Friends of the Kaw have announced that a team will be kayaking the 173-mile long Kansas River to highlight the beauty and accessibility of the Kansas River Water Trail. The name of their journey is KAW 173.
The team will depart Junction City on Friday, July 17, and plan to take ten days to kayak to Kaw Point in Kansas City, Kansas by July 26. The core group includes Dawn Buehler, Kansas Riverkeeper, and FOK Board Member, Marcia Rozell, along with five of Friends of the Kaw's long-time volunteer Kaw River Guides. The team has been preparing for this event for the last two and a half years. Original plans were to make the journey in 2019, but due to a flooded Kansas River, the trip was postponed to 2020.
"We are so ready for this epic journey that we are about to embark upon, " said Dawn Buehler. "This core group of volunteers is a small select sample of our entire organization which pours their heart and soul into much of the work that Friends of the Kaw does, and I am so grateful to have them as teammates on this journey.
Friends of the Kaw has invited local community members and their FOK river family to join them at designated boat ramps along the way. The public can join them for a day on designated sections of the river.
The Kansas River Water Trail was dedicated in 2012 by the National Park Service and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The Kansas River is the longest prairie-based river system in the world and provides recreation, wildlife habitat, and is a drinking water source for over 800,000 Kansans.