Visitors to one of the state’s newest parks can hike or bike over rocky streams and travel through hills, wetlands, tallgrass prairie and hardwood forests.
But the Flint Hills Trail – the longest nature trail in Kansas- also serves as an artery to rural Kansas that pumps economic development into towns left behind when the railroads stopped coming through.
Now several towns along the trail in east central Kansas are planning music festivals, opening breweries and bike shops, and converting old buildings to Airbnbs to serve visitors.
(Read more: Wichita Eagle)