Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Gorgeous! Really makes you feel how big the world is around you. Although, it could not look more different than the Grand Canyon, it made me feel just as insignificant.

It truly shows how big and open this land is. There is a bus that runs and takes guest out the the prairie to see the land and animals . The bus has very irregular times so be sure to call ahead. If you miss the bus you can hike out to the prairie and it is very humbling to be standing within a bit over a football field away from a bison without protection. It is very clear who really owns the land. If you hike out remember these are wild animals and although you might be able to walk directly up to them... DO NOT, THEY ARE WILD! This was is very deceiving, hike, it does not appear to be a difficult as it ended up being. There is no protection and in the summer it is very hot. Make sure you bring lots water, there are no stops along the path so bring whatever you will need. Heading up to the prairie is a fairly steep hill. Make sure you are able to do the hike. On the property is a farm and other historical buildings. The welcome center is new and full of information as well as a small store.

We visited here in Summer 2017. It was wonderful to see how a real prairie house frozen in time looked. We had a great time walking the grounds. We only stayed for an hour or so but it was worth the trip.

The staff was so friendly and informative. The house and barn are a must see! Make sure you see all of the levels. Lots of stairs but so worth it! From the website it looks like you could drive through the park to see the Buffalo but only the Buffalo tours can drive that route. So if you want to see Buffalo you need to jump on a tour. Also, you can drive to the old schoolhouse instead of hiking just go further down the road past the visitor center entrance. That is actually where we saw the Buffalo was at the gate by the school house. We walked the Southwind trail from the visitor center to the school house. It was a nice trail that goes over a creek and was not long. It took us about an hour with a toddler to walk to the schoolhouse and back.

We really enjoyed this stop. There were a lot of interesting things to see on the gravel track as well as indoors. It was not very wheelchair friendly though (I had a kiddo on crutches using one of their wheelchairs to get around). We spent about an hour exploring.