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We visited the
eastern unit of the Kiowa National Grassland in May of 2003
as part of our great dinosaur footprint journey. It was an
amazing vacation, one of the best ever to my mind. Starting
in Minnesota, we worked our way through Nebraska, then to
Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, winding up in northeastern
New Mexico. 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. By the way, there is a western unit
of the Kiowa National Grassland some 75 miles further west,
but we didn't make it that far on this journey.The
Mystery Grassland
As I've made clear throughout
these pages, we like to plan our vacations well in advance
so that we know ahead of time where the hiking trails,
geologic curiosities and any other items of interest
are—things only the locals know about. Usually, I turn to
the Web in January or so and start scouring for info. Unlike
most of the National Grasslands which sport fairly
comprehensive Web sites, I wasn't finding much on the Kiowa.
Oh, there was lip service paid here and there, but not much
in-depth information of a practical sort. (I have since
discovered they do have a Web site—see the URL below— but
rather unbelievably it's not connected to the main National
Grasslands page which is why it was so hard to find!) In
fact, we almost scratched it off the list, since we had
found so few details, such as if there were any trail heads
one could park a car by, what kind of roads were available,
or if there was a kybo somewhere along the way. For that
matter, I couldn't even figure out if there was a standard
Forest Service map available for the Kiowa. Hmmm...a very
shy and retiring grassland. |
I decided to write the District
Ranger's office in Clayton, New Mexico. As usual, I received
a nice packet of info by return mail, proving once again
that the Forest Service people really take their mission
seriously. Included with this was a nice letter and in it
the Ranger mentioned 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, she gave specific
call-outs referring to the grassland map. And so, I found
out quite by accident that a map was indeed available
and promptly ordered one. To my great pleasure, it was a
beautifully produced affair and really gave the inside dope
on recreation opportunities in the Kiowa, showing not only
which roads are passable but also giving wonderful
historical information. And, oh, remember you can click the
small pictures (like the one at the right) to enlarge them. |
To make a long story short, here is a
fantastic grassland containing oodles of great vacation
destinations, and yet is apparently not so well known as its
neighbors like the
Comanche or the
Cimarron. I'm so glad that we persevered in our
info-quest, for what we found here was one of the loveliest
shortgrass prairies in the country. Now that we know, a
return trip for a longer duration is a sure thing.
Incidentally, this was our first time
to New Mexico. Apart from the scenery which was spectacular
and the weather which was marvelously cool in May, we were
so impressed with how friendly and accommodating the locals
were. From the outgoing Park Manager at nearby Clayton Lake
State Park, to the kind owner of the private campground in
Capulin who saved us from the hail, to the friendly clerk at
the gas station who tried to ply me with homemade burritos,
they all made two Minnesotans feel very welcome.
Wagon Trains, Footprints and Raucous Behavior
As it turns out, there's way too
much vacation fun to be had in and around the Kiowa National
Grassland, and yet we only had three days to spend here.
What initially attracted us, of course, was a chance simply
to walk through another shortgrass prairie. And then, when
we found out about a two mile stretch of the
Santa Fe Trail running right through the Kiowa (all on
Federal land, so you can hike it legally) we were ecstatic.
But there's more! Just a few minutes away in Clayton Lake
State Park is a world class set of dinosaur footprints.
Finally, the birding was absolutely nutty with large gangs
of noisy mockingbirds, among others, our constant
companions. I'll save our adventures to the Santa Fe Trail
and dinosaur footprints for other sections of this Web
presentation, but let me describe the Kiowa in general here.
Alone in the Prairie
We arrived at Clayton Lake State
Park on Tuesday, and spent the remainder of the day setting
up camp and lounging about with the birds and our books. The
following day we decided to explore the Kiowa and hike among
the trail ruts. Waiting until the sun wasn't quite so high,
we set out in the later afternoon. We had our map, of
course, but the hard part was figuring out where to start
without retracing our path to the town of Clayton. But our
friendly Ranger from the state park turned us on to a
wonderful road we might have missed otherwise. Called the
Spring Hill School road, it begins near the park and
eventually heads northward into the grassland. |
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| It's a beautiful
drive and the going was surprisingly good. We were expecting
a dirt packed road, according to the map, but in fact found
it a decent gravel one. It took us 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 we saw the tiny little school house
which gives this road its name. Along the way, still heading
north, we crossed 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 we
turned eastward on the road which takes you to Seneca which
may or may not still exist, since we didn't go that far. Let
me tell you, though, this is really isolated! Not once did
we see another vehicle, and the only movement to the left or
right of us was either grazing cattle or divebombing hawks.
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Of all the grasslands we've been to,
the Kiowa is the one in which we've really felt cut off the
most—a not unpleasant sensation for two travelers trying to
forget the current century and the workaday world we left
behind just several days earlier. The carpet of shortgrass
poking its way through scattered sharp-edged rocks carried
on indefinitely and the horizon was unbroken in all
directions, save one. Off to the southwest we could 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.
We reflected on the timelessness of our journey as we stared
at a landmark which would have looked down on dusty
travelers in much the same way, only a century-and-a-half
ago. No doubt about it, the open prairie evokes many
thoughts that remain well hidden in a forest. |
| A few more miles and we found the
beautiful kiosk and parking area put up by the Grassland
several years ago. There were excellent interpretive signs,
and best of all, a welcoming comment that visitors were free
to hike the trail ruts here. I hope I don't sound too much
like a broken record, but I think the U.S. Forest Service
which oversees the National Grasslands, puts on one hell of
a show. And yet so few people are aware of it, fearing (I
suppose) to get off the main drag to see parts of America
that are essentially still "frontier." |
We did in fact take them up on the
offer, and hiked in a couple miles along the Santa Fe Trail.
After loading up with sunscreen, packing in a couple quarts
of water and grabbing a bag of trail mix, we were off. It
was a quiet amble through "the lone prairie," with a number
of new sparrows to perplex us. For that matter, several of
the grasses were foreign to us as well.
But of course, having spent some
ten years ambling among the grasslands, I still felt right
at home—below the big azure sky full of puffy cumulous, a
herd of cattle dawdling along, rather impolitely staring at
two city slickers, and the ever present attention one pays
to footsteps, always on the alert for a prairie rattlesnake.
If it truly exists, this certainly fits my idea of what
heaven ought to be... |
The western sky was growing blacker
by the moment and rain was clearly pelting someone several
miles away. Now I love rain, but I'm always acutely aware of
the fact that when standing in the middle of a prairie like
the Kiowa National Grassland, I'm the tallest thing jutting
upward—a perfect lightning rod! And then there's the fact
that my minivan really isn't suited to negotiating sloppy
roads, some of which could be unmaintained and difficult to
deal with in the best of weather. So it was time to bail
out.On the way back to camp we
were rewarded with a spectacular rainbow across the prairie,
just one more breathtaking moment making the 800 miles to
get here worth it. For all these reasons and others that are
too subtle to put into words, I found the Kiowa to be one of
the most contemplative and relaxing Grasslands we've ever
visited. I commend it and the surrounding territory of
northeastern New Mexico to your attention as a rewarding
place to unwind.
And for the record, we never did
see any of the rattlers of which we had been warned by a
local. |
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