Mountain biking owes its start to those first people who ventured off road on their bikes exploring trails and passes in the mountains. Kansas has very little natural terrain to explore. We do have small pockets of land where we have developed trails to ride, but there is little opportunity to truly explore new terrain.

The dry summer of 2002 provided at least one new frontier to explore. The water level of Lake Perry has continually dropped, exposing bedrock formations that have been under water for nearly 30 years. The water currents have stripped away any soil that once covered the land, leaving a miles’ long, 100-yard wide unexplored and untamed dessert-like corridor to explore. Using existing access points along with a couple of new spurs to the shore from the bike trail, riders are getting a rare opportunity to explore new challenges as well as to sight see along the bluffs and cliffs over the lake. Various types of terrain can be found. There are areas of mudflats, pea gravel, layers of flat shingle like rocks and large table sized fault sandstone. There are also large boulder fields, smooth solid bedrock similar to the slick rock of Moab, large sharp jagged rock and just plain old rocks. I mean this is about riding on rocks.

Several old stone buildings’ foundations and other farm structures previously covered by the lake are once again on dry land. Exploring the old remains, one can find unique souvenirs. Some of these are pieces of hardware from old farm equipment while others are things like pieces of old dishes, bottles and metal fasteners. As the saying goes, "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure." It seems that every rider who journeys along the "new frontier" finds some mojo to take with him or her.

Ironically, I found very little (modern) trash. Apparently today’s plastic debris is washed up and deposited at the high water level. The expected glass bottles and aluminum cans are rare. I can only guess that cans and intact bottles get moved around with the currents and are carried into the deeper waters of the river channel.

This new frontier will probably be gone with the spring rains of 2003 and may not reveal itself for many more years.

[Lyle took the photos below when he was exploring this "new frontier" with some friends late last summer.  Click on them for an enlarged view.]