Paddy Creek Road Looking southeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Day Two. This is the first Paddy Creek Road crossing if you are hiking the trail clockwise. To the south of the road is Paddy Creek Wilderness, to the north, Mark Twain National Forest. 2
South Loop/North Loop Short Cut, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — just a short way further along the trail it drops down towards Little Paddy Creek. In that section I encountered some very thick wood smoke. Even though I know from experience that smoke can travel miles and still be very thick, it was a bit disconcerting!
Gary on the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, February 2026 — Time for another quick selfie. It’s after four pm, and I have a couple of miles left to go.
All that remains — The homestead chimney at the junction of the South Loop and the shortcut to the North Loop, Paddy Creek Wilderness. There’s a well and circular foundation nearby too.
Big Piney Trail — these signs are easy to spot when they are new, but after a year or so they go gray and almost invisible unless you know to look out for them.
A while back, I met a Forest Ranger and a couple of guys near the trailhead. They’d been surveying the trail, assessing changes, as it had become eroded and rough in places. That work looks to have been completed. 3
Start of trip selfie, Paddy Creek Wilderness — I’ve not taken one of these in ages, so why not? The only issue right now is that it is just after two pm, my campsite is seven miles away, and it gets dark between five and six. I’d better get moving!
Hot Pink Mess at the Roby Lake Trailhead — I was confronted with this pile of what appears to be hot pink trail blaze tapes as I was signing in at the Roby Lake Trailhead of the Big Piney Trail at Paddy Creek Wilderness. My initial guess was that someone had been over-enthusiastically blazing the trail, and had some spare blazes left over. Whatever.
Dichroic Glass — A piece from Ginger’s blue glass collection. I liked the bright colors, and the way the blue glass looked almost black with the light reflecting off of the dichroic coating.
Looking south from City Market — (I’ve also seen this area referred to as River Market). We spent a couple of hours soaking up all the exhibits at the Arabia Steamboat Museum – https://www.1856.com/. The Arabia sank in 1856 and was excavated in the 1980s. The museum provided a fascinating insight into the goods being shipped by steamboat into the Midwest
Chinatown Food Market — Lots of tasty morsels were purchased along with enough packets of noodles for many backpacking lunches.
Orange cat and spot — Of course a visit to see Katie also means a chance to see Dick, our grandcat in his native environment and with a nice midcentury modern style rug too.
Top of the Power and Light Building. I love Art Deco architecture.
The Kauffman Center from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building — We were at the Kauffman Center last night for Chris Thile with the Kansas City Symphony.
View to the east from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building.
View to the west from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building — Featuring the Diocesan office and Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, which can be seen just past the convention center. I waved at my ex-colleagues, but I don’t think they saw me.
Empty Chair — I’d planned on taking a picture of Ginger sitting enjoying the view, which would have been a great silhouette. But Ginger got up as I grabbed my phone.
Ginger’s Flowers— Ginger loves to sit here in the sun in the winter. I liked the light on flowers and thought I’d try to capture it. 2
The Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs — I arrived in Colorado Springs on time. Now what? We’d booked a hotel in Colorado Springs so that Ginger could take a rest, and I could get cleaned up ready for the next part of our trip. Our hotel room wasn’t ready, so we went for a quick walk around some of the more popular parts of the Garden of the Gods.
The sudden shock of being confronted with the expanse of the plains — I saw this picture — well, one like it — while driving north on Day 3 and made a note to take a picture on the return trip, except I couldn’t find the exact viewpoint I’d found, which is a shame because it was a much better composition. Oh well, this photograph will have to do.
Plains and mountains — Seen from Hwy 24, Colorado. The Rocky Mountains are striking, but the unexpected plains between them took my breath away. Driving across the plains for miles and miles was humbling.
Leaving Chalk Creek Canyon — I hadn’t gone far before the scenery in the rearview mirror begged me to stop and take a picture.
Sunshine on the cliff tops — Just after seven the sunlight caught the tops of the cliff behind the campground. Time for a quick picture, finish packing everything away in the car, and get on my way.
Day 9. Pre-dawn light — It’s six-thirty, and I have to be in Colorado Springs shortly after ten. I allowed plenty of time to wake up and get ready to go. This was the view that greeted me when I got out of the tent.