Hiking Kansas City
The sun is shining and it’s time to lace up your hiking boots or inflate the tires on your trail bike. Where do you head … Colorado? Arkansas? Actually, you’ll find many great places to hike right here in Greater KC.
What? Indeed, there are hundreds of miles of trails here. You just have to know where to find them. A gratuitous self-promoter would tell you to view them all at www.KansasCityHiker.com. But I would never do that.
Based on our miles logged, we want to help you cut down time spent at dead ends and overgrown weed patches. Here we offer our takes on the best of Kansas City’s trails.
Best walking trails
Watkins Mill is both a state park and a National Historic Landmark in Clay County, MO. The park includes a well-preserved 1870s textile mill and farm that are great for hands-on kids (and adults). Farm animals too. In addition, a 3.8-mile forested trail loops a lake, including a small waterfall. Watkins Mill is accommodating to parents pushing strollers and small children riding bikes. Bring lunch or pick it up nearby in Kearney or Excelsior Springs.
Watkins Mill State Park, 26600 Park Rd. N., Lawson, MO 64062
Runners up:
English Landing Park, Parkville, MO
Mill Creek Streamway, Nelson Island Loop, Shawnee, KS
Black Hoof Park, Lenexa, KS
Biking
For biking families, it’s nice to find a trail that’s not too crowded. There’s nothing like dodging Spandex-clad Tour De France wannabees screaming past children and grandparents at reckless speeds. Line Creek Trail, in Platte County, is popular but not normally a speedway. This paved 8-mile path passes through Platte County suburbs, woods and crystalline Line Creek. Enter at the Line Creek Community Center trailhead, then head left on the trail to experience a wide shelf-like waterfall.
Line Creek Community Center, 5940 NW Waukomis Dr., Kansas City, MO 64151
Runner up:
- Heritage Park and Coffee Creek Streamway Trails, Olathe, KS
Day Trip
Want to break away from urban KC? How about a visit to the Flint Hills? Konza Prairie is a 6,800-acre remnant of pristine Kansas prairie. But prairie doesn’t mean flat. The preserve is vast, rolling and rocky. Konza is a combination of wind-blasted ridges, rocky valleys and forested groves and bottomland. Far from being a desert, the reserve is intersected by clear streams, ancient boulders and spectacular wildflowers. Wildlife is also abundant, including numerous bird species, lizards, deer, bobcats, coyotes and prairie chickens, among others. Bonus: The nearby Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area is home to a waterfall 5 feet high and 40 feet wide. Also, nearby Manhattan, KS, is a unique college town with distinctive shopping and dining in the Aggieville District.
More details: https://bit.ly/3v4nxGj
Runner up:
Pinnacles Park, north of Columbia, MO
You might not believe, but Kansas City has much more of the outdoors to explore. These are just a few highlights. Keep those feet—and strollers—moving!
Carpe diem.
Roy Harryman is the publisher of Kansas City Hiker and the principal of Roy Harryman Marketing Communications.