Smoky Valley Ranch Kansas

Sponsored by The Nature Conservancy Kansas

• Location: Kansas
• Travel Type: Driving/Walking
• Tour Duration: 1 hour
• Language:

Explore Smoky Valley Ranch: A Self-Guided Audio Tour Through Kansas Prairie & Badlands
 
About This Tour


Ready to immerse yourself in Kansas’ nature? This self-guided audio tour through The Nature Conservancy's Smoky Valley Ranch and Little Jerusalem Badlands offers a unique way to explore the High Plains’ rich ecology, history, and geology.

Located 30 minutes from Oakley, Kansas, along the Western Vistas Historic Byway, off I-70, the driving and hiking tour guides you through Smoky Valley Ranch’s restored grasslands, with its remarkable wide-open spaces of rolling hills, flowing grasses, and abundant wildlife. You’ll surely feel the breathtaking expanse of the open prairie that invites quiet contemplation through its iconic Kansas prairie hikes. No matter which mode of travel you take, you’ll also gain a deeper understanding of how The Nature Conservancy works alongside local ranchers and farmers. Together, they steward the land, balancing agricultural production with biodiversity conservation to create this amazing landscape teeming with native plants and wildlife. Exploring this protected Kansas prairie will help you gain a profound appreciation for both its ecological significance and human history, which dates to 10,000 years ago.

You’ll also connect to prehistoric Kansas by visiting the adjacent Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park. It’s one of Kansas’s most impressive natural wonders, with striking geological features dating back 70 to 80 million years.  

Whether you choose the guided drive, hike the Smoky Valley Ranch trails, or do all the above, you'll experience the prairie much as it appeared hundreds of years ago—an exceptional Kansas discovery.

Discover Smoky Valley Ranch, one of the best things to do near I-70 in eastern Kansas!


Tour Highlights
This audio tour features:

·      An opportunity to hike among 100-million-year-old Niobrara chalk formations at Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park while learning its ancient geologic history.

·      A connection to Nicodemus, Kansas—the first predominantly black settlement west of the Mississippi.

·      Living details of the benefits of regenerative grazing for land conservation: saving the wild prairie while still successfully producing agriculture.

·      A stage stop of the Butterfield Overland Despatch stagecoach and freight line, along a trail with roots to the Colorado Gold Rush.

·      Rich archeological history, from ancient bison to prehistoric sea creatures. It’s possible to still see fossils well over 66 million years old from the ancient Cretaceous period.

·      Guided hikes through several different trails that share the history of the area and its importance to the ecology, ranching and agriculture.

·      A restored prairie serving as a haven for many bird species, including a stronghold for the Lesser prairie-chicken.

·      Invisible footprints of America's frontier past—General Custer and Wild West's greatest showman, Buffalo Bill Cody, traversed this historic property.
 
·      And much more!
 
Tour Sponsor
This tour is brought to you by The Nature Conservancy Kansas.
 
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