• clouds,  landscape,  National Grasslands,  Pawnee National Grassland,  quotes

    Touched by it!

    July 13, 2025
    Storm clouds at Pawnee Grasslands – July 2012

    Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours.

    Hermann Hesse

    It is a quiet Sunday afternoon with clear blue skies and sunshine. We are in the low 90’s. It looks like much of the nation is toasty. I consider myself lucky to have visited many sacred places, had the experience of standing there taking it all in and even bringing home an image I liked. I’m aware some will consider scenes like this as dull, desolate and boring. I, on the other hand, consider it a beautiful, intimate and sacred home to be cherished and respected. I am also interested in the landscapes of beauty within a short distance of home. This scene meets both of those criteria for me. Yes, there is an effort required to visit these sacred places. However, in my experience, when we make the effort it will change us. As I looked back in my archives of this area I began thinking I need to make another hour-long drive out there! This sacred landscape is our home and I want to be touched by it!

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  • clouds,  landscape,  poems,  quotes,  sunsets,  writing/reading

    Web of Life

    July 23, 2020
    Sunset and windmill at Pawnee Grasslands back in 2011

    “A Mystic sees beyond the illusion of separateness into the Intricate Web of Life in which all things are expressions of a Single Whole. You can call this Web God, the Tao, the Great Spirit, the Infinite Mystery, Mother or Father but it can be known only as Love.”

    Joan Borysenko
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  • clouds,  landscape,  sunsets

    Windmill at Sunset

    March 13, 2017
    Windmill at Sunset on Pawnee National Grasslands
    Windmill at Sunset on Pawnee National Grasslands

    Pawnee National Grassland is located in the South Platte River basin in remote northern and extreme northeastern Weld County and comprises two parcels totaling 193,060 acres. It is part of the short grass prairie. Due to poor soil and the Dust Bowl it has not had much agricultural invasion. It’s about a two hour drive from my house and one reason. You can probably understand why I have mainly sunset images rather than sunrises. 🙂 Hope you have a super week!

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  • landscape

    Pawnee Buttes

    August 3, 2012
    The Buttes at Sunset

    Here’s another image from this past Saturdays scouting trip to the Pawnee Grasslands. I think there are lots of potentials in this area. One image I would like to see would be a sunrise. But, I also enjoy the peacefulness out there. Putting a sunrise shot in my bucket list for next week, unless I procrastinate again. 🙂

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  • landscape,  sunsets

    Sunset at Pawnee Grasslands

    July 30, 2012
    Windmill at Sunset
    Buttes at Pawanee National Grasslands, Colorado
    Marty Walking along the bluff

    Last Saturday I made a scouting trip to the Pawnee Grasslands. I wanted to see the campgrounds near Briggsdale and how find out how long it took to get to the Pawnee Buttes from the campground. The campground was much bigger than I expected and is setup for some larger RVs. They have several locations for bathrooms, which us guys over 60 need, water and fire pits. I later drove over the the Buttes scouting for photo opportunities. They are everywhere. I met a young man named Marty Witt who is from the Denver area. He and his wife own a framing and photography business. He had come up for an evening of shooting and camping. We walked along the western edge of the buttes, did the proverbial photographers talk on equipment, how we got started and where we are with it. Always interesting conversations. We’d stop talking every once in a while and listen to the coyotes howling in distance or watch the two kestrels circling above us or listen to the quiet.

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  • HDR,  landscape,  sunsets

    A Place of Quiet

    July 23, 2012
    Sunset on the Pawnee National Grasslands
    HDR Sunset at Pawnee National Grasslands

    Words fall short when expressing my feelings when I visit the Pawnee National Grasslands. There is this quiet. The only sounds are the wind, the birds, maybe a cow mooing in the distance, my footsteps and my breathing. None of the sounds of the city can be heard, the ones we are accustomed to hearing and are almost expected. The vastness of this landscape has a way of making me feel small and insignificant, yet I feel so much a part of it. It’s an ecosystem all its own, one many people never experience. This is a land where no plow has turned the soil. There is not much of that left in of the short, mixed and tall prairies. This is cowboy country where small dark specks in the distance are grazing cattle. It’s a place of quiet.

    The second image is an HDR version of the first image using three exposures; metered and plus and minus one stop. The preset used was Landscape Balanced. This one is more appealing to me but not as true to what I saw when taking the image.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  Pawnee National Grassland,  sunsets

    Road trip

    December 1, 2011
    Pawnee National Grasslands

    I made a short road trip with the new wheels. I drove up to the Pawnee National Grasslands, about 280 miles round trip. So I tested it with some highway miles and rugged dirt roads. Gas miles was good: 28 miles per gallon. It handles well both on the highway and the dirt roads.

    It has been several years since I visited the Grasslands. I hope to make a few more trips up there. It is one area where we have not taken a plow to the native grasses. The grassland is large with just over 193,000 acres. I notice a large quantity of wind turbines and oil wells I don’t remember. A little research uncovered they are allowing a limited amount of developed facilities. The area is also know for its birding with several species, especially during migration. Forest service roads allow for easy access to most areas of the grasslands and lead to many hiking trails. These trails will lead you to the Pawnee Buttes. I’m gonna have to make more trips up there.

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