Kansas is another one of those states that you don’t expect to find many waterfalls. And there aren’t a whole lot of extremely exciting waterfalls here. Of the four waterfalls I visited in April 2014, I would say Bourbon Lake Falls was probably the most interesting.

At 30′ tall, it’s a relatively nice waterfall, and it had some water flowing over it, enough to make the visit worthwhile. From what I understand, there’s only a few months of the year (April to June) where it will be a worthwhile visit. It dries up later in the year as the lake level lowers. I have seen pictures of the falls in higher flow times. The other waterfalls I visited didn’t have a large amount of water flowing either, so I’m guessing it was just a low water year.

Directions:

1. There are numerous ways to arrive at the falls, so I’ll describe one way that’s not particularly difficult. From US-59 south of Moran, turn at the junction of US-59 and KS-203, which at different points in time will be called First Street, Delaware Road, and Indian Road. If you’re headed south on US-59, it would be a left turn.
2. Continue on First/Delaware/Indian and then turn left on 20th Street after a few miles. (You’ll be extremely close to Bourbon Lake.)
3. Drive to the end of 20th Street and turn right on Ivory Road. It’s a gravel road, but you’ll be traveling a short distance just past a little area where you can tell cars have parked before (just past the small bridge over the spillway-related creek).
4. Park your car and follow the trail to the falls. (You’ll be following the stream/creek upstream toward the falls.)

Accessibility: 9/10 (easy)
Height: 30′
Length of Hike: 0.1 miles round-trip

Where in the World is Bourbon Lake Falls?