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The Overland Directory

Training in Kansas

Driver training, recovery courses, field repair and wilderness first aid, taught by people who do it for a living.

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Kansas by the numbers

Of Kansas is federal land 1
0.5%
254,412 of 52,510,720 acres, as of September 30, 2024
Acres in the Cimarron National Grassland 2
108,175
The Forest Service calls it the largest area of public land in Kansas and the only parcel it manages here. The CRS counts 108,621 Forest Service acres in the state
Of BLM land in the whole state 1
9 acres
The Park Service holds 465 acres and the Fish and Wildlife Service 29,590
Mount Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas 19
4,039 ft
Wallace County. The lowest point is 679 feet on the Verdigris River in Montgomery County
Miles of rural county road 21
109,434
More than any state except Texas. Kansas has 138,975 miles of public road in all, the fifth most of any state
Federal campgrounds a vehicle can reach 17
49
All of them Army Corps of Engineers sites, at 14 reservoirs, and all of them reservable
Acres in Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve 9
Nearly 11,000
The Park Service says less than 4 percent of the tallgrass prairie is still intact, mostly in the Kansas Flint Hills
Tornadoes a year, 1991 to 2010 37
Just under 100
Kansas has had six F5 or EF5 tornadoes since 1950, the third most of any state

Skills Kansas actually tests

Gravel at speed, mud recovery, sand in a dry riverbed and storm judgement. A course here should cover loose-surface braking and steering, reading a low-water crossing before you enter it, winching with no tree in sight, and airing down for the sand on the Cimarron River Trail. It should also cover what to do when a severe thunderstorm warning lands while you are two hours from pavement, because that decision is the one that matters most on the plains.

The full guide to overlanding Kansas

What training covers

Training is the cheapest upgrade there is. It costs less than a bumper, weighs nothing, and works on every vehicle you will ever own.

Common courses

  1. 01Driving: line choice, throttle and brake control, airing down, spotting
  2. 02Recovery: safe rigging, winching and kinetic recovery
  3. 03Field repair: tires, fluids, electrical faults and improvised fixes
  4. 04Navigation and communication
  5. 05Wilderness first aid

How to choose a course

Small classes and real terrain.

  1. 01Ask about class size and how much time you spend driving rather than watching.
  2. 02Ask whether you train in your own vehicle. You should.
  3. 03Ask about the instructors' certification and how long they have been teaching.
  4. 04Ask what terrain the course uses, and what to bring.

Why it is worth it

A trained driver breaks less, gets stuck less and recovers more safely. Most vehicle damage on the trail comes from speed and poor line choice, and most recovery injuries come from rigging that someone guessed at.

Questions people ask

I have driven dirt roads for years. Is a course worth it?

Most experienced drivers say the recovery day alone was worth it. Rigging a winch pull safely is not something to work out for the first time when you are stuck.

Do I need a built vehicle to attend?

No. Most introductory courses are designed for stock four-wheel-drive vehicles, and learning what a stock vehicle can do is the point.

How high is Kansas?

From Manhattan at 1,023 feet to Mount Sunflower at 4,039. Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.

Towns

  1. Goodland On I-70 at US 24 in Sherman County, close to the Colorado line and the last services of any size on the interstate. 3,684 ft
  2. Elkhart Last town before the Cimarron National Grassland. The grassland office is on Highway 56 here, and Highway 27 runs north past Point of Rocks. 3,588 ft
  3. Sharon Springs On US 40 in Wallace County, the nearest town to Mount Sunflower and the state high point. 3,474 ft
  4. Saint Francis On US 36 in Cheyenne County, the base for the Arikaree Breaks on the county road grid to the north. 3,316 ft
  5. Oakley At I-70 and US 83 in the chalk country. Monument Rocks, Castle Rock and Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park are all reached from here on county roads. 3,067 ft
  6. Garden City On US 50 and US 83 in the western Arkansas valley, with services in every direction. 2,840 ft
  7. Liberal A service town in the far southwest corner, on the way between Dodge City and the Oklahoma panhandle. 2,835 ft
  8. Dodge City Where US 50, US 56 and US 283 meet on the Arkansas River. The usual resupply before the southwest corner. 2,492 ft
  9. Hays On I-70 at US 183, and the way into post rock country on the back roads east of town. 2,024 ft
  10. Larned Beside Fort Larned National Historic Site, which the Park Service calls a well-preserved fort on the Santa Fe Trail. 2,003 ft
  11. Great Bend On US 56 and US 281 at the bend of the Arkansas River. Cheyenne Bottoms lies northeast in Barton County. 1,851 ft
  12. Medicine Lodge East end of the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway on US 160 and the start of the Gyp Hills Scenic Drive three miles west. 1,498 ft
  13. Wichita On I-35 and US 54 in south-central Kansas, the main workshop and parts base for the southern half of the state. 1,303 ft
  14. Council Grove North end of the Flint Hills Scenic Byway on K-177, and an important Santa Fe Trail crossing of the Neosho River. Council Grove Lake carries seven Corps of Engineers campgrounds. 1,234 ft
  15. Cottonwood Falls On K-177 in Chase County beside Strong City, from which Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is two miles north. 1,206 ft
  16. Manhattan Where K-177 meets US 24 below Tuttle Creek Lake. Pillsbury Crossing and its limestone ford are about seven miles southeast. 1,023 ft

