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    Weston Bend State Park

    4.6 (48 reviews)

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    Fungus shot
    Patricia K.

    Missed the amazing Fall hues, but it was still nice to visit & walk or hike the trails. I did a total of 5.28 miles between paved trails and nature ones. It was lovely out there despite the fact the vibrant fall foliage was more dull and tan or browns. Personally, I loved it. I'd definitely go again. I parked at the Tobacco Barn and took the paved trail to the upward path to the overlook. From there, I took a right on a nature path and followed the river some. I'd say this trail system was easy to moderate with some steeper parts--I did have a hiking pole so I'm glad for that part of it. At the hours ticked by, more people took themselves on the paths too; not too crowded though.

    View from the ridge overlooking the river
    Christopher F.

    Well kempt trails and easily accessible for average hikers and runners. I can imagine how pretty the views would be during the fall along the ridge that runs river. The main path is paved and is about 3 miles. Other trails into the mountain branch off.

    Weston Philips
    Kathleen R.

    Wow! You must take a trip to Weston, Mo! The fall colors are amazing at the park. We stayed nearby at a glamping place but took a short drive to this park. It is so beautiful; the best fall colors in October. Then, the adorable Weston town has many retailers, restaurants, cafes, wineries, and more. Mostly small local business!

    Trail
    Amanda R.

    Visiting Weston Bend is a great activity for social distancing! We checked it out for the first time today- the trails are fantastic! We hiked almost 5 miles around 3 different trails. We started with the paved trail, took the yellow trail up to the lookout and the blue trail back around to the paved trail. We arrived around 9 and saw very few people on the trail. We finished hiking around 11:30 and the parking lot was full. If you are trying to avoid people, I would suggest going earlier.

    Campsite #26. Nice, secluded tent pad (dirt surface).
    Troy P.

    Nice little park with a nice campground and really nice hiking trails. We tent camp, so our favorite spot in the campground is #26, the only first-come first-serve non-electric site. It's one of the nicest in the park; near the restroom and isolated from the other sites. Plus, 2 or 3 nice grassy spots to place the tent. Our favorite trail is the West Ridge trail, a nice loop that provides a couple really nice views of the Missouri River and Fort Leavenworth. We haven't gone after the leaves fall off yet, but we look forward to the expanded views.

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    11 years ago

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    11 years ago

    Camped here and loved it. Camp host was great. Nice facilities and a well maintained campground.

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    12 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    12 years ago

    Great park! Perfect camping spots - lots of shade and space. The trails are beautiful with good views of the Missouri River. Have fun!

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    14 years ago

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    Review Highlights - Weston Bend State Park

    The park is famous for its picturesque beauty, walking trails that winds through forests overlooking the Missouri River.

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    Parkville Nature Sanctuary

    Parkville Nature Sanctuary

    4.8(76 reviews)
    27.5 km

    My husband and I Roeland Park, this nature sanctuary the day before Mother's Day. We had a heck of…read morea time finding it because the address was listed incorrectly. The nature sanctuary is on 12th St. and the connecting street is East St. Once we figured out where it was, we took our time on one of the trails I believe there are four trail options and the longest is 1.6 mile loop and the second is a 1 mile loop and the other ones are less than that. But it is a beautiful nature sanctuary with lots of greenery, woods, streams, water falls, and benches to enjoy the scenery. No pets are allowed since it is a nature sanctuary. There is a covered area off of one of the hikes that we went to that leads to some picnic tables. There's also several picnic tables by the parking lot. There are also bathrooms near the parking lot. The parking lot is next to the track and field belonging to the college. We really enjoyed our slow, meandering walk/hike and will definitely go back.

    Hidden right by the bustle of downtown parkville, the parkville nature sanctuary has become one of…read moremy favorite places to do an easy hike. The trails are well maintained, and while there are some inclines at certain points, the trail is easy to follow and not strenuous. I love the various view points where you can stop and really appreciate natural beauty, like the waterfall or the butterfly pass. It feels like this is in its own little world despite being so close to the city. Be aware that the parking lot is pretty small so at peak times it may be hard to park.

