pawnee national grasslands

A bit out of the way. In fact. A lot out of the way. A 100 yard rifle range. Concrete tables and adjustable seats for shooting. Porta potty so be prepared. First come first served. But the price is right. free.

A nice area to hike and get out to a quite place where you are likely to see wildlife. Watch out for snakes in the summer but otherwise a great place just about any time of the year.

Think wayyyyyyyyy back to the mini-series Centennial from the '70's. This is the area that was highlighted. Open plains, big sky. Easy hike.

This is out on the prairie with great looking buttes to hike around. You can go just about any time.

Every time my husband and I come out here, it is breathtaking. I really enjoy the wind whispering through the grass. Usually see pronghorn jumping along the paths. Came out here to watch the meteor shower once at night, spectacular!

I have gone to the Grasslands many times over the last few years, and once to Pawnee Buttes. I wish I hadn't bothered today. The area just north of New Raymer has become one big oil drilling site. Workover rigs as far as the eye can see. The drivers for the companies are nice and courteous. One even stopped his truck, gave me directions, then stopped again at the turn off and made sure I got where I was going. Once at the Buttes, however, I could still hear the rig down the road, and now there is a wind farm just east of the Buttes and in pretty much any photo you can take.Overall, quite disappointing, since I know what used to be.

We drove the Birding Trail (just a mile or so west of Briggsdale) it took us along small tracks through this beautiful open landscape. It was easy to imagine the settlers viewing the distant barrier of the Rocky Mountains with awe and unease, or the early First Nation inhabitants out on these majestic plains.We took about 4 hours driving, walking and birding and did not see any other visitors. At peak season around June it will probably be busier. However we saw plenty of birds and great flowers and enjoyed the peace and beauty of the wide open grasslands.Make sure you have plenty of water.

We decided to see this site on our way back to Wisconsin from Denver. Very interesting views, but be prepared for the gravel roads!. We had lots of laugh on our drive there. There is lots of semi-trucks on the roads and some road construction as well as the drilling platforms that take away from the openness of the prairie/grasslands. Go early in the morning or more towards evening as it gets very hot out here in the middle of the summer and there is nothing around for miles and miles, so bring lots of water and make sure you have plenty of gas in your vehicle. Just looking around at the openness and trying to think back at how the wagon trains came through for the Oregon Trail and other trails makes a person wonder how they managed to make it through.

We hiked to the Pawnee Buttes today, and I was reminded how remarkable the views are, how interesting the landscape, the vegetation, the wildlife. I was also reminded of how extensive the oil and gas presence in the area is. There's good and bad here; this was a very depressed area, and now some economic activity is returning. And the roads are certainly improved, though they are full of big trucks now. But the presence of numerous drilling platforms does detract from the openness and the solitude.Once you are at the Pawnee Butte trailhead, though, this falls away. The hike was as remarkable as I remembered, through washes and dry scrubby grasses to the buttes themselves. The views are wonderful, as is the smaller scale view when you look down. We saw wonderful flowers, a horned toad, amazing bird life, and interesting rocks.It was a slice of history, from the millions of years old fossils to the decayed dust bowl towns to the new drilling pads that dot the area. Well worth a visit.

Be prepared for gravel roads. It's better-marked than it used to be as well. The area played a major role in James Michner's "Centennial" and the lore is believable. There's also a campground (for a small fee) nearby just north of Colorado 14 at about the southwest corner of the Grasslands with restrooms and water but no electricity that I know of. The Grasslands' parking lot could be great for thunderstorm watching, not to mention sunrises and sunsets as well.

I really like hiking at Pawnee National Grasslands, it is not to far for me to plan a day hike, walk to the top of one of the bluffs and have lunch. Bring plenty of water it gets really hot out there. It is one of my favorite places to go for a good day hike. If you do not want to be overwhlemed you might want to go early before it gets too hot or not during the summer months.

If you're willing to get off the beaten path, visiting Pawnee Buttes is a worthwhile day hike, about 1 1/2 hours northwest of Fort Collins. Once there, you'll see distant horizons of prairie grass and the massive twin buttes. One of Colorado's larger wind farms, covering miles of the horizon, is nearby. On our loop trail to each of the buttes, we traveled down through a seasonal loop stream and a second one between the buttes. The hike isn't really challenging, and we saw some small lizards and frogs (toads?) along the way. (There is camping available but make sure that you're well equipped with your gustatory needs, because the nearest facilities are many many miles away!)

Drove out to Pawnee Buttes from Fort Collins on State Rt. 14. Nice drive with very little traffic. Take time to stop in Ault and check out the antique stores or have a quick beer at the Buffalo Breath Saloon. Make sure you fill up with gas too, only one gas station for the next hundred miles and that only has 85 octane gas. There are several roads of Rt 14 that head over to the buttes, all are less than dirt roads but drivable because of all the oil truck traffic. The area has changed greatly since I was last there three years ago. There are oil and gas drilling all over about every half mile. You will run into a lot of truck traffic. Though the drivers are respectful and share the road and will often wave. They are a good bunch. The buttes are no longer that wild west grassland with miles and miles of nothing bit grasslands in view. You can no longer enjoy the silence of the true high plains that was once traveled by covered wagons. Also half of the horizon to the NE and East is dominated by Wind turbines. I keep reminding myself that with each turbine may mean less loss of life of those in our armed forces. As for the gas wells there is a lot of fracking going on. Just the noise kinda ruins the experiance. If you do go , and it is interesting to see, give yourself lots of time ( a full day) you will want to hike out to the buttes. Yes, there are "rattlers" but don't let it discourage you the area is open cattle range and grass is grazed shorter than my lawn. Be carfull hiking around in the rocky areas. Feel lucky if you do see one! It will make a great story in your old age. Take time to check out some of the old cemetaries in the area. There are many old abandon buildings in some of the (nearly goast towns) small towns in the area. Great photo ops! Also check out some of the backroads on the way back to the Front Range. You will have a great time experiancing the uniqueness of the plains both old and new.Happy Trails to you

this is a nice area of colorado, with little travel from the outside world, but on a foggy morning, with 5 children in the car, there wasnt much to see (other than the power windmills) so the road boredom really took hold. make sure the weather is clear, and im sure you will enjoy

Loved the lack of traffic on a weekday. If you appreciate the sound of occasional distant gunfire, like we do, you will have a good day in the grasslands.