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The Atlas/Kansas/Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway (US-160)

Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway (US-160)

42 mi
Length
2
Verified stops
2,150 ft
High point
Scenic
Road type

US-160 between Medicine Lodge and Coldwater crosses roughly 42 miles of unexpectedly dramatic red-dirt mesas and buttes — scenery often compared to a Wild West movie set rather than typical Kansas prairie.

// Mile by mile

What you'll hit along the way.

Rider-verified stops, overlooks, fuel, and the corners worth knowing about — in the order you'll meet them.

Mile 0.0

Medicine Lodge

Eastern end of the byway with fuel and food — top off here, as services are sparse across the Gypsum Hills.

Mile 42.0

Coldwater

Western terminus town with fuel and basic services after the run through the red mesas.

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// Nearby & related
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2.1/10
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K-177 rolls 47 miles through one of the last intact tallgrass prairie ecosystems between Council Grove and Cassoday, with open sweepers over the Flint Hills. The Cassoday Bike Run on the first Sunday of each month, March through October, is Kansas's largest motorcycle gathering.
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A 63-mile State Scenic Byway on K-7 from Leavenworth north to the Kansas–Nebraska border at White Cloud, through terrain shaped by Pleistocene glaciers — the only glaciated region in Kansas. The byway passes through Atchison and Troy on rolling, wooded hills and rock-strewn valleys that parallel the Missouri River. The National Park Service also designates it as the official route of the Lewis and Clark Trail. Seasonal foliage in autumn makes it the most forested motorcycle corridor in the state.
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Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway Overlook Corridor
Kansas
The Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway runs 42 miles on US-160 west from Medicine Lodge to Coldwater through Barber County's Red Hills — iron-rich rust-colored mesas, cedar-studded canyons, and open buttes that are visually unlike anywhere else in Kansas. The landscape is sometimes called the 'Little Grand Canyon of Kansas.' Wildlife sightings (pheasant, deer, wild turkey) are common along the two-lane corridor. Voted one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas by the Kansas Sampler Foundation. Medicine Lodge itself has the Stockade Museum and the Carry A. Nation Home for a quick cultural stop before or after the ride.