Colorado Less Traveled: Journeys Off the Beaten Path

{From Part I, The Plains) The wide expanse of eastern Colorado's short-grass prairie seems empty at first. Trees are scarce, hiding in the draws and folds where water runs; animas and birds take shelter underground or disappear in the patchwork of grasses and shrubs stunted by the constant wind. No wonder explorer Stephen Long in 1820 dubbed this region "the Great American Desert."

A closer look, however, reveals noisy flocks of migrating shorebirds, geese, and cranes; sprawling colonies of prairie dogs, burrowing owls, and harvester ants; fleet herds of pronghorn antelope; and buffalo grass growing three inches tall from roots three feet deep. Humans have called the plains home for at least 13,000 years, since early hunters chased herds of bison so large that they shook the earth.

Blizzards bury the prairie in spring. Soon after, color creeps across the landscape. ...

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