Arkansas River Trail (Wichita, KS)

2013.05.27 - Memorial Day - I woke up feeling the need to run. Since we were staying at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita, KS on the Arkansas River, it was not hard to convince me just to run the River. Besides the wide walkways were very inviting. However, it didn't take long to realize that after my run, I needed to walk the same route and take a closer look at the many places attractions along the way.

The first attraction is on the eastern side of the River near the boathouse. It is 'Jayhawk.' The winner of the 1992 America's cup. It is displayed so that we could walk underneath it and see the underside and also walk up the hill and see it from the side. Very impressive boat.

We walked upstream with the wind and found ourselves engulfed in Veterans Park. It was very appropriate considering it was Memorial Day and some respect needed to be felt and left there. As we looked around, we both expressed there is no doubt that without our Soldiers and their sacrifice we would not be able to freely visit spectacular places to hike around the country. I am particularly appreciative of the freedom to express my adventures in the written form.

The memorials in Veteran's Park honored those who served on Pearl Harbor, during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam Conflict, and coming soon for those of us who served in Desert Storm and the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The memorial for Kansas Veterans is magnificent in the center of park as a soldier lays a helmet on a rifle. To remind us of those lost is a sole POW*MIA marker on a small hill and nearby a memorial for those that earned a purple heart. I am partial to Vietnam Vets and in the park is a very special memorial as it was placed by the Wichita Vietnames community in honor of those served.

After paying our respect, we continued upstream and crossed the Little Arkansas River via suspension bridge to get to the Keeper of the Plains. The Keeper is a Native American Sculpture raised 30 feet facing east to bring in the new day. He stands where the Arkansas and the Little Arkansas River meet and is considered scared ground shared with the nearby Mid-America All Indian Center. If by chance, walking in the evening, a ring of fire ignites at 9 pm in the summer and at sunset in the winter. While there, take some time and view the two walls displaying American Indian life before crossing over to either side of the river. Looking back at the bridge, pointing away from the keeper are the suspension cables in the form of arrows.

We turned down stream to head back to the hotel, but along the way got our one and only cache of our walk. It is in the parking lot of the Exploration Place which has a reflection pond on the trail. The Western side of the Arkansas river goes down a bit further past Lawrence-Dumont Stadium where the Wingnuts play, but we crossed Lewis Street to get back to the hotel.

We hiked 3.19 miles in 1 hour : 48 minutes averaging 34 minutes : 05 seconds per mile while sight seeing as well. Our fastest was  third at 26 minutes : 21 seconds.

Total blogged Miles: 49.28 miles.