Big Basin Prairie Preserve

This red-earth country lay within the historic hunting range of the Southern Plains tribes, among them the Kiowa, Comanche, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho, whose descendants are federally recognized nations today. For centuries the great bison herds moved across these grasslands, and a spring-fed pool like St. Jacob's Well would have been a known and valued water source in a dry land.

The commercial slaughter of the 1800s all but wiped the bison out, and the animals that graze Big Basin today are a small managed herd, part of the long effort to keep native grazers on native prairie. Watching them move across the basin floor gives a real sense of the plains as they once were.

Both basins are sinkholes, formed where thick beds of salt and gypsum deep underground slowly dissolved in groundwater over long ages. As those layers washed away, the rock and soil above lost their support and collapsed downward, leaving a great bowl in the surface of the plains.

St. Jacob's Well sits in a smaller, deeper collapse where the sinkhole reached down to the water table, so it holds a permanent spring-fed pool. The steady water in a dry region is what made it famous, and its reliability in drought is part of the reason it drew travelers and stock for generations.

Besides the bison, the preserve supports the wildlife of the mixed and short-grass prairie. Pronghorn and mule deer range the grass, coyotes work the draws, and prairie dogs, hawks, and grassland songbirds fill out the community.

The permanent water at St. Jacob's Well draws birds and other animals from across the surrounding country, especially in the dry heat of late summer. On a still evening the basin can feel remarkably alive, with the sounds of insects and birds rising off the grass.

Spring brings green grass and wildflowers to the basin floor and the best all-around weather, though spring rains can make the road in tricky. Summer is hot and open, with long light for evening visits when the bison are most active and the heat has eased.

Fall turns the prairie gold and brings clear, cool days that are ideal for a slow visit. Winter is cold and wind-swept out here, and snow or mud can make the road into the basin difficult, so the warmer seasons are the surer bet.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.