Smoky Valley Scenic Byway
Smoky Valley Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Kansas. Within Kansas it covers roughly 60 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Smoky Valley Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Kansas's Smoky Valley Scenic Byway is a 60-mile horseshoe loop through Trego and Ness Counties, circling Cedar Bluff State Park along the Smoky Hill River Valley. The route crosses the historic Smoky Hill Trail, marked today by two limestone monuments where the Butterfield Overland Despatch stage line once carried gold seekers, pioneers, and freight between Fort Leavenworth and Denver just after the Civil War. Near Cedar Bluff, Threshing Machine Canyon takes its name from an 1867 attack on a wagon train hauling a threshing machine to Brigham Young in Salt Lake City; trail travelers carved their names into the canyon walls, some still visible today. The Smoky Hills themselves are named for the hazy blue-gray light they take on at sunrise and sunset. Historic schoolhouses, settler-built churches, and the Trego County Historical Museum round out a drive that mixes Overland Trail history with some of northwest Kansas's most distinctive limestone scenery.
- Cedar Bluff State Park
- Smoky Hill Trail
- 60-mile loop
- Butterfield Overland Despatch
- Threshing Machine Canyon
- Trego and Ness Counties
- 1867 wagon train attack
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What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Smoky Valley Scenic Byway
No campgrounds are listed close to Smoky Valley Scenic Byway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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