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    Parkville Nature Sanctuary
    Parkville Nature Sanctuary - Waterfall

    Waterfall

    Parkville Nature Sanctuary - Marsh  areas

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    Marsh areas

    Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve

    Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve

    3.9(8 reviews)
    74.5 km

    This area was called "Monkey Mountains," because early settlers deemed the river bluffs too steep…read morefor even monkeys to climb. This place is as close to being out in the wild as you can get in the KC area. A little bit of a drive but worth it if you want a rugged terrain. It's perfect. Reaching the open meadow at the top is wonderful. Use bug spray and check for ticks.

    Monkey Mountain is an 855 acre nature preserve in Eastern Jackson County, halfway in-between Grain…read moreValley and Oak Grove. The address I listed is the approximate address of the south entrance to the park, there is another entrance a little over a mile north off Old US 40 Hwy next to a softball field. The park is mostly undeveloped, which is what I love about it. You get to experience nature instead of a sanitized version of nature. There are two primary loop trails, one measuring 3.5 miles and one measuring between 2-3 miles depending on the route taken. Numerous smaller trails criss-cross between these main trails and branch out forming various side loops. You can spend hours hiking here and not see everything. The park caters to hikers and equestrians. I usually encounter a few other people at the park but only between long stretches of complete isolation. The elevation ranges from about 780 feet on the banks of Sni-a-Bar Creek to about 950 feet at the summit. There is a wide variety of terrain in the park: marshy lowlands in the north and northwest, thick woods and steep terrain covering most of the western half, limestone outcroppings along the ridge and at the south end of the park, a huge roiling meadow in the center, and farmed land along the eastern edges. Several ponds dot the landscape, and numerous tiny streams feed into Sni-a-Bar Creek along the western edge. There is even a waterfall in the park, but I will not reveal the location since it is both a fragile and a dangerous feature (especially in winter). Finding it can be part of your adventure. In the spring and early summer the park's meadows are filled with a wide variety of wildflowers, and wildlife can be spotted year-round. I've seen deer, foxes, turkeys, tortoises and turtles, all sorts of birds, and even evidence of some sort of wildcat. In the first half of the 20th century, much of what is now Monkey Mountain Park was part of a show farm called Sni-a-Bar Farms, owned by William Rockhill Nelson. The hillside and meadow were used for grazing sheep. Evidence of that can still be seen today in the form of farm remnants such as an old boundary fence running east-west through the middle of the park. If you hike the park, don't do it alone until you are familiar. Even though there are trails they are not always easy to see, and some portions of the trails can be treacherous. If your hike takes you through the northwest portion of the park you can expect to encounter mud pretty much year round so wear appropriate shoes. You will also need to carry your own water, there are no facilities at the park except at the softball field and an outhouse at the south entrance.

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    Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve
    Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve
    Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve

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    Kill Creek Park - Wildflowers in bloom from May to October.

    Kill Creek Park

    4.8(18 reviews)
    53.4 km

    Gorgeous Park, especially in the spring. Perfect for walking, running, hiking, biking with or…read morewithout your dogs or children. Both paved and nature trails for all levels of activities. Pretty quiet and not ever super crowded. Love this park!

    Disclaimer: Rating for trails/observation tower *only*…read more A good walk or hike in some wide open green spaces will do wonders for the soul. Sure, Kansas can be limited in some of its landscape offerings, but if you don't take advantage of what's right in front of you, then you might miss the beauty that is many of our area lakes & parks. Kill Creek Park is just that beauty. There are trails of various difficulty, but none that are so strenuous that you could not do them with more than moderate effort. You can hike around a forest, around a lake, or you could just hike out in the prairie. There are multiple trails, all of which are well-marked, and they blend together at certain spots. Mountain/trail bikers might share the space at times but I have always had pleasant sharers of the paths. The trails are well-maintained with openings here & there for power to run through and the overall elevation changes are minimal. We've done the 'Outer Hank' several times and the circuit takes less than two hours. Wear your hiking shoes as some of the trails can have tricky steps and keep your eyes open to see nature in front of you. The observation tower is 3+ levels offering different views, all of which open in any direction. There is even an elevator to the top that is in service for most of the year. I suggest an evening view to the west for an optimal Kansas sunset, many of which can't be replicated. If you want mountains or beach, then you won't find it here. But if you want the peaceful, pastoral open skies of the West, then Kill Creek offers you just a taste of nature can do.

