Sand Hill State Park (Hutchinson, Cheney: rental, homes, purchase)

[SmalltownKSgirl]

Can anyone tell me anything about Sand Hill State Park? Are there campgrounds? Is there any water - a lake or anything? Are trails well marked? Can you post any pictures?

My family is considering a visit later this summer. Will it be worth the trip?

[Blue Earth]

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has a site on it with photos, brochures, maps, and anything else you might want to know:

Sand Hills / Locations / State Parks / KDWP - KDWP

Sand Hills State Park, a 1,123 acre natural area, has been preserved for its sand dunes, grasslands, wetlands, and woodlands. Popular activities at the park are hiking and horseback riding. Other activities include hunting, bird watching, wildflower walks, jogging and just simple relaxation in the country. There are 8 distinct trails within the park which are broken down into interpretive, hiking and horseback riding trails. There are 14 miles of trails which weave in between 10 to 40 feet high sand dunes, through grasslands and trees, and around ponds. Modern facilities are limited to two vault toilets.

Vehicle permits are now required on vehicles parked in the parking lots at Sand Hills. We no longer require trails permits. To purchase an annual permit, go to any Wildlife & Parks vendor, or to our office at Cheney State Park. To purchase a daily vehicle permit, check the self-pay station at each entrance. Daily permits are $2.60 for Seniors in the off-season Oct. through March, and $2.85 for Seniors in season April through September. Regular priced permits are $3.70 a day in the off-season and $4.20 in season.

Seniors are Kansas residents 65 years of age and older.

We have construction under way for the new campground at Sand Hills State Park. It will be in construction for some time with a 10-acre pond going in and 50 campsites, some with corrals for horses. Road work will hopefully begin in 2009. Plans are in the works to add rental cabins at some point in the future also. Our patrons really seem to enjoy the horse trails, and we receive many calls asking when the campground will be done. We are doing things as the budget allows so patience is what we are asking for.

The Trails at Sand Hills are used quite often by groups of horseback riders and hikers that enjoy the rolling terrain, wildlife viewing, and scenery. The park patrons will notice a new bridge that was constructed over the winter.

If you are going to go hiking there, bring a hat. It is not heavily wooded. There are trees in certain places, but it is mostly grassy sand hills. If you are in the area, check out Dillon Nature Center in Hutchinson. The trails there are not as wild, but are very wooded. No camping though. Try to catch a movie or show at the Fox Theatre in Hutchinson. Hutchinson also has a zoo, the Cosmosphere, and an underground salt museum where you can go 600 feet down and tour a working salt mine.

[janelle144]

Funny or sad story on this. Hutch has hundreds of prairie dogs. You can see a lot of them if you go over by Lowe's and that corner there. Anyway, the people were trying to save them so they loaded a bunch of them up and took them out to Sand Hills. Well I don't know if any environmentalists were involved in this so called rescue but when they left the prairie dogs there the badgers ate them.

I guess prairie dogs need time to build their underground tunnels and homes for shelter. This was all covered in a national magazine---not sure which one---but it was hailed as a success. Guess they didn't go back a month later to see what had happened to all the prairie dogs.

I never liked going over to Walmart or by that corner since sometimes I would see a prairie dog be run over by a huge semi truck. The trucks go by there all day delivering things to the stores, etc. We shopped at Walmart all the time so I just had to not look, some had close calls.