Prairie State Park — Attraction in Arma

We are from this area but had never been out to the state park as a family. With the lovely fall weather we decided to go out and have a picnic as a family. The picnic area was spacious, clean and well kempt. There was a dry creek bed that the kids played in and the restroom was concrete building, but no running water. Again it was clean and well kempt. After our picnic we went to the visitors center which was full of information about the prairie and the Flora and fauna that can be found there, as well as the history of the prairie. The gentleman that was there was very kind and helpful. He informed us of events they do periodically and offered to show us around. There are two trails that lead out from the visitors center, a long one and a short one. We had a two year old with us and didn't bring a stroller so we opted for the shorter, approximately 10 minutes, hike. We didn't get far enough into the prairie to see the bison, so we will definitely be going back. Even though we ended with disappointment it was still a wonderful day trip and the...

We went to this park on a day when the Visitor's Center was closed. The map outside the center helped us decide to take a couple of prairie trails. We ended up making about ten mud/water low crossings because of recent heavy rains. Recommend wearing waterproof hikers on wet days. We spotted two groups of six bison and two different "loners", one crossing the road right in front of us. Since we went in November, we were just past the blooming stage of the prairie wildflowers, but the seeds were abundant, creating their own beauty. We scared up a covey of quail as we passed through the tall grass. The Coyote Trail was closed because of flood damage. We saw a deer in the picnic area and enjoyed the sights practically all alone on the whole park. ...

I'm currently rating this a one star because their trails are not properly marked. It's a little stone in the ground with faded paint on it and it had grass grown up over it. We ended up going too far to a maintenance road that they had mowed down and ended up walking that all the way around the entire park. We got lost. We were confused. We were scared there was nobody to call, nobody to talk to. We barely made it out before dark. Most state parks that I've been to have signs that are like standing up from the ground and normally they have arrows pointing where you're going but this one is just a tiny brick in the ground with faded...