Located in the center of the state of Kansas, Salina is a small city of about 47,000 people. It sits upon ancestral Kaw Nation land, and throughout the area, you can see both the First Nations' culture and the culture of the colonists. The city was also a jumping-off point for prospectors who were seeking their fortune in the Rocky Mountains after gold was discovered there in 1859. Today, the city is the leading producer of milled grain in the state.
The Rolling Hills Zoo, which adheres to the modern practice of keeping its animals in natural habitats that closely resemble where they live in the wild, also has a museum dedicated to exhibiting plants and animals from around the world. Should you want to have a picnic, Jerry Ivey Park is the place to enjoy it. There are some footpaths throughout the park that are just right for beginning hikers. The Smoky Hill Museum is dedicated to August Bondi, a Jewish abolitionist who lived in Salina, but it also contains upwards of 30,000 exhibits that include local memorabilia.
Music fans can catch a show at the Stiefel Theater for the Performing Arts and then adjourn after the show to the Hickory Hut Barbecue for that renowned Kansas flavor. Fans of Italian cuisine can indulge themselves at Martinelli's Little Italy. The area also has a 125-year history with minor-league baseball. The current team is the Salina Stockade, which plays in the Pecos Spring League.
Campgrounds Near Salina, Kansas
The Covered Wagon RV Resort is a pet-friendly campground that's 27 miles from Salina, Kansas. The campground offers full hookups that include sewer, water, and both 30-amp and 50-amp hookups. The Wi-Fi in the campground is free, and there are showers and a laundromat available. The campground also has extremely reasonable monthly rates.
The Kampground of America in Salina is known as the Salina KOA Holiday. Each of the sites at this RV campground has a 50-amp electrical maximum, and the sites can accommodate RVs up to 80 feet in length. For a nominal fee, you can get propane and firewood from the campground staff. From the end of May until September, the pool is open. To explore the area on two wheels, you can rent bikes from the office.
The Lighthouse Landing RV Park has 46 total RV sites available, 37 of which are pull-through. All of the sites have full hookups. The park is in a windswept area, so there is a FEMA-approved storm shelter on-site. The campground offers reasonable monthly rates. The park is pet-friendly as long as you keep them leashed and clean up after them.
State Parks Near Salina, Kansas
It's only a 20-minute drive from Salina, Kansas, to Kanopolis State Park. The park has 30 miles of hiking trails that also work for mountain bikers and people who ride horses. There is a 3,500-acre lake for water activities that include boating, swimming, and fishing. You can also explore the Faris Caves, which belonged to a miner in the 1880s and served as his home. Bring your camera to capture great shots of native wildlife in a 12,500-acre preserve.
An hour west of Salina, Kansas, you will find Wilson State Park, a 945-acre wilderness stretch on the shore of the Wilson Reservoir. Trails for hiking and biking surround the reservoir through the neighboring woods. The Cedar Trail is fully accessible for disabled folks and is paved. Birding is popular in the park as you can spot quail, ruffed grouse, and numerous songbirds. The reservoir covers 9,000 acres and is marvelous for fishing, boating, and swimming during the warmer months. Skating and ice fishing are fun ways to spend the days during the winter in the park.
Tuttle Creek Lake is 81 miles to the northeast. The lake has 10,900 acres and excellent fishing, and the surrounding 12,000 acres of this state park are terrific for exploring. The park features a full 18 holes of disc golf. A shooting range is open two days a week. The hiking trails are mostly easy, and none of them climb more than 50 feet in elevation. Pick up a trail map in the visitors' center before starting your hike.
National Sites Near Salina, Kansas
The Tallgrass National Preserve is about a two-hour drive to the southeast from Salina. The site is the last tallgrass prairie in Kansas and one of the last in the entire country. Hiking in the area is tough, and the trails are long. Bison roam free throughout the site, too, so your hikes may need to take detours so that you stay 100 feet or more from the bison. There is, however, one easy trail: the Break on the Bottomland Trail, which is famous for the wildlife other than bison you see along its half-mile path.
North into Nebraska, you will find the Homestead National Monument of America 142 miles distant from Salina, Kansas. In 1862, many folks, which also included emancipated slaves, gathered here before setting out west to claim their 160-acre parcels of land that were granted to them under the Homestead Act. Today, you can hike through the prairie along an abandoned road that was originally slated to connect Kansas to Yellowstone National Park.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, was a crucial Supreme Court decision in the history of civil rights. The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site contains Monroe Elementary School, which was an integral part of the landmark case. You can picnic on the grounds, and the site is surrounded by easy hiking trails. A lot of the surrounding trails are paved, so you can rollerblade or skateboard along them.
National Forests Near Salina, Kansas
There aren't any national forests in Kansas. Just over the border in Nebraska, 193 miles away, however, is the Nebraska National Forest. It covers more than 140,000 acres that are split between two locations. Each of the locations is 200 miles apart, making this national forest unique. The hiking trails in both sections of the forest are either easy or medium in difficulty. Most of them are short, but the East Ash Trail is 11 miles long. Halfway on that trail, there is a scenic overlook with a picnic area that's a perfect rest stop before heading back.
The Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest, despite its name, contains very few trees. Most of it is sand prairies. The Cowboy Hiking Trail is nearly 200 miles long. It's not for beginners, but experts will enjoy the unique terrain and abundant wildlife. If you like to canoe, then you can set forth from the Niobara River Canoe Launch for a day's paddling. You can also ride horses through the 116,000-acre forest and fish in the river and in the many small lakes in the area.
It's a 413-mile drive to the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. It's one of the largest national forests in the U.S. at more than three million acres. The forest is spread out over nine separate sections and offers excellent trails for hiking. The trails are often long and arduous, but the wildlife is plentiful and worthy of photography. The National Forest Service stocks many of the streams and lakes with trout, bass, crappie, and even pike.
