August '92
On the border of northern Colorado and Nebraska's Panhandle is a high, flat area called the Peetz Table. It is bordered by breaks in the basins of two eastward-flowing streams - Lodgepole Creek in Nebraska and the South Platte River in Colorado. Its edges are defined in places by some magnificent chalk bluffs. I think the Pawnee Buttes are remnants of the Table which, unlike the surrounding area, never eroded. Today these two landmarks are a rather locally-famous symbol of the beauty which can be found in the Plains. (The Pawnee Buttes and the chalk bluffs were the inspirations for a couple fictional landforms referenced in Michener's Centennial: the "Rattlesnake Buttes" and the "Chalk Cliff".) They are in the middle of a quite large, sparsely-populated area, covered with a patchwork of tracts managed by the Pawnee National Grassland.
August '92
The photo above was actually taken in the dark of night - see the star trails? I left the shutter open for 15 minutes or so - the lighting was provided courtesy of the moon.
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