Today begins early with a visit to a nearby ranch that’s home to Greater Prairie-Chickens. Before sunrise, males start arriving to this historic lek, a place where multiple males gather during mating season and engage in competitive displays. Our blind is close to the action so we can observe the interactions between the alpha male and his challengers.

After our lek experience and a hearty mid-morning breakfast in McCook, we’ll start making our way to Kansas. We’ll enjoy a nature walk and birding at Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park. The 332-acre park encompasses 220 acres of badlands – fragile, but ruggedly spectacular geologic formations with 100-foot-tall spires and cliffs of eroded Niobrara Chalk, a layer of rock deposited about 85 million years ago. 

We’ll end up in either Oakley or Great Bend arriving in time for our farewell dinner at a local restaurant. Our overnight city this evening will be decided once we know which ranch and Lesser Prairie-Chicken lek we’re visiting tomorrow morning. We’ll have that information a couple of weeks before the trip starts.

Accommodations: Sleep Inn & Suites – Oakley or Holiday Inn Express and Suites

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Estimated drive time today: McCook to Little Jerusalem - Little Jerusalem to 2 hrs; Little Jerusalem to Oakley – 45 mins

Because of the stewardship of the land in western Kansas, the habitat in Logan, Gove, and Scott counties provides some of the finest places in the world to view Lesser Prairie-Chickens in their natural environment. Our day begins with a visit to a local ranch for a blind session at a lek. Our trip is timed to correspond to peak numbers of male and female prairie-chickens at the lek. After this we’ll make our way back to Denver for an early evening return.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Estimated drive time today (without stops): Oakley to Lek - 1 hour each way; Oakley to Denver – 4 hours