TOPEKA — Kansas officials on Thursday announced plans to fix a gap in the Flint Hills Trail near Ottawa to avoid a two-mile detour around active railroad tracks and overgrown brush.
The project is expected to boost tourism in downtown Ottawa as the launch point for rides along two trails that intersect there, as well as communities along the trails.
Described by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism as the “crown jewel of Kansas trails,” the Flint Hills Trail extends 117 miles from Herrington, in Dickinson County, to Osawatomie, on the south edge of the Kansas City metro area in in Miami County. Portions of the trail follow the Marais Des Cygnes River, offering views of rushing waters, towering bluffs, rolling farmland, and riparian woods.