Ernie Miller Nature Center

Such a great place to experience a bit of nature. I love walking the trails especially, but when my boys were younger, we enjoyed the nature center, animals and exhibits.

Great place to take your family!
The nature building is nice in that you’ll get a chance to see some indigenous Kansas wildlife. On display during our visit:
–Tiger Salamander
–Box Turtles
–Fish such as blue gill, sunfish, and catfish
–Barn owl
–Honed owl
–Barred Owl
–Red Tail Hawk
The trails are quite nice as well. We did one of the shorter paved ones, but there were off-​shoots into the woods. Even noticed a wild box turtle crossing the path and a skink on a log.
Very nice place to come when you wish to unplug.

Amazing hiking trails and scenic creek areas, this has to be one of the most well-​maintained and functional trails in the metro area.
the tree foliage towers over the trails, so even on extremely hot days, the sun is shaded enough to keep you from being burned. They also do a fair job of maintaining the paths although lately there has been a lack of shrub trim.
I also have to say this is a great place for bird watchers as well. Nice variety of fowl at any given time of the year.
Note to mountain bikers, this is a walking trail ONLY. It’s not designed for your bike’s tires and all you will do is ruin the path for hikers in the future (many water puddles from tire tracks). Please take your off-​road escapades to Shawnee Mission Park.

Do you love trails?! Do you love nature?! Well, I’ve got the place for YOU! It’s the Ernie Miller Nature Center, and it’s NATURIFIC!
Really, I’m not saying this to be snarky. It’s actually really awesome. Here’s why :
I grew up in the SF Bay Area, and one of the things my mother used to do with us kids on the weekends (usually a Sunday, when she was particularly sick of us being around the house) was to pack our snotty asses up and take us to Tilden Park or Kennedy Grove and just let us run around on the trails, picking up sticks, looking at tracks and creeks and rocks and moss and stuff into our clothes were filthy and senses filled with what was the closest thing to being away from civilization as possible for a poor single-​mom in the East Bay.
Fast forward to my own single-​parenthood, cooped-​up Sunday with kids going bonkers, and it hits me: GET THEM INTO NATURE! So I says to the kids, I says: «Drop yer blocks and grab yer socks, we’re buggin’ out!»
«Where are we going?!», they bleated, to which I tell them, «It’s like a park, but you might get eaten!»
So we drive out to the (shudder) Olathe outskirts to Eddie Miller’s Center of Nature, and no sooner are we out of the car, but we see a bunch of other families, surely there for the exact same reason. I nod at the Dads and wink at the Moms, and like a flash, the kids just want to dash across the first wooden bridge they see at the trailhead. The bait has been taken…
And we walk! And they ask, «What are we gonna see, Daddy?» And I just easily walk along, a slow stride, looking up at the rocking, bare treetops and say, «What we see, kids. We’ll see what we see…»
And boy did they see. They didn’t wanna take the short trails, either. They wanted the long ones, the ones that would take them further, higher, deeper into the brush, the trees, the mud, the leaves, and no mention of possible wild animals, poison plants, or hobo encampments kept them from wanting to go further into the recesses of the Natural Center of Ernie Miller.
Seriously, these kids wouldn’t stop! I actually was thinking I may have to start eating wild berries or something to keep up. We went the big-​ass trail, too (It’s not really called that), and the ONLY bummer about it is that that one kinda goes near nasty ol’ K-​7 at one point. But we just pretended it was some kind of weird intermittent waterfall instead of cars making all the noise at that part of the trail.
By the time we’d gotten to the end of the trail (a mile around, maybe?), the kids seriously wanted to go AGAIN, like they’d just been on some carnival ride. I had to be the party-​pooper and remind them that they needed to eat and probably wash themselves before somebody thought we were some kind of backwoods family come out th’ forest fer some soo-​plies at the Gen’rul Store or what-​not.
So, dirty and exhausted and filled with awesome, we got back in the car and drove back to our city-​slicker livin’ home, kids asleep in a matter of minutes, being worn out from the exertion of… well, being something alive within something alive.
And upon that drive home, I recollected my favorite moment during the walk: I had stopped the kids on the trail and said, «Hey guys… listen…», and they stopped, looking up, looking around, hearing nothing but the wind and tree branches banging against each other, for a good few minutes.
«Remember this, you guys…», I recommended… much the same way my Mom did when we were kids…

