Welcome to the Great Plains Trail!
Hello. My name is Steve Myers, and I am the founder of the Great Plains Trail vision. I would like to extend a big Great Plains welcome to all viewers of this site, but a special welcome to anyone arriving from the National Parks Traveler website! Our website is currently under construction, so if you want […]
The Joy of IRS Form 1023
I said I would pepper this year’s blog with occasional tidbits about what it’s like trying to start a non-profit. Don’t worry . . . plenty of excellent Great Plains information is forthcoming, but for now, let’s talk about IRS Form 1023. It’s the form you must file in order to apply for a tax-exempt […]
I Have A Dream . . .
As I write this on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is true that I do have a dream to create the Great Plains Trail, but I know what you’re thinking . . . what does Martin Luther King Jr. have to do with the Great Plains Trail, or even the Great Plains at all, […]
A Great Plains Gallery
If the last post was all about words for the Great Plains. Today’s is all about pictures! The following are some links to several excellent sets of photos from various places in the Great Plains. They all emanate from the “Plains Photo Project” at The Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University in […]
Wanderers Beyond Horizons
Let’s start the new year with some inspirational quotes related to the Great Plains, shall we? A grass seedling shows only modest top growth for the first three or four years of its life. It spends much of its energy in building a dense underground support system. Its roots grow deep enough to take advantage […]
Louder Than Words
“Action speaks louder than words, but not nearly as often.” -Mark Twain As we head into the 2012 calendar year, I hope to continue posting about fascinating facts and interesting features of the Great Plains, but I also intend to blog about the process of formalizing the Great Plains Trail. The process will involve, among […]
Significant Dreaming
I launched the Great Plains Trail Project at the beginning of 2011 as a vision, and it is a vision that has occupied my thinking everyday since. I have written of my original inspiration from twenty years ago. I have traced some of the history of the region, from its Native American origins to more […]
Where the Wind Blew Free
The final group of Native Americans along the Great Plains Trail are the Apache. Apache is a name that denotes a larger group of peoples, but who really belong to several different bands. The Great Plains Trail passes through Jicarilla Apache lands in northern New Mexico, and through Mescalero lands in southern New Mexico. The […]
Run to the Hills
The next tribe along the Great Plains Trail is the Arapaho. One hundred forty-seven years ago (1864) in what is now Eastern Colorado a group of Arapaho as well as Cheyenne Indians were camped along Sand Creek. One of their leaders, Black Kettle, had negotiated with the government for peaceful relations, and all there believed […]
Getting My Bearings
The next tribe along the Great Plains Trail is the Cheyenne. I would like to relate a personal story about a place the Cheyenne believe is sacred. This past summer I had the opportunity to hike Bear Butte in South Dakota. Bear Butte is a solitary mountain, and the main feature in Bear Butte State […]
The Sun Rose and Set on Their Land
The next tribe we encounter along our southward journey on the Great Plains Trail is the Lakota. The Lakota is a member of the larger Great Sioux Nation. The Great Sioux Nation consists of 7 tribes known in the Lakota language as Ochethi Sakowin or “Seven Council Fires.” The seven tribes traditionally held an area […]
“They Were Not Buffalo”
As we move south, the next tribe in the area of the proposed Great Plains Trail is the Crow Nation. Undoubtedly, its most famous member is its last chief – Plenty Coups. There is a great book by Frank Linderman from the early 1900s that is essentially an autobiography of the man as told to Linderman […]
