A New Hiking Trail Just Opened In Kansas And It Belongs At The Top Of Your Bucket List
By Clarisa|Published June 03, 2017
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Clarisa
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Born and raised Kansan, Clarisa has lived in both tiny towns and cities during their time here in the Sunflower State. As a busy mother of one crazy kid, two cats, and two geckos, they write whenever there is spare time.
Kansans everywhere, as well as plenty of visitors from out of state love the Flint Hills, and they have plenty of reason to. The natural beauty of Kansas means we have plenty of room for a new hiking trail here and there, but this one is now the longest we have. It might take a while to travel it, but it’s a wonderful excuse to get out there!
Recently opened, this trail called the Flint Hill s Nature Trail is more than 90 miles long and counting, already making it Kansas' longest trail so far, not counting future additions. It's got plenty of areas where primitive campgrounds and other amenities can be placed, in case you'd like to attempt the whole trail in a weekend.
The scenic Flint Hills already contain a good amount of Kansas' 3,000 miles of trails, but this stretch has high hopes for it's future. The goal is to eventually reach over to Missouri's Katy Trail, which spans the width of the state, as well as farther into central Kansas, making it around 400 miles long, easily.
The trail has been worked on for years now, adding sections to its length, as well as future plans for upgrading the trail surface to something a bit easier to travel on and maintain. Parts of it are already complete, but it takes a lot of work to make the entire trail usable. It's already in a popular area for horseback riding and biking, but perhaps with more additions such as kiosks and historical information, it'll be a more popular spot to get away from the cities for a while.
For around 100 years, trains used to move through this area on the Missouri-Pacific railroad, but the tracks have long been abandoned since the 90s. Additions to a few areas have been made, so emergency vehicles have a route to take if need be.
This is only the beginning for this legendary Kansas trail, but with more donations and local fundraising opportunities, perhaps we can see a completely accessible trail within a couple of years.
