Itching to get out of the house, but hesitant to go someplace that had a lot of people, we decided to drive about 2 hours to Pawnee National Grassland (north of Ft. Morgan, East of Ft. Collins) and walk trail 601 to the Pawnee Buttes.
Driving through the grasslands was not as exciting as I thought it would be. There was a lot of oil and gas mining and it wasn’t really a “pretty” area. Our remote drive was peaceful and I was happy that I was right to think this wouldn’t be a busy area.
As we entered the road to the trail head, we saw a lot of cows, campers and cars, so we were not alone. The outhouse was locked and the picnic area was closed due to COVID-19. The outhouse being closed was a bit difficult due to how far any sort of town was, but fortunately we stopped at a gas station in Ft. Morgan.
The day was clear and hot, about 90 degrees. We lathered up the sunscreen, grabbed our hats and walked about 2 miles from the parking lot on the Pawnee Buttes trail which brought us just past the first butte. The trail continued onto the second butte, but we decided to turn back. The area is great for bird watching and apparently for fossils too, but we didn’t get that close to the buttes or riverbed to look for those.
This walk was just what we needed; some fresh air, a walk, and getting out of the house but staying quite far away from others.
Would we normally drive four hours (round trip) for a 4 mile walk? No. Although…we would if we coupled it with a stop in Ft. Collins at a brewery or two.
Pawnee National Grassland
Pawnee Buttes Trailhead Website Info
Trailhead lat and long: 40.808015, -103.990222
Cost: Free
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