August 5, 2025
Red Hills Scenic Byway | Photo Scott Bean, Text Keith Miller, authors of Kansas Landscapes: A Photographic Tour of the Region's Geological History, licensed to Sierra Club Kansas Chapter
This photograph displays the dramatic color contrast between the green prairie and the red rocks characteristic of the Red Hills. The rocks of this region were deposited during the late Permian about 280 to 260 million years ago. The rocks consist of river channel sandstones and windblown silts colored red due to oxidation under the increasingly dry climatic conditions of the late Permian.The mixed-grass prairie vegetation of the area reflects today's semi-arid climate.