Great Plains Nature Center

We love walking its trails. There is always a surprise on a walk here! Watching/feeding turtles is fun too.

Came here to walk around on a weekday afternoon, lots of parking, not too many people. Not a lot to see but a lot of trails, some bridges and water, dead trees. Good spot to get some walking, running, or biking in!

This is my favorite nature walk since my husband and I have found it. There are wetlands, prairie fields, I mean it just so cool to walk around. They have bird watching areas, a picnic table for events..etc. I would recommend taking lots of water with you or some type of snack. It is a very long walk especially for kids. My husband and I actually got lost but we had fun finding our way back. Theres a fishing spot there & probably 25 turtles swam to the surface when we were on the dock. Be sure to visit the nature center building and buy food for the turtles to feed them, we didn't realize you could until after the walk. Very cool place.

Wonderful well maintained trails, VERY easy. Flat terrain, paved pathways handicap accessible. A lot to see between flora and fauna. A lot of diversity. A truly interesting walk and many areas to explore. I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't for the amount of trash all over the waterways. I believe it's dragged downstream from the current, and not dumped by visitors, but still a lot of it was in very accessible places that would have been easily reached. They should look into rallying volunteers to help them clean up on a regular basis. This place is truly wonderful and could use more maintenance.

Had an event in the area to attend, so I stopped in. It was ok. It was clean and had some cute exhibits, but it fell short of others I've seen. The buffalo exhibit was cool and the live animals are always cool, I just felt for a state reservatory, it could have had way more to see. You are finished with the entire exhibit in 15 min. They could add more for people to see...I also saw workers sitting and eating in front of visitors. They never bothered to even ask guests if they needed anything. It's good for a passing of the time, but I can't see people coming here often

Nice little park to go walk or jog in also see some wildlife. Always pretty clean and enjoyable in the evenings for walks.

One of the best Nature Centers I have ever been too! If you go inside they have a lot of exhibits about what is native to Kansas and what you can find around the park. It is very interactive and was actually educational! The Park trails are in great shape (except for a few spots) and the park is very clean and well laid out. I wish we could ride our bikes on the trails inside the park but we'll just have to settle for the K-96 bike path which is also beautiful!

What a great place to jog/walk with the choice of 3 different length trails, awesome central location, and plenty of parking. I used to come here with religious devotion back in Summer 05. On a nice warm summer afternoon, you'd find people on the trails, not a whole lot though which was the selling point for me. Rather quiet, occasionally you'd see deers. Bug repellent spray would definitely help.

It's a good nature center. We only walked on the trails. Saw some wildlife and birds.

There are two aspects to the Great Plains Nature Center - the actual Nature Center building (accessible to cars via 29th St. North) and the three long hiking trails that branch off from the nature center.First, the Nature Center building. This is an interesting but creepy place. They have a snake in the lobby that you can visit (he's in a cage of course). They also have a somewhat random enclosure for two owls (they are really not appreciative of the attention they get).Then you head to the left and wind your way through the series of displays relating to the Kansas prairie. The display contains several stuffed animals and animal furs. That's the creepy part. It's a little weird looking at a stuffed wolf and such. You get to touch several animal furs, snake skin, rocks, bark, stuff like that.There is also a large aquarium with several fish in it, and there's a cool room next to the aquarium that's a viewing room. It looks out on the pond/water and there are usually ducks and geese hanging around outside. This viewing room has a couple of couches and would be a great place to read sometime. :) Note - if your kids like to climb under sofas, they do not always vacuum alllll the way under the sofas here. Overall I would give the building a 3.The hiking trails are the real pleasure to see here! Several times my son and I have wandered around and around them. On the Orange trail, there is a very old Massey Harris tractor which is fun to look at. There are benches here and there to sit on. NO BATHROOMS except at the start of the trail, and the far side of the trail off Oliver! If you have a small child with you, know that you will eventually be off in some bush with creatures and bugs and plants scratching at you while you convince your kid it's OK to go.The trails are extremely photographic and beautiful.The main trails are asphalt, and there are several dirt trails that lead off into nowhere and are so much fun to follow! Feels like you're in the woods in the middle of nowhere sometimes, with trees and animals all around.Too bad that people litter in such a wonderful scenic setting. If you visit, please don't be one of the people who walk along and chunk their water bottle on the ground. :( Conclusion: If you want your kids to see some nature, this is a great way to do it, and it's great exercise too.