I was a child who leaned on her idols, many of whom were fictional and depicted in books (Pippi Longstocking), fictional and depicted on TV (Morticia Adams), real and depicted on TV (Cher) or real and depicted in books… and wrote the books herself (Laura Ingalls Wilder).
For many children, the fantasy lands of art, literature, film, and even TV is integral to a childhood rich with imagination. Happy times, right?
As a child, I loved contemplating times of yore. When Christmas gifts of oranges and a metal cup were cherished, for example and meals of gruel were not only tolerated but made into plates of fancy.
What does any of this have to do with the Ernie Miller Nature Center, you ask? On Saturday, I brought my young charge, the impressionable and imaginative Miss Z, to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthday party held here. Although the event listing on the website suggested pioneer attire, I thought that was written in jest. I was pleasantly surprised to see all the girls and their moms show up in costume! Sadly, I had to retire my bonnet years ago, so neither myself nor Miss Z was in costume.
Costuming aside, we had a lot of wonderful things in store for us. First, Laura Ingalls Wilder showed up to talk to all of us about the stories of her childhood. I couldn’t believe they were able to get her to show up, as I’m sure she’s a super busy lady, what with all that butter to churn and fields to tend to… not to mention books to pen. But she entertained us for quite a while and everyone in the room was fascinated with her storytelling ability. How awesome it is for girls to put down their Bratz dolls (or Diva dolls, whatever they’re called this year) and think about a super cool pioneer girl who 100 years ago enticed her arch enemy to swim with the leeches when she dissed her homestead.
Next, we were divided into groups that got to learn how to make rag dolls (Miss Z’s favorite), see how it is to learn in a one-​room school house, and join in some country dancin’. Oh, and I totally didn’t realize that they had cupcakes back in the pioneer days, but these were appropriately small, in keeping with those leaner times.
The «show» ended with one of the nature center’s volunteers coming in with a magnificent barred owl on her arm. It didn’t seem particularly interested in any of us, but then again, we weren’t a bunch of tiny rodents.
The grounds of the nature center look like they’d be wonderful for a hiking expedition in better weather. It’s open all winter, as you can explore the main building’s wildlife exhibits and bird watching.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the really fantastic events that go on here regularly.

I went here about a year ago in the midst of the ice storm, so I didn’t go on any of the trails, but did go inside the nature center. They had several owls and a snake or two. I keep meaning to go back during better weather to explore the trails.

This is the first nature center in Johnson County, and it is very well done. They have a nature center and a myriad of programs that are nature related. The hiking trails can be confusing, not labeled well, but vary in challenging degrees. The paved are the easiest and shortest but are connected by several unpaved trails that are steep and also at some points a bit treacherous. You have the option to pass through or walk over creeks surrounded by trees, birds and flowers.
The Ernie Miller Nature Center is a great hiking area for any hiker.

This place has potential. Very nice hiking trails, some paved, some unpaved. Biking allowed on paved trails too. Looking forward to a return visit when I can check out the center (closed on Sundays in the summer).
From the website…
«Ernie Miller Nature Center was the first Nature Center in Johnson County.
The Center provides an opportunity for learning, understanding, and admiring nature’s ever– changing ways. It is the focal point of cultural, historical, and environmental education programming offered to all ages by the Johnson County Park and Recreation District. The Center contains displays, live animals, and Nature’s Corner Gift Shop, along with a friendly, knowledgeable staff eager to share their knowledge of nature.»