A ‘naturalized’ Kansan shares his trek across the state
By Christina Lieffring
Born in New York and having spent his young adult life in D.C., Henry Fortunato admits he didn’t see himself winding up in Kansas.
“Living in Kansas was never part of my grand plan,” said Fortunato. “It just became fact and I’m really happy it did.”
Fortunato first came to Kansas for a job and joked that he was an “accidental Kansan.” When he pursued his masters in American Studies at KU, he progressed to an “unlikely Kansan.” And now, after 17 years here, he considers himself to be a “naturalized Kansan.” To commemorate this, he decided to walk across the state.
“Taking this particular walk at age 58 across the state was a confirmation of my joy in being a Kansan,” said Fortunato.
For Fortunato, walking is more than a leisure activity: it is a lifestyle.
“Not only am I a walker, I am not a driver,” he said. “I am a pedestrian and happy to be one.”
He spent years taking practice hikes and “reconnaissance rambles” to build stamina and develop a route. He followed the Kansas River Valley to the Smokey Hills Valley then went south along the Santa Fe Trail and finally headed west so he would pass through historic Dodge City.
This route was inspired by history but also guided by logistics.
“My itinerary was a function of distance and places to stay. I do not carry a tent, sleeping bag, cooking equipment [nor] food,” said Fortunato. “I want to stay indoors every night in a hotel, a motel, a guesthouse, a B&B, somebody’s couch, whatever. I want to be indoors.”
Fortunato hopes that his trip will inspire others to follow his footsteps across the state.
“I have a vision for what Kansas could be,” he said. “I think Kansas could become a great walking state; a place where people come and spend two, three, four, five days taking little cross-country hikes.”
He thinks Kansas would be especially great for hiking because many of its finer qualities are lost when people pass through in a car.
“When people drive across Kansas on 1-70 at 70-plus miles per hour, it’s all a blur. It’s all a blur, there’s nothing that stands out. You can’t wait to get across the state. When you do it at three miles per hour, it’s an entirely different experience. You see the changes in the land. You see that there are actually a dozen different shades of green, perhaps a dozen different shades of yellow. But mostly it gives you an opportunity to have chance encounters with strangers – to poke around in small towns and see what there is to see.”
Fortunato came across many characters along the way: a theatre director who turned down a job in Aspen, Colo. in order to embrace the challenge of bring theatre to Greenburg, Kan.; artists and art curators that have “embraced the lunacy of the Garden of Eden” and are attempting to build an epicenter for folk art in Lucas; a man trying to put Lecompton, Kan. on the map as the “cradle of the Civil War.”
“Place after place, there are people who have great ideas about what they can do to make Kansas a better place,” said Fortunato.
Other recommended hiking trails and sites:
- Garden of Eden (Lucas, Kansas)
- Prairie Spirit Trail
- Flint Hills Nature Trail