Arikaree Breaks

North of St. Francis the plain breaks into ravines and canyons. The Arikaree Breaks are two to three miles wide and, by the county's measure, about 36 miles long, running diagonally across northern Cheyenne County into Rawlins County, and over the lines into Colorado and Nebraska. Thousands of years ago, when the climate here was much wetter, streams cut them into a deposit of wind-blown silt called loess, up to a hundred feet thick.

Loess behaves strangely. Running water carves it easily, yet the canyon walls stand nearly vertical and have held for thousands of years, because its angular grains pack tight enough to cling together. In the deepest canyons the streams have cut through the pale loess into the Ogallala gravels beneath and into the Cretaceous Pierre Shale below that. The creeks run only now and then, draining to the Arikaree River and the North Fork of the Republican, and the slopes grow yucca, sage and prickly pear.

The city of St. Francis lays out a self-guided driving tour. Head north from the corner of Benton and Washington, cross the Republican River, bear right at the first fork, and follow the numbered red-disk signs north on Road 15, unpaved, into Nebraska; then go west on U.S. 34 to Haigler and south on K-27. One of the best views is about 14 miles north of town. Copies of the tour are at the kiosk at the U.S. 36 rest area. The land is private: keep to the public roads, and off them when wet.