I know, I know, I’ve been working on this post for months now. The pictures are from late summer and fall. But the wonderful thing about searching for Santa Fe Trail ruts and landmarks in Osage County is that they’ll be easier to see in the winter, when the tree branches are bare and the vines and grasses have gone dormant. The hardest part is knowing where to look, as you’ll see in our adventures.

Armed with a detailed map from the Santa Fe Trail Association and feeling confident after our successful Santa Fe Trail exploration in Douglas County, Jim and I decided to tackle the next section of trail, which crosses through present-day Osage County. After studying the section-by-section trail map and the areas identified as trail ruts on Google Earth, we hopped into Jim’s truck and headed west past Simmons Point, which we discovered on our Douglas…