This 47-mile Kansas road takes you through the last tallgrass prairie on Earth

It’s America’s vanishing landscape

Tallgrass prairie once stretched across 170 million acres of North America. Today, less than 4 percent of it survives, and most of what’s left sits in the Kansas Flint Hills.

The Flint Hills National Scenic Byway follows Kansas Highway 177 for about 47 miles from Council Grove south to Cassoday, right through the heart of it.

You drive past rolling hills, limestone outcrops, and native grasses that look the same as they did thousands of years ago.

The two-lane road crosses three counties, and you can take about an hour to drive it without stops. But you won’t want to rush this one.

Tune your car radio to 1680 AM at Council Grove

Council Grove anchors the northern end of the byway, and you can start your drive with more than 24 historic sites tied to the Santa Fe Trail.

On Aug. 10, 1825, U.S. commissioners and the Osage tribe signed a treaty under a large oak tree, granting free passage along the trail.

The grove of hardwood timber gave the town its name and made it the last place where westbound travelers could find wood, water, and supplies before Santa Fe.

Tune your radio to 1680 AM as you set out, and three transmitters along the route will feed you narrated history, wildlife facts, and local stories.

A tree that held the mail for 22 years

Before the byway pulls you south, Council Grove has two stops worth your time.

The Post Office Oak served as a mail drop from 1825 to 1847, where Santa Fe Trail travelers left messages in a hole at the base of the trunk.

Down the road, the Kaw Mission State Historic Site preserves an 1850 building that started as a boarding school for Kaw Indian boys.

You’re walking the same ground that westbound wagon trains crossed, and the town keeps that history close to the surface.

Daniel Boone’s great-grandson opened this restaurant in 1857

Seth Hays, the town’s first settler and Daniel Boone’s great-grandson, opened the Hays House in 1857. The stone building sits directly on the old Santa Fe Trail, which is now Council Grove’s Main Street.

People call it the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River. Inside, you’ll find artwork, arrowheads, Native American relics, and an antique crystal collection.

Rancher Frankie Greco and chef Randall Dickson bought the place in 2019 and serve Kansas-style home cooking.

Walk with 90 bison at the only tallgrass prairie park

Two miles north of Strong City, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve sits right on the byway.

Congress established it on Nov. 12, 1996, making it the only unit in the National Park System dedicated to the tallgrass prairie ecosystem.

The National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy manage nearly 11,000 acres together. In 2009, 13 bison arrived from Wind Cave National Park.

That herd has grown to roughly 90 animals, and you can spot them grazing the open hills. There’s no entrance fee, and the trails stay open 24 hours a day, all year.

Grass that grows seven feet tall with 10-foot roots

More than 40 miles of maintained hiking trails wind across the preserve, from short loops to longer treks over rolling hills.

Over 500 species of plants grow here, and four grasses dominate the landscape: big bluestem, little bluestem, Indiangrass, and switchgrass.

By September and October, the tallgrass reaches four to seven feet, with root systems that push 10 feet or more underground.

You’ll share the trails with white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, and grassland birds like the greater prairie-chicken. In summer, narrated bus tours take you deeper into the prairie.

A $25,000 limestone mansion and a one-room schoolhouse

The preserve’s Spring Hill Ranch headquarters tells you what cattle money could build in 1881. Rancher Stephen F. Jones put up a Second Empire-style limestone mansion that cost an estimated $25,000 at the time.

Nearby stands a three-story limestone barn, the largest of its kind in Kansas.

Jones donated land for the Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse, a one-room schoolhouse that still stands on the property.

The whole ranch complex landed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, one of the first listings in the state.

The oldest courthouse in Kansas has a walnut spiral staircase

Cottonwood Falls sits just off the byway, and its Chase County Courthouse has been working since 1873. That makes it the oldest operating courthouse in Kansas.

Architect John G. Haskell designed it in the French Renaissance style; he also helped design the Kansas State Capitol.

Workers quarried the native limestone right on site, and the building rises 113 feet with a red mansard roof you can spot from down the road.

Inside, a three-story spiral staircase carved from Cottonwood River walnut trees winds to the top. Self-guided tours run Monday through Friday during business hours.

Every spring, ranchers set 2.1 million acres on fire

Each spring, roughly 2.1 million acres of Flint Hills grassland in Kansas and Oklahoma go up in prescribed burns. Native Americans started the practice to draw bison herds to the fresh green growth that followed.

Ranchers still burn in late March and April to keep the prairie healthy and fight invasive species like eastern red cedar.

Fire only burns the top growth because tallgrass keeps its growing parts at or below the soil surface.

The charred ground rebounds fast with bright green shoots, making late spring one of the best times to drive the byway.

See three counties of open prairie from Schrumpf Hill

Three miles south of Cottonwood Falls on K-177, the Schrumpf Hill Scenic Overlook gives you a full sweep of tallgrass prairie in every direction.

Paved walkways and interpretive panels walk you through the plants and animals of the ecosystem. South of the overlook, the byway dips into creek valleys lined with stone walls that early ranchers built by hand.

Many of those stone-fenced farmsteads still run cattle today, the same land working the same way it has for over a century.

A town of 45 people with a four-mile sculpture trail

Pioneer Bluffs sits one mile north of Matfield Green on Highway 177, preserving the historic Rogler Ranch, a working ranch that goes back to the 1800s.

A restored 1915 barn hosts community events, music, and gatherings. Matfield Green itself has a population of roughly 45, but it punches above its weight.

The PrairyArt Path runs four miles through the prairie with sculptures and wide-open views. The town also keeps a couple of art galleries going, including The Gallery at Pioneer Bluffs and The Bank art space.

Birders flock to this town of 113 for prairie-chicken dances

Cassoday, population 113, marks the southern end of the byway.

The town calls itself the Prairie Chicken Capital of the World, and birders show up each spring to watch greater prairie-chicken courtship dances on display grounds called leks.

For 33 years starting in 1991, Cassoday hosted a popular monthly motorcycle gathering that drew thousands of riders, but the event ended in fall 2024.

The Cassoday Historical Museum sits in the town’s former railroad depot. The Kansas Turnpike connects at Cassoday, putting Wichita about 30 miles south.

Coyotes, insects, and the Milky Way after dark

The Flint Hills have some of the darkest skies in the Midwest.

With almost no one around and no light pollution to speak of, you can see the Milky Way on a clear night. After dark, the soundtrack shifts to insects, coyote calls, and wind moving through the tallgrass.

If you want to stay the night, guest homes in Matfield Green and lodging in Council Grove and Cottonwood Falls put you close to the byway.

The drive takes about an hour without stops, but give yourself a full day or more to walk every trail and explore every town along the way.

Explore Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas

If you want to see what 11,000 acres of unbroken tallgrass prairie look like up close, head to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve at 2480B Kansas Highway 177, Strong City, Kan. Admission is free year-round, and the trails stay open 24 hours a day.

The visitor center and historic buildings open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with extended summer hours starting at 8:30 a.m. from May through October.

You can tour the limestone ranch buildings, catch the 10-minute site film, and pick up a cell phone audio tour at the visitor center. Check the official website for seasonal schedules and holiday closures before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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