prairie state park

This campground was not good for young children, we love to camp but this place was scary,there was a howling at night like a pack of hyenas. I am a camper but never heard noises like that before. YIKES!!

This is a good place if you want to experience what our ancestors saw as they first explored the Great Plains (there aren't many such places left!). Once out on the trails, with nothing but prairie in sight, it is easy to imagine yourself in the "sea of grass" that early travelers spoke of. If hiking, check in at the Nature Center first. I took a sunrise hike on a trail only to find out that it had been recently rerouted. But unlike another visitor's experience, I found the trails to be well maintained and easy to walk on. Because this is rolling prairie, the hiking is quite easy, and there's plenty to see once you start to look with care. Most of the bison had been rounded up for their annual vaccinations a few days before but still managed to see 3 who had avoided the corral. Thought the Nature Center was small but very good and the ranger we met was quite engaging and helpful. We also camped overnight in the small, primitive campground (which actually contains only two sites) and enjoyed it in spite of the pit toilets. We had a great campfire and were treated to all kinds of animal noises - coyotes, owls, who-knows-what? - throughout the night, most of which I slept soundly through. Two additional notes: 1) most of the featured pictures are from somewhere else but ones attached to reviews were accurate 2) nothing to see and virtually no services in Mindenmines. Go a few miles west to Pittsburg Kansas for services.

My husband and I wanted to break in our new hiking shoes so we drove down to Prairie State Park. We stopped at the Nature Center before heading out. The Nature Center is small but very informative and has lots of educational materials inside! We didn't notice at the time, but there was a bison sitting right outside their big windows! After grabbing a printed copy of their trails, we headed out to walk the Drover Trail path, which is two separate loops. We walked the first shorter loop which is when we saw the bison! At first, we thought it was fake, but then he shook his head and we knew he was real! Very cool. When we got around the .25 mile loop, we went to take the longer path. However, turns out it wasn't the bigger loop and was a path that was not on the map! It took us about a mile north of the nature center and put us out on the road. We walked the road to the campgrounds and decided we would try the Coyote Trail. You begin by going through an electrified fence (it has a section that is covered where you climb through it). We got about .10 mile into it and turned around because the path was so overgrown. It'd be fine if you had tall boots and long hiking pants, but we were in short hiking boots and shorts and didn't feel like getting attacked by the weeds! I would definitely go back.

I didn't get to spend a lot of time here, but I did take the bison hike led by a park naturalist and it was really interesting, fun, informative - everything I could hope for. Very nice, helpful staff, and while we were looking for bison we got some lessons on wildflowers and prairies, as well. The hike took about an hour.

Wasn't really much to see. The elk are out in another section so you can't see them. The bison were roaming so it was luck of the draw..we did see one next to the raod. There is a small visitor center with nice workers and a little to see. Would not drive out of the way for this.

It is a different feeling to be out on the prairie with Buffalo roaming and the wind. I was surprised to hear the wind and the birds and the silence. At first I was just amazed. The State park building is low and fits into the place. You can see fences at some points but they seem to disappear. I then began to notice little things, flowers, textures, green. There are trailed mowed into the grass where you can walk without too much problem. The purple martin follow you around. It was great to walk away from the cars and the world. The visitor center has very limited hours. It is open during the worse hours to be there during the summer. There is a human area, both camping and day use, but a lot of it was on the other side of a low water bridge that we didn't want to cross the day we were there because of recent rains and were were in a low riding car. There was an oversized water turtle in the road. There were people around working there, but they left us alone. We had to hunt to find the buffalo. They were against a fence quite a ways away. Be prepared for bugs. My husband did pick up some chiggers. I suggested one to two hour visit. I could have sat there all say and watched the park, but I doubt that everyone would want to do that. It just had an inner peace that I wanted.