Pawnee Grasslands-Keota Loop

Sprawling across the plains northeast of Greeley, Colorado, the Pawnee Grasslands are crisscrossed by a network of gravel county roads and 2-track dirt Forest Service Roads. These easy roads offer an alternative to the usual mountain ‘wheeling of the Colorado Rockies, especially from late fall to early spring when many of the mountain trails are snowed in. This route through the back roads begins and ends at the tiny ghost town of Keota. Once a bustling farming town, Keota succumbed to the boom and bust economy of the high plains as many of the surrounding farms were abandoned or sold back to the government during the dust bowl and the Great Depression. Now, with the boom of oil development, several of the properties are showing signs of restoration and use again. The trail itself passes picturesque windmills and modern oil extraction facilities as it winds its way around a low, rocky hill on the prairie.