Most of Douglas County's creeks ultimately drain into the Kaw, although a good chunk of them flow into the Wakarusa first. The southern quarter of the county is drained by tributaries of the Marais des Cygnes river, a river that flows through the heart of Ottawa, flowing east into Missouri, where it is called the Osage River, which, like the Kaw, flows into the Missouri River. The Kaw and the Floodplain Forests Lawrence was born astride the Kaw or Kansas River, both names referring to a group of Siouxan-speaking people who had ties with the Osage Indians and called the Kaw Valley home. Our river drains an area the size of the state of Michigan, and while its westernmost reach stops in eastern Colorado, the floodplain and channel are chock-full of the sandy outwash from the Rocky Mountains just as with the Arkansas River to the south and the Platte River to the north. From the shorebirds skittering along the sandbars and the turtles sunning on the logs, to the coyote trotting on the bank or the deer munching on the dogwood, a float on the Kaw will put you in touch with the wild side of Douglas County like driving along I-70 puts you in touch with the automobile culture.
Sandbars are favorite places for all ages to beachcomb for remnants and clues.
As you look toward the banks, you will see the sandbar willows giving way to the larger black and peach-leaved willows, with the stately canopy of the 80 foot tall cottonwoods providing a shady buffer for the inhabitants of the floodplain forest. Taking the Burcham Park trails on the south bank, or the Riverfront Park trails on the north provides just as active of a wilderness experience as paddling down the Kaw. Spring brings out a carpet of wild mustard amongst the hummocky sands of the riverbank trails, along with the swelling, bursting buds and unfurling of the cottonwood leaves in April. Giant grapevines as thick as your arm can provide a sweet, seedy snack in late summer, but be wary of the difference between the grape, virginia creeper and poison ivy vines. And then there are the cottonwoods.