Wilson State Park, KS

This one is going to be short and sweet but we felt like we found a gem in Kansas and we wanted to share!

If you’ve ever had to drive through Kansas, then you probably drove on I70 and you know what it’s like. Long stretches of straight, flat highway. Big, open land with barely any trees in sight. It’s a nightmare for those who want reprieve from the sun, as we often do. As you can see in the photos to the right, a large portion of the land is very segregated and either industrially farmed or simply unused plots.

However, there were some pros to Kansas that we think are underrated. One of them was the beautiful cows and their plentiful calves who stole our hearts (we are not proud of our lack of photos). We saw many herds of different colors often hanging out by any rare tree they could find or by ponds where they could cool off in the water.

To rest for the night, we got off of I70 and headed north to Wilson State Park. Suddenly, there are rolling hills and a big lake. Even trees! They have a drop box to pay for your site and you can pick from a range of campgrounds and campsite types. We picked a primitive site in Switchgrass. We were down by the water and parked near a very shady tree. We only had one neighbor for the night but one of the downsides is bugs! We had many get into our bus despite having screens on the windows.

Now for one of the best reasons to go to Kansas: the stars. Since we were away from the interstate and very far from the nearest populous city, there was barely any light pollution and the sky was very big and clear. We could see the Milky Way with our naked eye and the stars were ubiquitous.

If you visit Kansas, we suggest Wilson State Park as well as the Ted Ensley Garden in Topeka, Kansas, which provided a very beautiful rest stop for us to stroll around. These gardens are free, well kept, and right on the water!