The Devil's Backbone

I love going to the Devil's Backbone in Larimer County, Colorado.  It's a short drive compared with some other places I like, and it's free.  One must pay to enter state and national parks, but the Devil's Backbone is a part of Larimer County's Open Space.  The 2,200 acres on the east side of the formation are open for hikers, runners, mountain bikers and horse back riders.  If you leave from the Devil's Backbone trailhead, you can hike 15 miles to Lory State Park, all on Larimer County Open Space.
   The Devil's Backbone is a 2-mile-long hogback of Dakota sandstone that stands west of Loveland.  The sandstone was originally the shoreline of an inland sea at the time of tyrannosaurus Rex, and cataclysmic earthquakes in past ages have set the sandstone on end.  Some parts of the Devil's Backbone tower 200 feet or more above the ridge that the geological formation appears from.  The sandstone has weathered into angular arches, and many photographs have been taken of the Keyhole, a now famous sunrise photo spot.
   The Backbone is the nesting area for a number of raptors, and the trails closest to the rocks are occasionally closed during nesting season.  Red-tailed hawks, great horned owls and barn owls are frequently seen in the area.  It is also the home of mule deer, elk, black bear, and mountain lions.  If you are a lover of plants and flowers, more than 120 species of plants have been identified within 100 yards of the trails.  In the spring, you might be able to see the rare Bell's twin pod, a yellow flower that is found in very few places in Larimer, Boulder, and Jefferson Counties - and no where else in the world.
   The Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute tribes of Native Americans lived and hunted in the area for many centuries.  Many tribal artifacts have been found in the area.  Since the sandstone was once a part of a sea shore, many fossils of ancient sea creatures and fish are to be seen.  In early settler days, the skeleton of an ancient American elephant with 5-foot-long tusks was found.  This skeleton is now in Chicago's Field Museum.
   And I have to admit that if I approach the Devil's Backbone in fog, or a snow storm, and can only see a few parts of the huge formation, I can easily believe that some monstrous thing is rising out of the earth, and shaking free….   I easily understand why it was called the Devil's Backbone by the early white settlers.