Passes, high roads and summits

  1. Mount Sunflower The highest point in Kansas, on private land the owners open to visitors. No road to the top 4,039 ft
  2. Point of Rocks Point of Rocks 3,540 ft
  3. Point of Rocks Cimarron National Grassland Auto Tour: Elkhart, the Cimarron River and Point of Rocks 3,540 ft
  4. Monument Rocks Our own reading of the elevation surface at its map point in the Gove County chalk. The USGS names service files it as the Chalk Pyramids 2,660 ft
  5. Castle Rock Castle Rock and the chalk badlands: South of I-70 in Gove County, east of Oakley 2,430 ft

Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates), retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.

Sources for this page

38
  1. Congressional Research Service. Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data (R42346), Tables 1 and 2, data as of September 30, 2024. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  2. USDA Forest Service, Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. About the Area. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  3. USDA Forest Service, Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Cimarron National Grassland recreation region. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  4. USDA Forest Service, Cimarron National Grassland. Cimarron National Grassland Auto Tour, and the Cimarron Campground page it sits beside. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  5. USDA Forest Service, Cimarron National Grassland. Cimarron Campground. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  6. USDA Forest Service, Cimarron National Grassland. Cimarron River Trail #1842. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  7. USDA Forest Service, Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Off-Highway Vehicles (OHV). Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  8. USDA Forest Service, Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Fire Restrictions. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  9. National Park Service. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  10. National Park Service, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Directions and Transportation. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  11. National Park Service. Kansas: parks and trails. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  12. National Park Service, Santa Fe National Historic Trail. History and Culture. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  13. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  14. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge: About Us. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  15. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  16. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  17. Recreation.gov. Recreation Information Database (RIDB) full export. Federal campgrounds a vehicle can reach, grouped by managing agency and unit. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  18. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center. Corps Lakes Gateway: Kansas. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  19. U.S. Geological Survey. Elevations and Distances in the United States, online edition. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  20. U.S. Geological Survey. Geographic Names Information System and 3D Elevation Program point query. Elevation of the 3DEP surface at the GNIS coordinates of the named place, rounded to the nearest foot. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  21. Federal Highway Administration. Highway Statistics 2023, Table HM-10: Public Road Length, Miles by Ownership (November 19, 2024). Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  22. Federal Highway Administration. America's Byways: Kansas. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  23. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Mount Sunflower. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  24. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Red Hills Scenic Drives. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  25. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Scenic Drives in the Flint Hills. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  26. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Arikaree Breaks. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  27. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Castle Rock. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  28. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Big Basin and Little Basin. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  29. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Glacial Hills Scenic Byway. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  30. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Post Rock Country. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  31. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Cheyenne Bottoms. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  32. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Point of Rocks. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  33. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas. GeoKansas: Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  34. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 32-901: Park and recreation motor vehicle permits; certain license plates constitute permits; fees; posting of information. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  35. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 8-15,100: Operation of all-terrain vehicles; where; when; exceptions. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  36. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 21-5808: Criminal trespass. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  37. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. State Climate Summaries 2022: Kansas. Retrieved September 19, 2026.
  38. National Weather Service. Wind Safety. Retrieved September 19, 2026.

Reviewed September 19, 2026. Conditions, closures and rules change; check with the managing agency before you travel.

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