Schrumpf Hill Scenic Overlook
An award-winning pull-off on K-177 approximately three miles south of Cottonwood Falls in Chase County. The overlook features paved walkways and interpretive panels describing the flora and fauna of tallgrass prairie — one of the last large intact examples in North America. From the elevated berm, the view sweeps across undulating bluestem grassland with no structures visible in any direction, a panorama that motorcycle travelers on the Flint Hills Scenic Byway consistently cite as a highlight of the corridor.
Three miles south of Cottonwood Falls, this pull-off sits right on K-177 at a point where the bluestem grassland opens in every direction with no structures visible on the horizon. The overlook is built on a low elevated berm, and visitors walk a paved path to a circular platform lined with native stone — from there the tallgrass prairie stretches out as far as the terrain allows. The interpretive panels on site describe the flora and fauna you're looking at: the grasses, the wildflowers by season, and the broader ecology of a landscape that represents one of the last large intact stretches of tallgrass prairie remaining anywhere.
For riders on the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway, the stop earns its few minutes off the bike because the panels give the landscape a name and a context. The rolling bluestem hills look similar mile after mile along K-177, and the overlook is the one place on the route designed specifically to help you read what you're riding through — which tends to make the rest of the byway register differently.
Pull off K-177 for an unobstructed 360-degree prairie panorama — interpretive panels explain what you're riding through, making the landscape register in a way that helps the rest of the byway land differently.
Shot by the riders who've run it.
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