By MIKE CORN
WESKAN — Even on a clear day, you can't quite see forever. But you can see quite a distance, even well into Colorado.
Of course, anyone standing on the very top of Mount Sunflower even can see the fence line that separates Kansas and Colorado. Of course, it's only about a quarter-mile away.
While Mount Sunflower - even at an elevation of 4,039 feet above sea level - is the highest point in Kansas, it doesn't get the respect many of the other high spots in the U.S. demand.
That doesn't mean, however, people don't stop off to visit the site, located on the state's border, north of Weskan. In fact, there's generally someone there every day, save for the harshest of days in the middle of winter.
Recently, despite an inch of rain falling through the night, at least one visitor had stopped in, his tracks still visible in the mud behind the cattle-panel-enclosed tribute to the state's highest point.
That trip through the mud, however, is just a small sign of what's wrong with visiting the site.
Mount Sunflower is located entirely on private ground, land owned by Ed Harold's sister, Rae Marie Jones, BigFork, Mont. Harold manages the quarter-section of ground that includes the high point, along with other ground he either has enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program or grazes cattle on.
While it is on private ground, Harold delights in making it accessible to visitors.
He speculates that at least two people a day stop in, making for 700 to 1,200 people a year visiting the hilltop.
While the site once was only marked by a piece of galvanized pipe stuck in the ground, today several items mark the location.
Mount Sunflower was designated as the state's high point in 1961 by the U.S. Geological Survey, which at the time had an office in Garden City. Today, that office is in Hays.
There had been a brass plate to the northeast indicating it was the state's high point, but Harold said it was obviously lower than the prairie site now known as Mount Sunflower.
During the state's centennial, it was determined they needed to find the real high point.
Based on a review of topographic maps, the site was narrowed down and the pipe driven into the ground.
And that was that.
Harold and other local residents didn't stop, however.
On the otherwise treeless plain, an old cottonwood was hoisted high by Harold's uncle.
"This is about the third replacement," Harold said recently from the wind-whipped hilltop.
The local Masonic Lodge and Shriners contributed to the site, as did the local chamber and PRIDE committee. Harold even took wire welder in hand to create a sunflower out of railroad spikes.
He claims no artistic talent.
"I guess it was divine intervention because I don't do much artistic work," Harold said.
He used to fly a flag from the hill top, but the wind takes its toll. Even a flag-decorated wind sock was tattered and worn by the wind.
Because of his involvement with Mount Sunflower, Harold is an honorary member of the High Pointers club, a group dedicated to visiting the highest point in each state.
"I climbed Mount Sunflower, and that's it," he said, correcting himself to note he has climbed Black Mesa in Oklahoma.
High Pointers often make a task of visiting the 50 highest points, often in a specific number of days.
"We occasionally get phone calls asking for permission and stuff," he said. "So our answering machine says, 'Sorry we can't answer right now because we're out climbing Mount Sunflower.' "
There is a registration sheet in a mailbox at the hilltop, but it's currently in need of repair.
Mount Sunflower has had a couple encounters with vandalism. A year ago, on July 4, a group of people shot off fireworks and littered the ground with beer cans. Harold picked up about 50 of them.
And on the opening day of pheasant season, someone shot a hole in the mailbox, mangling the site's registration book.
Both incidents have been troubling for Harold.
There once was a geocaching tin in the mailbox as well, but it was lost when a wind storm scattered the box's contents across the countryside.
The tin never was found.
Still, inside the mailbox, there's a number of used lottery tickets and a few mementos, evidence of the people who stop by the state's highest point.
To get there, Harold said, the best routes are to either head south 22 miles from Interstate 70 at Kanorado, or drive 3 miles west of Weskan on U.S. Highway 40 and then go 12 miles north.