Kansas is a big place, and not one particularly well-known for national park destinations. But that doesn’t mean you should overlook the Sunflower State.

In the closing days of September, as the country seemed destined for a government shutdown, the Traveler's Kurt Repanshek and Patrick Cone headed into Kansas to visit some of the parks there to better understand their role in the National Park System.

And we were not disappointed. Back in 2022 Kurt made a similar trip, and stopped at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in the Flint Hills of central Kansas. During that stop Ranger Eric Patterson gave Kurt a wonderful tour of the preserve and explained its history. 

Eric has moved on, but during Kurt and Patrick's recent visit Heather Brown, the preserve’s chief of interpretation, sat down with them to discuss the preserve in general and the tallgrass prairie specifically.

During their swing through Kansas, Kurt and Patrick also headed to Nicodemus, a well-off-the-beaten path destination in the National Park System, one so far off the beaten path that the state of Kansas does Nicodemus National Historic Site a tremendous disservice by providing very little signage showing you how to get to Nicodemus.

But stay determined and you can find the site. While the Park Service only claims five buildings at Nicodemus, and only two are open, the history of how the townsite was founded in post-Civil War America by more than 300 previously enslaved peoples is an uplifting history of self-determination, grit, and perseverance.

What follows are two conversations they had with rangers – before they were furloughed when the government shut down – at the two sites, LueCreasea Horne Horn at Nicodemus National Historic Site and Heather Brown at Tallgrass prairie.