    Photos
    Kill Creek Park - The green carpet awaits you.

    The green carpet awaits you.

    Kill Creek Park - Outer Hank is a great hike!

    Outer Hank is a great hike!

    Kill Creek Park - Never know what you'll find on the trail.

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    Never know what you'll find on the trail.

    Frank Vaydik Park - Line Creek Trailhead - Line creek further down from the waterfall area.

    Frank Vaydik Park - Line Creek Trailhead

    5.0(2 reviews)
    30.9 km

    Love this place and great get away for animals to swim. Hiking is a breeze and the train rides are…read moreunique to a place like this!

    Frank Vaydik Park is fantastic! The park is home to the Kansas City Northern Railroad which is a…read moremodel train for kids to ride on. It's a must do if you've got young kids. The Line Creek Community Center is also located in this park. They have a snack bar, pool, and public restrooms inside. There is also a playground located nearby. Our favorite part of this park is the trailhead to Line Creek trail. It's gorgeous! Line Creek is so enjoyable to look at and listen to while walking on the trail. The trail is concrete and very wide. Plenty of room for pedestrians and bike riders. The trail is very hilly one direction and flat the other way. The huge trees provide plenty of shade along the trail. A nice surprise on a hot summer day. There are several access points to the creek from the trail. The creek itself is never more than knee deep and fairly clear water. Our kids and dog love to wade around the small waterfalls. Bring water shoes! The rocks are very mossy and can get slick when stepping on them with bare feet. To get to the easiest access point for the creek go left at the first T intersection you come to from this trail entrance. The hillier path to the right will also lead you to a creek access point, but the route to the left has the small waterfall and better wading for kids. During the summer you might run into groups of summer camp kids enjoying the creek as well. It can be a busy place on a nice day! We did come across four snakes while playing in the water. None of them seemed to be threatened by us or our dog, but we still gave them plenty of space. For the most part they just swam away once they noticed us. Just be careful where you step! They sun themselves on the rocks and swim around looking for small fish to catch. In addition to snakes we saw lots of birds, fish, and a mouse. Lots of little critters to look for. The only thing lacking from this part of the trail are doggy cleanup stations (bring your own bags please!!) and bathrooms outside of the community center for after hours use.

    Photos
    Frank Vaydik Park - Line Creek Trailhead - One of the many snakes we saw that day by the water

    One of the many snakes we saw that day by the water

    Frank Vaydik Park - Line Creek Trailhead - Paved trail - concrete and extra wide. Well maintained.

    Paved trail - concrete and extra wide. Well maintained.

    Frank Vaydik Park - Line Creek Trailhead - Hillier side of the trail. Both directions are lovely.

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    Hillier side of the trail. Both directions are lovely.

    Wyandotte County Lake Park

    Wyandotte County Lake Park

    4.1(23 reviews)
    27.9 km

    Awsome place tons of room not crouded tons of room to play frisbee or soccer one down side is there…read moreare not enough restrooms

