The Field Atlas

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Hill country

Hills destinations in the USA

Hills are the American middle distance: not alpine, not flat.

FrontispieceChief Joseph Byway, Wyoming

Ozark and Appalachian folds, including the limestone balds at Hercules Glades, prairie knobs, granite whales on the plains, Edwards Plateau hill country — Enchanted Rock, South Llano, Hueco Tanks, the Davis Mountains — and Castle Crags’ granite towers in northern California belong here. Eagle Mountain is the high rock of Superior National Forest. The Mogollon Rim near Woods Canyon Lake is the plateau edge over ponderosa. These plates collect that quieter relief — a walk with a horizon, not a summit list.

Plates: 47
States: 20

States in this chapter

Arizona
California
Colorado
Idaho
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming

Hills chapter

The plates

A red volcanic hill under the Absaroka wall

Chief Joseph Byway

Park County, Cody to the Beartooth, Wyoming

A red hill in a green park, and a mountain watching it.

44.7° N · 109.4° WOpen plate →

Autumn swells of the Palouse under a long sky

The Palouse

Washington

A country of hills that look poured, not built.

46.7° N · 117.2° WOpen plate →

Striped buttes under a prairie sky

Badlands

White River drainage, South Dakota

A prairie that has been taken apart and left in piles.

43.9° N · 102.3° WOpen plate →

Granite pinnacles along the Needles Highway

The Needles, Black Hills

Needles Highway, Custer State Park, South Dakota

A granite forest the plains were not supposed to have.

43.8° N · 103.5° WOpen plate →

Fog in the South Unit badlands at last light

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

South Unit near Medora; North Unit on the river, North Dakota

The national park that holds the painted river — two units, one ranch, still wearing grass.

47.0° N · 103.5° WOpen plate →

Autumn heath on the Dolly Sods plateau

Dolly Sods

Allegheny Plateau, West Virginia

A northern bog set down on a southern mountain.

39.0° N · 79.4° WOpen plate →

Folded rock and aspen on the pass in October

Dead Indian Pass

Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, Wyoming

A pass that opens the Absarokas like a door.

44.7° N · 109.4° WOpen plate →

The Gateway, with Pikes Peak in the gap

Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, Front Range, Colorado

Red towers holding a mountain in the doorway.

38.9° N · 104.9° WOpen plate →

West and East Butte on the shortgrass

Pawnee Buttes

Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado

Two hills the plains forgot to flatten.

40.8° N · 104.0° WOpen plate →

Rolling alpine hills of the Flat Tops

Flat Tops

White River Plateau, Colorado

Mountains that chose to be a table.

40.0° N · 107.3° WOpen plate →

Pale hoodoos of Plaza Blanca

Plaza Blanca

outside Abiquiu, New Mexico

A white garden the wind is still carving.

36.2° N · 106.3° WOpen plate →

The Needles of the Organ Mountains

Organ Mountains

east of Las Cruces, New Mexico

A mountain range that learned to be a spine.

32.3° N · 106.6° WOpen plate →

Lake of the Clouds in the Porkies

Lake of the Clouds

Porcupine Mountains, Upper Peninsula, Michigan

A lake that sits in a notch of an old mountain.

46.8° N · 89.8° WOpen plate →

Granite stacks under the Sierra crest

Alabama Hills

Owens Valley, below Mount Whitney, California

Granite that learned to sit still under the highest mountain.

36.6° N · 118.1° WOpen plate →

Granite spires of Idaho’s City of Rocks

City of Rocks

Albion Mountains, Cassia County, Idaho

A stone city the wagons named and then left.

42.1° N · 113.7° WOpen plate →

Red sandstone hills above the Gros Ventre River near Kelly

Gros Ventre Red Hills

east of Kelly, Wyoming

Red hills the river kept for itself.

43.6° N · 110.5° WOpen plate →

The 1925 Gros Ventre Slide scar above Slide Lake

Gros Ventre Slide

Slide Lake, Wyoming

The mountain that walked.

43.6° N · 110.5° WOpen plate →

Steamboat Point above US-14 in the Bighorns

Steamboat Point

Bighorn National Forest, US-14, Wyoming

A stone bow the highway runs under.

44.8° N · 107.4° WOpen plate →

Terracotta ridges and a green valley on the Wyoming line

Red Mountain Open Space

Larimer County, on the Wyoming line, Colorado

Red hills the prairie kept.

41.0° N · 105.2° WOpen plate →

Twin sandstone pillars over ponderosa at Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock

National Monument, near Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Two stones the mesa stood on end.

37.2° N · 107.3° WOpen plate →

Yellow, white, and pink clay hoodoos at the Paint Mines

Paint Mines

Interpretive Park, Calhan, Colorado

Color the prairie left standing as towers.

