Much like a gently rolling ocean of waving grass, the Flint Hills cover an oval-shaped area nearly 70 miles wide and about 200 miles long. Located about six miles north of the highway, the 2,500-acre refuge exhibits the prairie as early travelers must have seen it. More than two hundred head of buffalo roam freely here, as do more than 70 elk. Prairie grasses and wildflowers are abundant here. Visitors can make reservations to dine out in the open on buffalo stew, then take special trams into the midst of buffalo herds.
Knowledgeable guides identify and describe the flora and fauna of the prairie.
Great Bend is about 80 miles west of Maxwell. Here, Fort Zarah protected the trail. The fort is gone, but a small park stands at its site. Just north of Great Bend, however, is the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge. This huge natural wetlands is an important stop on one of North America's key migratory flyways.