The Santa Fe Trail at Fort Larned
in Kansas
Stop 7 - The Santa Fe Trail at Fort Larned Wagon trains following the Dry Route crossed the river near the modern water tower on the horizon and passed the south side of Fort Larned near where you're standing. Some wagons followed the north bank of the river, crossing on the west side of Fort Larned. Fort Larned's sandstone blocks were quarried to the left of the water tower.
You can explore other places along the Santa Fe Trail using the Santa Fe National Historic Trail's Oncell cell phone tour.
- States
- Kansas
- Trail type
- National Historic Site trail
- Centroid nearest city
- Wichita, KS · 108 mi · ~3.1 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 38.1848°, -99.2122°
About Fort Larned National Historic Site
This trail is inside Fort Larned National Historic Site, a national historic site managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Conditions, road status, trail closures, and reservation requirements are published on the park's NPS page — check it before driving in, especially in winter or during major weather events.
Official NPS trail page: https://www.nps.gov/places/the-santa-fe-trail-at-fort-larned.htm
Park homepage: https://www.nps.gov/fols/index.htm
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked The Santa Fe Trail at Fort Larned and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.