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Purgatoire River & Dolores Mission Ruins are in valley below.
Photo taken looking south. The Mission is to the right of photo.

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Purgatoire River & Dolores Mission Ruins are in valley below.
Photo taken looking north. The Mission is to the far right of photo out of view from photo. The Purgatoire River is seen in the distance.

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A Shared Landscape
People & Wildlife have been attached to attracted to Canyonlands since they first shared this land, thousands of years ago In early times, native hunters came in search of game, wood, fresh water & protection from the rigors of the open prairies. Later when the prairies became dotted with homesteads, these canyons provide range for livestock, agricultural land, & reliable water.
Although peoples relationship with the land changed through time, many are still drawn by the area's natural beauty & abundant wildlife. Take time to hike the trail & discover how people & wildlife interact today in a landscape we have shared for millennia.

A Vast & Varied Land
As you travel the canyonlands, juniper, pinyon pine, & riparian areas become more common. Both deer & elk rely on the mixture of woody cover & grassland found in the canyons. Picket Wire Canyonlands is one of the few areas in the eastern plains of Colorado where the elk population is actually increasing.

Pronghorn on the Plains
Pronghorn are the fastest mammal in North America because they were formerly preyed upon by many fast predators including cheetahs, wolves, short-face bears & lions. Although all of their former predators, except the coyote, have become extinct on the Comanche, we can still see the presence of these predators in the adaptions that pronghorn have retained. The running speed of pronghorn approaches 60 mph. In Colorado they have been reported to outrun a small plane traveling 45 mph.
If you see a herd of pronghorn, watch their social interactions. The most dominate females often relax near the center of the herd while lower ranking females forage & bed on the edges. Pronghorns have excellent vision & are associated with the vast, open shortgrass prairied where they can detect predators at great distances.

Cholla Cactus Habitat
Cholla shrublands provide habitat for scaled quail & the curve-billed thrasher. Curve-billed thrashers build nests that are conspicuous but hard to reach because they are placed in the center of dense, thorny desert vegetation. They forged on the ground, tossing aside litter in search of insects with their prominently down-curved bills.

Abundant, Watchable Wildlife
An observant wildlife can find animals just by knowing how, where & when to look:
*Watch for movement
*Watch for birds on fences, power poles, & trees
*Riparian areas & prairie dog colonies attract wildlife
*Drawn & dusk are excellent times for wildlife viewing
*For the animals' safety, as well as your own, keep your distance use binoculars.

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