Ernie Miller Nature Park in Olathe, Kansas

Whether you work/reside in an urban, suburban, small-town, or rural setting, odds are you've got at least one or two familiar getaways you continually revisit to "clear the cobwebs" from your mind--or perhaps merely to relish an outdoor saunter amid a pristine, natural setting (or the illusion of such). For the purposes of this discussion, I'm referring to city parks (or parks on the outskirts).

Ernie Miller Nature Park in Olathe, Kansas

Among various outdoor getaways in my area, Ernie Miller Nature Park just happens to be the best choice for easy "forest-hiking" within five miles of my residence. Other nice parks (including 1,160-acre Heritage Park and Lake) lie much closer but have walking trails not so thoroughly rustic or wooded. And still other hiking havens (including 300-acre Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens) are even more impressively and pristinely wooded than Ernie Miller but lie a few minutes farther away.

With its (2005) estimated population of 111,334, the city of Olathe in Northeast Kansas is (according to Wikipedia) "one of the fastest growing (cities) in the nation. A 2005 article in the magazine Midwest Living cited Olathe as the second most livable city with a population larger than 100,000 in the Midwest. In 2006 CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Olathe 13th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States." Olathe is likewise "the fifth largest city included in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area."

I actually hadn't realized my town was rated so highly. But I do know that city life--even in a relatively young, low-crime, burgeoning 'burb--now and again compels me to get away, if only for an hour or few. And among the parks within Olathe's own city limits, "Ernie Miller" is my favorite.

How this Park Got Its Name

Ernie W. Miller--whose accomplishments as a "favorite son" of Olathe were rich and varied--died at age 75 in 1966. Shortly thereafter, the Olathe city commissioners purchased this large tract of land to create a memorial park. The "Nature Center" (i.e., the park's main building or "visitor center") was dedicated in 1985 and recently has been greatly expanded.

Directions

Note: the three URL's appended to this review include helpful information. The first of those URL's displays a colorful map indicating most of the trails and features that I'll discuss. Also, beyond checking out the third URL, consult a complete Kansas map to see other approaches to Highway K-7.

If you enter Olathe from Interstate 35, turn west on Santa Fe (135th Street) and proceed about three miles to Highway K-7. Turn right (north) and proceed about one mile to the park entrance on the left (west) side of the highway. There are stoplights at that intersection, and the street sign says "Ernie Miller".

Major sectors, landmarks and amenities (generally discussed in the order you could actually encounter them after entering the park):

Entrance and Smaller Parking Area

Very shortly after entering the park from Highway K-7, you'll find that you must either turn left into a parking/picnicking area, or you must take the right-hand road, which leads to a larger parking area overlooking the Nature Center building. The left-hand option involves a typical picnic shelter (i.e., an open, roofed structure with ten picnic tables but no grill); a pay phone; and, more to the point, the primary entrance to the "Old South Trail".

Old South Trail

Caution: this trail (not to mention certain other unpaved and intermittently hilly trails elsewhere in the park) is clearly NOT wheelchair-accessible. In fact, due to the occasional hilliness throughout much of the park (with the noteworthy exception of the paved Bittersweet Trail, which--if you can reach it safely--is largely flat enough to be excellent for wheelchairs), non-ambulatory visitors or their assistants should observe reasonable caution even on a few (significantly inclined) stretches of various paved walkways. No portion of the 1.75-mile-long South Trail is paved or conspicuously modernized, though--as with the Upper Ridge Trail--there is some judicious, occasional use of large, rustic, wood beams to control erosion and provide better footing on inclines. Make sure your shoes are reasonably tight-fitting and good for walking somewhat rough and occasionally hilly terrain. And--as with many parks--from spring through fall (before the first frost), you might be wise to apply some insect repellent to your ankles, beltline, and neck lest you encounter the occasional chigger (especially if you stray from the main path or brush against vegetation).

Also note: During the warmer months of the school year, there are occasional field trips to this park. Generally, such groups of supervised (but scarcely silent!) young children appear to avoid the relatively lengthy Old South Trail in favor of the other portions of the park.

You'll need to walk very slightly southeast of the aforementioned picnic shelter to enter the Old South Trail, which is the park's longest walking trail. Don't proceed far into it unless you can commit to more than just a ten-minute saunter. About twenty minutes should suffice for the average healthy adult to continuously walk this rustic trail till it terminates at the south end of the Bittersweet Trail (see below).

