ridge and be able to look out across the landscape at a marvelous view. But when we got to the top of the ridge, we found

Another ridge.

But I hold out hope that the promised vistas are there but are only visible from some other trail in the park.  We’ll have to test that theory next time.  We’ll definitely go back because it was a lovely, well marked trail with great amenities (read:  porta potty and water fountain).  We have so much to discover in our new state.  I’m glad we’ve made a start.