Sand Hills State Park
Sand Hills State Park
Location: North of Hutchinson on Hwy K-61. Access at either East 56th street or East 69th street.
Contact: 620.542.3664
Fee: Yes
Photos Copyright Harland J. Schuster. Please do not use without permission.
The Sand Hills state park is one of the very few state parks in Kansas not associated with a lake. But this 1,100 acre area is more remarkable for what it isn't. All around this wild land, the sound of hammers and power saws rings as the city of Hutchinson rapidly grows around it. Here are a few of the Arkansas River Sand Hills in their natural state. Pretty soon, this will likely be the only place people will be able to see what the rest of the stabilized dunes looked like before they were paved over.
For
untold thousands of years, the prevailing wind from the southwest
blew the fine sand out of the Arkansas River valley and deposited here in a
narrow band of sand dunes. In time, vegetation took hold and stabilized
the shifting sand forming the area of small sandy hills visitors see today.
Though at first glance, it may look like just bunch of grass, there's an amazing
diversity of plant and animal life here. Poison Ivy also grows in the more
moist areas, and I took a small rash home as a souvenir.
The wild plum grows in abundance here. It provides food for birds and other animals that make their homes in the sand hills. There's a complex series of foot paths as well as some horse trails which wind their way among the stabilized sand dunes which makes for an interesting walk.