A couple of early stretches of the winding Old South Trail unfortunately involve a bit of traffic noise from nearby K-7 highway. That tolerable noise wanes and becomes basically inaudible shortly after the trail begins meandering mostly westward before finally turning northward. You'll know when the trail has suddenly turned north, if only because (looking to your left) you'll readily espy a rudimentary, er, restroom at a short distance near one border of the park. [Note: Though handy for emergencies, that anomalous, dual-door, all-too-crude privy will not be favored by refined ladies, and even the most macho gents are advised either to remain standing after briefly entering or, better still, just wait another ten to twelve minutes till you can reach the Nature Center building with its three pairs of clean, indoor public restrooms.

Also remember that "this ain't Dodge", it's northeastern Kansas, which includes the occasionally steep hill to punctuate the otherwise gently sloping walking experience. Don't try walking the entire length of the Old South Trail (or, for that matter, the Upper and Lower "Ridge" trails discussed below) unless you're wearing comfortable shoes that are at least reasonably good for hiking. I've never had any problem wearing ordinary jogging or tennis shoes, though "hiking" high-tops would be still better (and conceivably spare certain individuals a stumble or turned ankle). Though much of the trail isn't steeply sloped, you'd best keep one eye to the ground so as not to trip on the intermittent tree roots or rocky inclines. I appreciate that this path hasn't been unduly "improved" but instead provides the illusion of walking through a pristinely natural, eastern-Kansas forest. A broken canopy of tree branches lightly shades you from on high at many points, although partway into this trail you'll be briefly flanked on your left by a clearing comprising tall-grass prairie.

Among the park's numerous deciduous tree, shrub and vine species are the bur oak, hackberry, black walnut, American elm, sumac, buckbrush and bittersweet. I particularly noticed the prevalence of the Eastern Red Cedar, which is Kansas' only native evergreen tree.

Unless you arrive during the weekend, the odds are good you'll never encounter a single human soul along the length of this trail. (The same is often true for the below-discussed Upper and Lower Ridge trails.) And even on an early Saturday afternoon, I recently passed but two slowly walking couples along the earliest stretch of this trail; beyond that, I was blissfully alone, excepting such entities as a persistently tapping red-headed woodpecker and a standoffish white-tailed deer. Toward the end of this trail I also spotted a large hawk quietly flapping at close range from a treetop above me.

At only one or two points will you encounter a simple bench upon which to rest or reflect.

After the Old South Trail eventually curves northward, it finally connects with the (paved) Bittersweet Trail discussed below. At that point you can either: (1) continue north toward the Nature Center building (passing, successively, a modest outdoor amphitheater and a pond on the way); or (2) you can eschew the modern blacktop by turning left (southwest) to cross a scenic arched bridge fairly high above Little Cedar Creek and begin walking either the Upper or the Lower "Ridge" trail running parallel with the creek.

Main Parking

Entering the park from Highway K-7, if you're like many (probably the majority of) visitors, you'll skip the above-described Old South Trail and follow the right-hand road. A moment thereafter you'll arrive at the somewhat larger, main parking area (highlighted by tall flagpoles), which is at a higher elevation than the park's primary attractions. This means you'll need to descend a somewhat steep hill (past some "tall-grass" terrain) to reach the attractive Nature Center building and the other featured walking trails, some of which are smoothly paved blacktop, and others of which are naturally and (to my sensibility) pleasingly rough--though still fairly easy to walk for most fit folks.

The "Nature Center" Building

Nature Center hours:
Monday-Saturday: 9:00 A.M.-4:30 P.M.
Sunday: 12:30 P.M.-4:30 P.M.
Closed noon-1 P.M. (lunch)
Phone: (913) 764-7759

This is the park's primary man-made structure (not to mention two sizable picnic shelters; a basic outdoor amphitheater; and a scenic, arched bridge over Little Cedar Creek).

Outside the Nature Center, you'll readily notice two large, attractively constructed cages vaguely resembling gazebos. In one there's a Red-tailed Hawk, and in the other a Barred Owl. Both birds have been long-familiar park residents, and, whether you opt to enter the building or pursue the adjacent walkway to the nearby Bittersweet Trail, you'll likely enjoy pausing to appreciate those avian displays.

Inside the Nature Center you'll initially encounter a room comprising a gift shop (featuring books about plants and animals of Kansas) and several small-animal exhibits. The latter include terrariums with local snake and amphibian species. This might be many folks' only opportunity to view Kansas salamanders close up.

Perhaps the only noteworthily unpleasant thing I encountered in this park was inside the gift-shop room. The woman there could evince a more consistently courteous demeanor. A visitor should feel a guest, not a pest.

