Santa Fe Trail Tracks — Attraction in Kansas

The 21 year old version of me stopped here on my first road trip across the country in March of '81. The prairie grass hadn't started growing for the season yet so the tracks were visible, but yikes it was windy, cold, and miserable. I think I remember it being a muddy path back then and not a nice walkway like now.

Fast forward to October 2020, 39 years and 20-ish cross country trips later to the second time I came through central Kansas with a "get off the beaten path" attitude. Seeing that I was going to pass close to the Santa Fe Trail site and Dodge City I decided to roll through and see how much they've changed in four decades.

Answer: the Santa Fe Trail site now has a nice, partially, slightly elevated walkway and a covered display area with several interpretive info boards. The weather was perfect this time, still with the ever-present wind but sunny, warm, and dry. The prairie grass was still thick from the summer growing season and the tracks were not visible, at least without leaving the walkway. Even so, it was worth the stop to be standing out on the prairie at such an historic site. Recommended if you're in the area.

Dodge City has changed quite a bit since '81, but that's...

Unfortunately there is a lot of construction going on with dirt trucks and ground getting leveled. It looks like many tracks are torn up by the construction at this point. We saw a few remnants of trails but I would have to guess that many that were here are gone now. Rain and wind has eroded many trails but not as much as whatever construction is going on. The pathway is now cracked and covered in dirt...we couldn't even see there was a cement pathway at first. Many markers were taken down and are sitting in a pile too. Kinda disappointing. Would have loved to see this before...

Very cool piece of History to see these still in place. Even without human interaction these tracks that were made by so many countless pioneers century and a half ago will one day be gone due to the natural erosion. Considering that Dodge City is the windiest city per capita in the US, not Chicago, these are definite must see.

P.S. if you want something cool to check out look at the satellite images on Google Maps or Google Earth and trace the Santa Fe Trail as far as you can it can still be seen as the wagon ruts are deep enough...