Wichita Outdoor Activities

A purely recreational facility, Frog Holler Paintball accommodates players age 10 and older across 25 acres of outdoor playing fields. The battle zone spans grounds of tall grasses and scrubby trees interspersed with sheltered hiding spots behind particleboard structures, tractor tires, and overgrown marshmallow bushes. Frog Holler Paintball supplies equipment, paint, and CO2 refills, and opens its fields to walk-on players during the weekend and groups of 15 or more on weekdays.

The executive layout at Sierra Hills Golf Club‎ presents a par 58 course that covers 3,100 yards and features 4 par 4s and 14 par 3s. The terrain careens across gently undulating bluegrass and past six water features, including a crescent-shaped pond that wraps itself nearly all the way around one of the greens, forming a moat to prevent local mini-golf courses from setting up windmill colonies. The 18th hole offers a dramatic end to the round, as golfers must send approach shots soaring over a water hazard stationed directly in front of the green. Sierra Hills Golf Club‎ complements its pared-down layout with a full-length, 35-stall, natural-grass driving range, where guests can drive or bicycle-kick practice balls up to 300 yards into the distance.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 58 course designed by Leo Johnson
• Course rating of 70
• Slope rating of 113
• Three sets of tees

Paintballers belly crawl through tall grasses and weeds as their opponents hunker behind fence posts, sandbags, and trees. Within wooden structures teammates strategize and hatch plans of attack before flanking the other team and firing off kaleidoscopic-like rounds of eco-friendly paintballs.

Traversing 54 acres comprising six woodsball courses and two speedball fields, players at The Edge Paintball Adventures navigate varying terrain, including a stream bordered by long stalks of golden grass and overgrown, tree-bordered fields full of thistle, shrubs, and dandelions gone to seed. A staff of trained referees maintain order on themed courses such as Assassin's Alley, where snipers lay in wait or Firebase Bravo, which sports a mammoth bunker that encourages use of paint grenades.

The course architect incorporated the area's natural terrain when designing Highlands Golf Club's 18-hole course, sculpting narrow fairways through native tall grass, using sand hills as natural hazards, and enlisting the population of red foxes to serve as forecaddies. The end result is a 6,650-yard labyrinth of zoysia grass that winds through the rolling hills of Reno County. The challenging course makes accurate shot making a premium, as golfers must avoid multiple water hazards in addition to the tough lies that await off the fairways. Golfers can load their Scottish quivers with new golf balls after a preround visit to the pro shop and relax after rounds at the club's onsite restaurant.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course

• Length of 6,650 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 73.8 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 133 from the farthest tees

A nine-hole course ideal for a leisurely midday game or early morning jaunt, Clearwater Golf Course unfolds across level terrain unencumbered by an overabundance of sand bunkers and water hazards. Hurtling orbs sail into the sky at an onsite driving range, where players can hone swings in anticipation of holes four, five, and nine, numbers which not only signify Clearwater’s toughest obstacles, but also the toughest questions on the drivers-ed exam for a golf cart.

The animal-loving owners of Tanganyika Wildlife Park know that in order to save endangered animals, humans must feel a strong connection to them. It is the park’s mission to foster this connection by putting visitors in close contact with its rare animals. Visitors can gaze at cheetahs and red pandas and feed reticulated giraffes and African spur-thighed tortoises, which are best known for their role in slow-motion Westerns. The park also safeguards endangered animals from extinction by breeding species such as clouded leopards and amur leopards.