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Kiowa National Grasslands |
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Current information from US
Forest Service |
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| In northeastern New
Mexico and on into Texas and Oklahoma, the Kiowa National
Grasslands stretches for miles and miles. Don't let the AAA
map fool you, though. Mislabeled as the Rita Blanca National
Grassland on their New Mexico map, in fact this is the Kiowa
and it's only when you cross the state lines into Oklahoma
or Texas that it becomes the Rita Blanca. There is a western
unit of the Kiowa National Grassland some 75 miles further
west. |
Write the District
Ranger's office in Clayton, New Mexico. You will receive
a nice packet of info by return mail, he Forest Service people really take their mission
seriously. Included will be a number of things I was totally
unaware of: hiking along the Santa Fe Trail, camp sites,
picnic areas and so forth. Best of all, there are specific
call-outs referring to the grassland map. A map is
available. It is a beautifully produced with information on
recreation opportunities in the Kiowa, showing not only
which roads are passable but also giving wonderful
historical information. |
Apparently not so well known as its
neighbors like the
Comanche or the
Cimarron, it is one of the loveliest shortgrass prairies
in the country.
If this is your first time in New
Mexico you will find the scenery which was spectacular
and the weather which is wonderful almost year round.
The people are friendly and accommodating.
There's a lot of vacation fun to be had in and around the Kiowa National
Grassland. There is also a two mile stretch of the
Santa Fe Trail running right through the Kiowa (all on
Federal land, so you can hike it legally). Just a few minutes away in Clayton Lake
State Park is a world class set of dinosaur footprints.
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| If you chose to
drive north from the Ranger station in Clayton, NM, it's a beautiful
drive and the roads are gravel. It will take you through acres of the most
beautiful shortgrass prairie you'll ever see...miles and
miles of yucca, cactus and other wildflowers dotting the
scene. Toward the start you can see the tiny little school house
which gives this road its name. Along the way, still heading
north, you cross the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail,
passing Turkey Creek Camp, an important reprovisioning spot
for the wagon trains. The ruins of its walls were still
plainly visible. Eventually you can
turn eastward on the road which takes you to Seneca. This is really isolated!
Sometimes you will not see another vehicle, and the only movement to the left or
right will be either grazing cattle or other wildlife. |
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The Kiowa Grasslands is one in which
you will feel really cut off the
most—a not unpleasant sensation for travelers trying to
forget the current century and the workaday worldleft
behind. The carpet of shortgrass
poking its way through scattered sharp-edged rocks carried
on indefinitely and the horizon is unbroken in all
directions, save one. Off to the southwest you can see the
ghostly form of the Rabbit Ears Mountain, named for the
Cheyenne chief who was killed by the Spaniards. He was
supposedly interred in a hidden spot somewhere around here.
The open prairie evokes many
thoughts that remain well hidden in a forest. |
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Below the big azure sky full of puffy cumulous, a
herd of cattle dawdling along, Attention must be paid to
footsteps, always on the alert for a prairie rattlesnake. If
they see you first, you will not see them. |
When standing in the middle of a prairie like
the Kiowa National Grassland, a human is a perfect lightning
rod! If you are caught in a rainstorm on the prairie, do not
stand in the open and do not stand under a tree.
Lightening storms are fierce on the prairie. Also,
look out for grass fires.After the
storm, the skies and rainbow are spectaclar.
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