    I took my two grandkids to this park to check out the playground. The playground is large and…read moreexpansive. The kids enjoyed their time there. There were some low spots under some playground equipment, where a recent rain had made little ponds of mulch. There are public bathrooms right by the playground and a variety of benches. It is in full sun, but the day we went it was cloudy. The park itself is enormous because I drove around and it took quite some time! The positives about the park is the playground, the beautiful lake, driving through the park reminded me of driving through a deciduous forest. They have a marina where people were loading boats to take out on the lake. There was a variety of little gravel parking spaces here and there as you drove on the road. If it was somewhere near an opening to a little spot by the lake, then I would see a guy standing and fishing. During my time driving through the park, I only passed two cars. I think most people are concentrated in the play area, which was not that many people. Or they are using the marina for boating, or there is one area where you can park and I think go down and view a type of dam which I did not look at. That is the positive things about the park. I did not notice any wooden trails or trail markers, I noticed one paved path that said it was a trail and it looked like it was wide enough that biking people could use it. I think there is a lot of under utilized space in this park that could be used for better use. The positive about that being under utilized is that wild animals are probably enjoying it! I do feel that aspects of the park are unsafe. For example, there is a building right next to the play area, I don't know what it's used for but multiple windows had been broken out and then replaced with board. Then other window windows were just simply empty like they gave up. They had a large and high fence surrounding the air conditioner that led to that building so obviously people had probably stripped the air conditioner in the past for components to sell. Also, there was quite a bit of trash on the playground, which I walked around and picked up. Their trash cans are not covered. They're just open black bins with the top cut off to throw trash into. That is probably why I saw multiple ones tipped over because wild animals like raccoons are getting into them. I only saw one Park Ranger, and that was near a tree company that was dealing with a tree that was knocked over in the storm. They have a lot of side roads that we have a sign saying it's leading to a shelter for a picnic. I drove up three of them and it will take a while to get to a particular shelter and they will have a swingset and maybe one other toy, but they are very downtrodden looking. The shelters are in bad condition and very dark because the trees around them need to be trimmed. They do seem to have bathrooms by the shelters. I noticed that the hours of this park are from 6 AM to midnight, which is pretty long to stay open for a park. I feel like that leads to criminal activity. When I would drive down several of these longer roads leading to a shelter, there would be occasionally one vehicle on a little gravel parking space and just sitting in their car. If they had trails in this park, I would not feel safe by myself in hiking on them. I think the reason there is hardly anyone at this park because there's really not much to do except fish and they didn't even seem to have a lot of areas to do that unless I missed it, I think the marina seem to be the busiest area. I probably would not go back to this particular park for these reasons. I think it's a shame because it's so large and beautiful but very under utilized in the acreage about what could be on this park.

    Photos
    Wyandotte County Lake Park
    Wyandotte County Lake Park
    Wyandotte County Lake Park - View of the lake

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    View of the lake

    Clinton Lake North Shore Trails

    Clinton Lake North Shore Trails

    4.5(4 reviews)
    66.5 km

    There are a lot of reasons to adore this park, but for me, it's access to what I think are the best…read morehiking trails in eastern Kansas, and use them I do, frequently. Yesterday it was the entire length of the White Trail, 12 miles of rolling soft path dirt and rock among the trees, coves and inlets on the Northwest side of the lake. The Blue trail is another favorite, 8 miles of mostly flat trail that hugs the lakefront making for lots of good shade and scenery usually running a few yards below the more snaking White trail. There's a third shorter trail I've not set foot on but only because it's shorter than I wish. Unlike the Eastern back side of the lake at Woodridge Park which is one of the nicest 4.5 hikes to be found anywhere, the North Shore trails can be safely hiked during tick season in shorts but I'd still recommend you take precaution and check yourself frequently in the spring and summer. The trail is wide enough and well maintained so no grass to walk through. Just don't get off the trail because they're definitely lurking, this from experience. The two main trails are accessed from Overlook Park on the Northeast side, just minutes from west Lawrence. Very well travelled, very well maintained. Lots of shade. Both the White and Blue have multiple access points to the lake and camping areas and access roads so if you had to bail, there are plenty of places. However, private enough you can almost imagine you're miles from everything, but you aren't. Lots of wildlife. Expect to see deer (see my photo from yesterday). No access for drinking water so as with any hike, bring your own and bring plenty. And don't attempt the entire White trail unless you're in very good shape and know what you're doing because it'll kick your rear end otherwise. For those hiking round trip of one-way, there's a convenient parking area at the east end of both the Blue and White trails. Expect to see plenty of runners and hikers on weekends. IMPORTANT NOTE: the east trailheads for the Blue and White trails can be accessed for free and have a nice parking lot with picnic tables, etc. If you're having someone drop you off on the far west end to hike back east you'll need to pay a park access fee. I have someone drop me off that has a season pass but I believe it's a daily $7.00 fee to access the west end.

    All you can ask for in a scenic, public park! Bring your fishing rod.read more

    Photos
    Clinton Lake North Shore Trails - Trail map for Overlook Park

    Trail map for Overlook Park

    Clinton Lake North Shore Trails - Man made archway on the trail

    Man made archway on the trail

    Clinton Lake North Shore Trails - Great camping

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    Great camping

    Weston Bend State Park - parks - Updated May 2026

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