Pawnee Pioneer Trails Scenic & Historic Byway

The Pawnee Pioneer Trails Scenic and Historic Byway is a 128-mile (206 km) Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Logan, Morgan, and Weld counties, Colorado. The byway explores the Pawnee Buttes region and Pawnee National Grassland of northeastern Colorado. Traveling across the Byway, one may imagine how this short grass prairie was viewed by Native Americans, frontiersmen, early cattlemen, 19th and early 20th century homesteaders, and those who faced the Dust Bowl and Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Byway offers historic attractions and recreation areas along the roadways. Visitors can experience solitude and explore nature through bird watching, wildlife study, photography and hiking. Driving along the Byway, visitors encounter pleasant agricultural communities while traveling through 100 million years of geologic deposition artfully exposed and rearranged by wind and water.

Plan on a three hour drive to traverse the total 128-mile byway. Make sure you have a full tank of gas, snacks and water!