“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.”
Henry David Thoreau
About Kansas City Hiker
We’re your go-to guide for walking, trails and hiking in the metro area.
Kansas City Hiker is your definitive guide to walking and hiking trails in the Greater Kansas City area. We highlight trails in Cass, Clay, Jackson, Johnson, Platte and Wyandotte counties. Although seasoned hikers will enjoy these trails, this guide is designed for every hiker and walker – not just Appalachian Trail types. We include information on the suitability of trails for children, strollers and people with disabilities.
There are other places to get local hiking information, but our experience led us to the conclusion that a comprehensive resource was needed. Government websites are often lean on details and seriously out of date. There are trail apps, but they’re not local and the information they offer is often left up to people who leave ratings and comments. And often you have to pay.
The difference with Kansas City Hiker? We’re local and passionate about hiking in KC. We walk these trails ourselves, so we truly care. On this website, we only list trails we’ve personally walked. Sure, that limits our listings, but we also have confidence in what is here. There are some trails we simply won’t list because we can’t recommend them due to maintenance issues or safety hazards.
Although our site has a strong list of entries, it’s constantly growing. We have a wealth of great places to experience the outdoors in KC so our work will never be done. And that’s a good thing.
About the publisher
Hiking brings families together and is a tradition in our household.
Kansas City Hiker is published by Roy Harryman, a lifelong resident and hiker of the Kansas City area. He is the principal of Roy Harryman Marketing Communications and is also the publisher of Lee’s Summit Go, an outdoors website. Roy is a longtime member of the International Association of Business Communicators’ Kansas City board.
He was introduced to trails and hiking as a preschooler. That’s when his dad took him on frequent outings to keep him from annoying the rest of the household with hyperactivity and general mayhem. Through the years Roy has hiked in and visited many national parks and forests. But he never left KC, raised his family here and has undertaken many hiking adventures with them.
Roy still finds it thrilling to discover wonders of nature right outside his front door. The goal of Kansas City Hiker is to help you do the same.