General Information: The 5th Annual Autumn Wonders Mountain Bike Tour, sponsored by the Santa Fe Trail Parish, will be held on October 15, 2005. Check-in/registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the ride will start at 9:00 a.m. in the Alta Vista City Park in Alta Vista, Kansas. If you have any additional questions, please contact Pat Smith, Tour Director. Telephone: (785) 499-6346 or email: cpsmith@tctelco.net.
Registration: There is no online registration. However, you can obtain a registration form here. The form can be filled out and then the completed form can be printed. Mail it, along with your registration fee, to the address provided at the bottom of the form.
Driving Directions: Alta Vista is a small rural town located in east central Kansas. With regard to larger cities in the area, it is 27 miles south of Manhattan, 63 miles northwest of Emporia, and 65 miles southwest of Topeka. You can view road maps here that will aid you in your travel plans. Additional maps can be obtained from MapQuest.
Course Description: The course is mostly on rural country roads that wind through the prairie land and farm land of rural Wabaunsee County. There is an optional 5 mile off-road loop at the mid-way point of the course. Although the course could be ridden on a cross or hybrid bike, a mountain bike would be a more appropriate choice for this event. This annual event provides riders with a 30 mile loop route through the scenic Flint Hills of east central Kansas. A detailed course map will be provided to each rider.
Rider Feedback and Comments: Participants in this event are the best qualified people to describe the challenges of this ride. So, if you want to know what others have said, select this link to view rider comments and feedback.
Lodging and Food: If you are planning to stay overnight, the nearest town with lodging accommodations is Council Grove, located 14 miles south of Alta Vista. The towns included in the Santa Fe Trail Parish region, Alta Vista, Council Grove, Dunlap, Dwight, Wilsey, and White City, offer a number of choices for eating. For your convenience, you can find a list of area lodging and eating establishments here.
Points of Interest: There are many historical sites in the region that may be of interest to visitors. Council Grove is centrally located in the parish and is the site of several historically significant sites. More information can be obtained by visiting the Council Grove web site. Another nearby site of interest is the Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve, located south of Council Grove.