Pawnee National Grassland: Indian Caves

A few weeks ago, I was snooping around on All Trails and noticed one of the closest "trails" listed to where we live is this hike just south of the Nebraska border in Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado. Today, wanting to get out for a hike, but not wanting to drive too far away, I decided to head south for this hike.

It was an uneventful drive down into the grassland. Along the way I drove through an area with quite a bit of snow on the ground. I was worried that the hike attempt might be a fail. However, as I approached the county road for the turn off of Highway 71, there was little snow of the ground. I turned off the county road and onto a two-track for the last mile to the start of the trail at a stock tank.

I started the hike by following a faint two-track road west from where I parked. It appears the road is closed to vehicular traffic. However, the signs indicating this were all blown over or intentionally removed.

The first point of interest that I explored was a long, thin ridge of sandstone that I've seen called "Battleship Rock." The sides of the ridge were crumbling, leaving a landscape of talus boulders and small shelter caves.

Several of the small shelter caves looked like they were used as shelter by animals. A few even had piles of animal bones littering the ground just outside.

As I made my way further west along the south side of Battleship Rock, I found an inhabitant just outside one of the rock shelters: a porcupine!

I was very close to it before I even realized it was there. It didn't seem to notice me until I started talking to it. It finally retreated into the safety of the rock shelter. I continued to follow the sandstone ridge east, past some really interesting, eroded sandstone formations, 

to a fence line. Here, at the west end of Battleship Rock, I ascended up to the top of the ridge.

I enjoyed the view of the surrounding lowlands from the ridge. I also had a great view of another cliff line just to the north. 

After exploring the summit of the ridge I descended down off of Battleship Rock to check out the cliffs to the north. As I approached the cliffs, I noticed a fenced in wetlands and a small canyon. I decided to explore the small canyon. As I made my way up it, I noticed two more porcupines eating the bark of small shrubs.

At the head of the canyon was a small, frozen waterfall which I believed formed off of snowmelt from above.

I explored a few rock shelter caves along the cliffs in the canyon. A few shelter ceilings were covered with swallow nests.

Then, I climbed up to the top of the cliffs. I took one last look down into the canyon,

before exploring the top of the cliffs. It was very flat at the top. There were lots of great views looking south and west from parts of the top.

I noticed in several places at the edge of the plateau, there were low rock walls built up. 

I have no idea the purpose or who built them.

To the north I found another small canyon. On the ridge above it was a small, natural arch.

At this point I figured it was time to start heading back down off the plateau and into the grasslands below. Once at the east end of the national grassland property, I followed a fence line for a bit. Then cut through a prairie dog town 

for the last leg of the hike back to the car. It had been a surprisingly interesting hike. I saw 5 porcupines, almost stepped on a rabbit, and found part of a pronghorn skull. I would love to return to explore more of the small, shelter caves that I missed today. I think I will most definitely return.