Flames can be destructive, but at these experiences, they’re a positive force, helping people celebrate, commemorate, create and contemplate.

COLUMBUS

Hot Air Balloon Regatta

Talk about Friday night lights. On the first night of the Columbus Day Festival in October, propane burners illuminate hot-air balloons tethered en masse, creating a spectacular glow. The balloons lift off for a Saturday morning race, then rise again Saturday night and Sunday morning.
 

WICHITA

Keeper of the Plains

A ring of fire pots burns for 15 minutes each night to light this sculptural tribute to Native Americans by artist Blackbear Bosin. The 44-foot-tall steel work rises above the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers, land considered sacred ground by Indigenous peoples.
 

Keeper of the Plains (C2 Photography)

HOLTON

More than Lemons

Some like it hot—and April Lemon likes to hit 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the temperature of the molten glass she turns into art at her hot-glass shop and gallery. Browse items for sale, or make an appointment to blow your own custom keepsake (with help from the artist).
 

OVERLAND PARK

Museum at Prairiefire

The building’s flame-inspired glass exterior is just one element that sparks imagination. The Kansas Revealed exhibit uncovers the state’s natural history through fossils and artifacts. You can also study a T. rex via augmented reality and marvel at the skeletons of sea creatures.
 

Flint Hills

Smoke on the Prairie 

Don’t be alarmed if you see fields on fire in the Flint Hills during March and April. Each spring, landowners do prescribed burns to revitalize pastures for livestock and to help control brush, weeds and invasive tree species—which reduces the risk of actual wildfires.
 

Flint Hills Prairie Burn (Ryan Donnell)

Water, water everywhere and so many ways to enjoy it—swimming, fishing, boating, watching wildlife, and admiring a waterfall or lake sunset.

GREAT BEND

Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area

It’s marsh madness in spring and fall when thousands of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds converge on this largest wetland in the interior United States. Arrive at sunrise and you may catch a pod of pelicans taking flight off the waters. Be sure to visit the nearby Kansas Wetlands Education Center for an interactive overview of the region.
 

ARKANSAS CITY

Cowley County State Lake Waterfall

Spring is the best time to see this 25-foot-tall waterfall at maximum strength, as April showers give it a boost. You’ll find the cascade near a small parking lot at the west end of Cowley State Fishing Lake. View the falls from above or carefully descend a rocky slope for low-angle vistas.
 

Get a shift in perspective when you discover these stony and stereotype-defying stunners that pop up from the terrain.

ST. FRANCIS

Arikaree Breaks

Water and wind created this 36-mile-long stretch of deep ravines and gullies unusual in Kansas. The jagged canyon landscape covered in yucca plants, prickly pear cactus and buffalo grass provides a striking contrast to the predominant plains.
 

GOVE COUNTY

Castle Rock

The 70-foot-tall limestone formation rises improbably from the flat plains in a region once covered by an ancient chalk ocean. The rock resembles a medieval fortress guarding territory that includes a band of badlands farther south. It’s best to navigate the rutty dirt and gravel access roads in dry weather.

Monument Rocks

A little over an hour west of Castle Rock, these 80-million-year-old chalk monoliths exude a similar otherworldly vibe, attracting photographers from dawn to dusk. Feel free to walk around the formations, which are on private property, but please don’t climb them or collect any fossils you might spot.
 

Monument Rocks (Kansas Tourism)
 

MINNEAPOLIS

Rock City

Like something out of The Flintstones, this 5-acre park features 200 spherical (and climbable) sandstone formations, some up to 15 feet tall. It’s the world’s largest concentration of such naturally occurring concretions—rocks that formed in layers around pebbles, shells, bones or fossils. Look for ones known as Donut Hole and The Shipwreck.
 

CASSODAY

Teter Rock

The limestone monolith honors James Teter, who piled rocks on the site in the late 1800s to guide pioneers searching for the Cottonwood River. The slabs were later used in building an oil-boom town named for Teter, who owned the land. His descendants replaced it with this memorial in the 1950s.

Give yourself an altitude adjustment at these attractions that take your Kansas experience to new heights.

DERBY

Air Capital Drop Zone

Jump out of a Cessna 182 aircraft at 10,000 feet above the Wichita area, free fall for 5,000 feet, and take a parachute ride to the ground. First-timers take the big leap while safely attached to an experienced tandem instructor.
 

OVERLAND PARK

Old World Balloonery

Float up, up and away in a hot-air balloon with this 50-year-old company and enjoy the lofty views as you drift over the countryside of northeast Kansas. Flights, which launch at sunrise and sunset, last up to an hour.
 

MANHATTAN

Wildwood Adventure Park

A 40-foot free fall caps off the 7-Line Tour at this spot for zealous zipliners. Lines range from 100 feet to 1,400 feet in length—all offering aerial views of the Flint Hills. A 2-mile trail run requires air time, too, with obstacles like a rope climb, monkey bars and hurdles.
 

BONNER SPRINGS

Zip KC

Zipline at speeds approaching 50 mph on the five-line Tower Tour, which ends with a zero-gravity line and a 12-foot free fall. Add zip to a relationship with a Sunset Date Night Tour, or get glowing on a Night Flight Tower Tour.
 

ZipKC (Doug Stremel)