Roadside Kansas: A Traveler's Guide to Its Geology and Landmarks

Two decades after its first publication, Roadside Kansas remains the premier guide to the geology, natural resources, landmarks, and landscapes along nine of the Sunflower State's major highways. During that span, however, many aspects of the Kansas landscape changed: the growth of some towns and near disappearance of others, the expansion of highways, the development of industry. Even the rocks themselves changed in places as erosion took its relentless toll. More broadly, there have been changes in the science of geology. This new edition reflects all of these changes and thoroughly updates the previous edition in ways that reinforce its preeminent status.

Covering more than 2,600 miles, Buchanan and McCauley organize their book by highway and milepost markers, so that modern-day explorers can follow the road logs easily, learning about the land as they travel through the state. Featuring more than 100 photographs, drawings, and maps, the book also provides deft descriptions of fascinating contemporary and historical features to be seen all across Kansas.

Especially in an economic era that has encouraged all of us to travel closer to home, the new edition is sure to be a hit with families from Kansas and the region who decide to explore and learn more about the state and its distinctive wonders. They'll discover what Buchanan and McCauley have known for a long time: Kansas highways provide much more than passage to Colorado or some other state. They are destinations in their own right.

Published for the Kansas Geological Survey.

Rex Buchanan is Deputy Director of the Kansas Geological Survey and editor of Kansas Geology: An Introduction to Landscapes, Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils, soon to be in its second edition (see page 20).

James R. McCauley, now retired from the Kansas Geological Survey, is the author of some two dozen scientific articles.

John R. Charlton was for many years a photographer with the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas. He provided the rephotographs for Donald L. Baars's TheCanyonRevisited: ARephotographyoftheGrandCanyon, 1923/1991.