Canning Creek

Canning Creek Cove Park is located on the 3,310-acre Council Grove Lake in the green expanses of eastern Kansas. Boating is a popular pastime, and two boat ramps are located in the campground. The lake is known for its fishing, with crappie and catfish the most abundant, and Council Grove was the first lake in Kansas to receive stocking of saugeye. Hunters will find quail, wild turkey, deer, squirrels, bobcats, coyotes, ducks and geese on the nearly 2,700 acres of public hunting land surrounding the lake. Hiking trails wind along the lakeshore and into the forest; Pioneer Nature Trail is known as the most scenic, with plenty of wildlife, greenery and wildflowers. Council Grove is also a starting point for the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway, which travels through the best of the remaining remnants of the Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem in North America. Along the byway 25 miles south is the National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, with colorful wildflowers in spring and an array of autumn colors in fall. Canning Creek offers 43 reservable campsites, including three group sites accommodating 40, 75 and 100 guests. Electric hookups, flush toilets and other modern amenities are provided, and the campground has plenty of shade along with open grassy areas for games and recreation. Council Grove Lake sits in the rolling, grassy prairie of east Kansas known as the Flint Hills, created by a dam built in 1964. Historically this area is where the Osage Indians signed a treaty to establish the Old Santa Fe Trail, and a marker in the town of Council Grove indicates where. The town, about 2 miles southeast of the lake, is a National Historic District with seven Santa Fe National Historic Trail sites.