Castle Rock, Chalk landform in Gove County, Kansas.
Castle Rock stands 70 feet above the Kansas plains, featuring distinctive chalk spires formed through natural erosion over millions of years.
The geological formation served as a crucial navigation point for travelers and explorers crossing the Great Plains during the 19th century westward expansion.
Native American tribes utilized Castle Rock as a primary reference point for navigation across the vast prairies of the Great Plains region.
Visitors can access Castle Rock via Quinter exit 107 off Interstate 70, followed by a 15-mile drive south and east on local roads.
In 2001, a thunderstorm caused the highest spire of Castle Rock to fall, altering the natural formation's structure permanently.
Location: Gove County
GPS coordinates: 38.86110,-100.17000
Latest update: March 3, 2025 10:29
Kansas offers a land where ancient geological formations, historical sites, and cultural institutions come together. This collection features locations that testify to several million years of natural history and two centuries of human presence. Visitors can explore sandstone formations shaped by erosion at Mushroom Rock State Park, discover underground galleries of Strataca in an active salt mine in Hutchinson, or see the chalk cliffs of Monument Rocks rising 21 meters high in Gove County. The route also includes testimonies of the region's artistic and religious heritage. The Plains Guardian, a 13-meter steel sculpture, marks the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers in Wichita. The Victoria Stone Church showcases architecture from 1911 with its twin 43-meter towers. Eden Garden in Lucas features more than 150 concrete sculptures created between 1907 and 1928. The Cosmosphere houses the second-largest collection of space artifacts in the United States. These sites provide insight into the geological, historical, and cultural features of Kansas.
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