We'll be driving through KS, a bit of OK, and NM for a few days, and are looking for good places to stop and maybe do overnights with a little bit of a hike.

We're lightweight backpackers, but this trip probably won't get us too far from the car.

We're expecting to be in KS the first night, and thought Clark State Fishing and Wildlife area might be a good place. You can apparently camp anywhere there.

Later on we were looking at the Comanche grasslands.

Any ideas? Thanks!

What part of OK?

We're going from Iowa through KS towards AZ, so just the NW tip of OK. It's near several of the national grasslands.

where in NM are you going?

IF you find yourself travelling through the Oklahoma Panhandle to NM the Black Mesa can be a good short hike up to the highest elevation in OK. Watch out for the rattlesnakes!

We're headed towards Sante Fe, but have no real destination.

Thanks, that looks like a good place to stop by!

Depends on where you cut across NM, but there us some great hiking in the north (Sangre de Cristo mountains) near Cimarron, Red River, Eagles Nest and Taos. The Valle Vidal is supremely beautiful and is free to camp in as a national forest. Also, Mt Wheeler (NM tallest) and Little Costilla Mountains are very close by.

Taos is also very nice to visit and you could easily head south from there to end up in Santa Fe.

Any other questions about that area feel free to PM me. Spent a lot of time and summers there as a ranger at Philmont.

I had never been to Kansas until 4 years ago when I drove through on I-70 on the way to Ohio. Having understood that Kansas was flat, I was quite surprised east of Hays to see the beautiful Flint Hills country! At one of the eastbound rest areas, there was over a mile of trail that my dog and I hiked to stretch our legs. It was extremely pleasant, with a lovely stream, plenty of shade and lots of burbling meadow larks (I don't know whether eastern or western, because that's the area where they overlap) and far enough from the freeway that the noise was muted. I didn't want to leave! I just wish I'd had time to detour to some of the places where there are pieces of the original prairie! Per the brochure I picked up at the rest area, there was one only about 30 miles south of I-70 in the middle of Kansas. I suggest you look up some of these for short hikes. If I do that drive again, I will plan an extra day to explore those areas.

+1 for Black Mesa in the far northwestern corner of the Oklahoma panhandle.