Kanopolis in Winter

We took a nice Sunday drive earlier today and headed over to Kanopolis Lake. Located 15 miles west of Lindsborg, it’s a popular recreation spot, though mostly deserted as we expected this time of year.

What we didn’t expect was to find that large areas of the lake were frozen over. And if presenting a vast icy landscape wasn’t enough, there was a soundtrack to accompany the awesome view. The moving ice and the wind combined to make quite a strange soundtrack.

Kanopolis on ice

Kanopolis on ice
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We then took a short walk below the dam spillway. Here we saw our first ever bald eagle in Kansas. What a treat! We had the binoculars along, so got quite a good look; it’s a small blip in the trees in the 2nd picture below. While taking these pictures I saw a possum on the opposite bank, running along a small trail at the water’s edge.

cattails at sunset

Smoky Hill at sunset
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Finally, to end our Dr. Doolittle afternoon, these 3 young deer paused and posed for us right at sunset. Seeming completely unafraid, they hung around for a few minutes while we took pictures. After that it was back home, where the chili I had made earlier in the day was beckoning.

deer at sunset