Flint Hills Roadside Display

Visited on: Monday, October 9, 2023
Cost: Free

Just south of Cottonwood Falls, KS, a roadside display beckoned me, even though I had just stopped at another one a few miles south.

This was no surprise as I was traveling on the Kansas Scenic Byway 177, also known as the Flint Hills Scenic Byway, which is a picturesque route that traverses the heart of the Flint Hills. The byway runs approximately 48 miles from Cassoday (where I left the Kansas Turnpike) to Council Grove.

This display featured a lifted stone circle and numerous signs explaining the landscape, plants, grazing, and wildlife.

A stone path leads through tall grass under a clear blue sky, dividing into two directions with a slightly curved offshoot on the right.
Informational sign about Flint Hills wildlife, featuring illustrations of a bird and a buffalo, and mentioning various animals found in the area, including hawks, buffalo, deer, and coyotes.
A sign titled "Top Six Reasons Why Some Grass on the Tallgrass Prairie Isn't Tall" lists reasons including cattle eating it, grasses not growing tall, lack of rain, poor topsoil, Kansas winds, and cutting for hay.
Informational sign titled "Four-Legged Tourists" explaining the cattle grazing season in Flint Hills, their diet, transportation, weight loss when moving, and average weight gain per day.
Informational sign about wildflowers in the Flint Hills, describing various flower colors and noting the dangers of butterfly milkweed to cattle and its uses in treating bronchial and pulmonary diseases.
A sign explaining the geologic history of the Flint Hills in Kansas, covering periods from the Quaternary to Permian, with details on events and limestone formation. Background includes grass and rocks.
A small sign stands in front of tall grass and a stone wall, partly overgrown with various dry and green grasses, beside a concrete path.
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From: Kansas
Filed Under: Driving Discoveries