35 Miles To The Sound Of Silence -- Soapstone Prairie

Today John and I rode north from Fort Collins to Buckeye Road and west past the Rawhide Power Plant then north again about 15 miles and discovered a wonderful look at the way our country must have looked decades, centuries and millenia ago. As we stepped out of the truck the silence was overpowering. How seldom we are privileged to "Hear The Sound Of Silence" as Simon and Garfunkel wrote in their famous song. There are 35 square miles of pristeen prairie and it is gorgeous in its simple, quiet, majestic way. I am not sure how near the Wyoming border it is, but we could see the wind farm that we see as we near Cheyenne on Interstate 25. I never dreamed that this was sitting here so close to home and yet so removed from the hustle and bustle and noise of our life. It was formerly the Lindenmeier Ranch and the City of Fort Collins bought it to preserve its beauty from developement. On this ranch was the Lindenmeier Archealogical Site where a Folsom People camp site was excavated in the 1920-1940 time frame. As we stood there in awe, we could imagine the bands of Folsom People camping here over 12,000 years ago. It is high and would be easy to watch for other bands of people that may not be friendly. It is a timeless land with only the Rawhide Power Plant in the distance to remind us of the world we come from. This world is a pleasant escape from the usual and so worth the ride over gravel. washboardy roads. I wanted to share the experience and vow to go back there many times. It is truly magnificent, especially if you are a "prairie person" as I am.