The Plains of the Peaks

With diverse scenery in each direction, the landscape of Southeastern Colorado showcases where two terrains collide.

Photos and text by Jason Prescott

A farm house at Eden

In 36 hours my wife and I covered 477 miles of Colorado I saw almost every day but never explored. A windshield tour of the region, if you will.

We started at the north side of Purcell Blvd. in Pueblo West and ended at Liberty Point as the sun set on the high plains west of Pueblo that is pockmarked with pinon trees and newer-build houses on winding streets that scar the landscape.

Plains of Pueblo West (top left) Pueblo nature center (top right, bottom left), a sunset from Liberty Point above Lake Pueblo (bottom right)

We travelled down I-25, across Hwy 160 up Hwy 17, down Hwy 50 from Salida, through the Scenic By-Way of 165 and 96, where the topography is no longer flat grasslands, but broken by mountain ranges and rocky terrain. It is needless to say that there is plenty of beauty and history around or near us everyday and seemingly in every direction, but for nine years I didn’t have a chance to notice.

Open meadow in San Isabel and the Arkansas River near Salida (top). Lake Isabel at San Isabel National Forests and an old farmstead along CO 165 (bottom)

I moved to Pueblo West in the summer of 2007 when the Army transferred me to Fort Carson from the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. During the first five years of being here our family’s schedule was tight with kids activities (sports, school, etc), work, coaching and the ho-hum of daily life. It was busy, but we managed the obligatory trip to Bishop’s Castle and he had been to Silver Cliff to see the haunting “Blue Lights” of the Silver Cliff Cemetery but never really made time to take it in and photograph it.

The Sangre de Cristos from the Assumption Cemetery near Silver cliff, Colo.

A view of the Sangres at Assumption Cemetery and views of the Mount Herald from the Great Sand Dunes National Preserve.

During this trip it merely was our job to stop and notice it all like we had never done before. Even though my wife and I managed to pack everything into 36 hours, it was a rediscovery of the region. One where we could pull off anywhere and simply enjoy.

The photo essay covers the region from the county line between Pueblo and El Paso counties all the way to the San Luis Valley, some of the region’s best stop-and-watch spots.