After entering the gift shop, if you look to the right you'll notice a larger room with an attractive fireplace and a high ceiling. Here there are occasional presentations (scheduled primarily on weekends) where, as the park's web site states, "Park Rangers and Naturalists present a variety of fun, educational programs for all ages." I must confess I haven't availed myself of any of those periodic programs, many of which are presumably targeted to parents or grandparents with youngsters.

In recent years, the Nature Center has been greatly expanded, such that there now are additional rooms of some interest. According to the park's web site:

"A major expansion of the Nature Center has been completed and has added more than 5,800 square feet to the facility. New amenities include a multipurpose room, an exhibit room, a wildlife-viewing room facing the woods and a 500-gallon aquarium featuring native fish."

You can access those fairly recently added rooms by proceeding leftward after initially entering the gift-shop area. I duly appreciated the bright new rooms and their modest exhibits; and if you visit this park, you'll certainly want to pause and enjoy the entire Nature Center, at least briefly; however, being of a Thoreauvian bent, I didn't discover any indoor amenities so gratifying as the park's open-air greenery, wildlife and walking trails. [I would suggest that someday the largest of those new rooms could be transformed into a bona fide, multifaceted, natural-history museum to attract, entertain and teach visitors.]

Modern public restrooms are also provided inside the Nature Center. You can usually directly access the first pair of those via doors on the northeast side of the building; two additional pairs of (still nicer) restrooms are accessible only from further inside the building, as are water fountains.

Bittersweet Trail

This trail is only a third of a mile long and is handicapped-accessible. And because it's almost directly adjacent to the Nature Center building and is smoothly blacktopped, some visitors will spend the lion's share of their walking time on it. Basically, its layout is a simple oval that you can traverse pretty quickly. But there's also a paved walkway connecting Bittersweet Trail to the aforementioned Old South Trail as well as the approach to the scenic arched bridge over Little Cedar Creek. (After crossing that bridge you can take either the Lower or the Upper Ridge trails, discussed below.)

Near the beginning of this trail (between the aforementioned outdoor bird cages), there's a self-serve dispenser containing copies of a softbound, illustrated booklet titled "Bittersweet Trail Guide". This booklet shows and describes various fauna and flora you can encounter in the park. You can briefly borrow one of these booklets (and return it to the dispenser after you finish your nature walk); or you can purchase one by leaving a dollar in the dispenser.

Aside from the usual gray or fox squirrels and various bird species, over the past year I've encountered several glass lizards, box turtles, and even a large, handsome Black Rat Snake casually crossing the blacktop of this trail. White-tailed deer can sometimes be spotted beside this trail, though you'd be more likely to spot one along the South or the Ridge trails.

Upper and Lower Ridge Trails

Though a mile shorter than the Old South Trail, the primary stretch of the Upper Ridge Trail has definite advantages. For one thing, no portion of Upper Ridge Trail is near the intermittently noisy K-7 highway; moreover, it not only provides a scenic overview of Little Cedar Creek but directly intersects with it at one noteworthy point (see below).

Unlike the relatively shorter stretch of Lower Ridge Trail running in a mostly parallel direction (and closely flanking Little Cedar Creek), the Upper Ridge Trail allows you to enjoy a short but steep climb (inadvisable for toddlers, some elderly folks, or anyone with a weak heart) after you cross an attractive, gently arched bridge fairly high above Little Cedar Creek. Once you're on the "upper" terrain, just continue to the right (northwestward) and follow the Upper Ridge Trail as it pleasingly meanders midst the woodlands, with a nice view of Little Cedar Creek far below and to the right.

After perhaps five minutes of continuous walking, you'll reach a bend of the creek where you are compelled to cross some very shallow water by stepping across several large, natural rocks. Step carefully onto the centers (not the edges) of those stepping-stones, for this is only somewhat a "man-made" crossing. In fact, if the creek is currently running high, you just might have to wet your soles slightly. And good luck gracefully ascending the opposite, steep bank if there's recently been a hard rain! ;-)

Perhaps some citified visitors will eschew the awkwardness of such an experience and retrace their steps to the man-made bridge. But I'm grateful that that creek crossing--like much of the park--hasn't been excessively "improved" and provides "children of all ages" a rustic little adventure. Unlike some other parks--with their plethora of posted markers for trails and trees--Ernie Miller largely revives the ambrosial feeling I had as a kid savoring solitary explorations of an enchantingly un-improvable portion of my grandparents' farm.

RELATED URL's:

HELPFUL MAP OF PARK, INDICATING ABOVE-DISCUSSED FEATURES:
www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/map_ernie_miller.cfm

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARK:
www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/ernie_miller.cfm

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION, INCLUDING DIRECTIONS:
www.naturalkansas.org/ernie.htm