39.0° N · 104.3° WOpen plate →

Snow on Mount Ellen above red benches and gold sage

Mount Ellen

Henry Mountains, Utah

A mountain that rose alone from the desert floor.

38.1° N · 110.8° WOpen plate →

Colored benches from the Burr Trail overlook

Burr Trail

Circle Cliffs, Utah

A backway that looks down on its own hills.

37.9° N · 111.3° WOpen plate →

The grid-cracked dome of Checkerboard Mesa

Checkerboard Mesa

Zion National Park, east, Utah

A hill the stone ruled into squares.

37.2° N · 112.9° WOpen plate →

Red sandstone towers of Fisher Towers, Castle Valley

Fisher Towers

Castle Valley, Utah

Towers the valley kept like a skyline.

38.7° N · 109.3° WOpen plate →

Weaver's Needle above the Superstition hills

Weaver's Needle

Superstition Mountains, Arizona

A needle the Superstitions kept for a landmark.

33.4° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Cathedral Rock from Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing

Cathedral Rock

Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona

Spires the creek was asked to look up at.

34.8° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Picacho Peak from the saguaro-covered state-park slope

Picacho Peak

Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

A peak the basin raised like a warning.

32.6° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Syenite hill, wildflowers, and a desert trail at Hueco Tanks

Hueco Tanks

Hueco Mountains, east of El Paso, Texas

Three stone hills that learned to keep water.

31.9° N · 106.0° WOpen plate →

Yucca and a Trans-Pecos basin from Davis Mountains State Park

Davis Mountains

Trans-Pecos, Jeff Davis County, Texas

A sky island the interstate forgot.

30.6° N · 103.9° WOpen plate →

River breaks and grass on Little Missouri National Grassland

Little Missouri National Grassland

Burnt Hills, McKenzie County, North Dakota

The grassland that wears the park’s same paint.

48.1° N · 103.1° WOpen plate →

Sunset rays over the granite boulders of Enchanted Rock

Enchanted Rock

Texas Hill Country, Gillespie County, Texas

A granite whale the Hill Country kept.

30.5° N · 99.3° WOpen plate →

A lone horse on golden mixed-grass, Buffalo Gap National Grassland

Buffalo Gap National Grassland

southwestern South Dakota, near Wall, South Dakota

The grass that walks up to the Badlands and stops.

43.8° N · 102.2° WOpen plate →

Pecan shade and a still reach of the South Llano

South Llano

Edwards Plateau, Kimble County, Texas

A Hill Country river that still reads as water and woods.

30.4° N · 99.8° WOpen plate →

The dark rim and juniper slopes of Black Mesa, Oklahoma

Black Mesa

Oklahoma Panhandle, Cimarron County, Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s last mesa, still wearing grass.

36.9° N · 103.0° WOpen plate →

Granite hills and spring wildflowers, Wichita Mountains

Wichita Mountains

Wichita Mountains NWR, Comanche County, Oklahoma

Granite islands in a sea of grass.

34.8° N · 98.7° WOpen plate →

Spring bloom and Blue Ridge layers from Grayson Highlands

Grayson Highlands

Mount Rogers high country, Grayson County, Virginia

A highland bald the ponies still keep.

36.6° N · 81.5° WOpen plate →

Moss and flagged spruce on Spruce Knob

Spruce Knob

Monongahela NF, Pendleton County, West Virginia

A spruce heath the East still keeps high.

38.7° N · 79.5° WOpen plate →

Sewemup and the Uncompahgre Plateau from Sinbad Valley

Uncompahgre Plateau

Sewemup and Unaweep country, Uncompahgre NF, Colorado

A mesa the forest still keeps high.

38.5° N · 108.6° WOpen plate →

Snow on the granite of Castle Crags, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

Castle Crags

Castle Crags Wilderness, Shasta-Trinity NF, California

Granite towers the interstate only glances at.

41.2° N · 122.3° WOpen plate →

Pale hoodoos under a hard Montana sky, Makoshika State Park

Makoshika

Hell Creek badlands, east of Glendive, Montana

Pale hoodoos over sage and a hard Montana sky.

47.1° N · 104.7° WOpen plate →

Sandstone pillars in the grass at Medicine Rocks State Park

Medicine Rocks

Medicine Rocks State Park, near Ekalaka, Montana

Honeycombed sandstone rising from shortgrass.

46.0° N · 104.4° WOpen plate →

October hardwood from the Shawnee Garden of the Gods bluff

Shawnee Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods Wilderness, Shawnee NF, Illinois

Illinois stone the fall still paints.

37.6° N · 88.4° WOpen plate →

Fall hardwood on the Blair Ridge Trail, Hercules Glades

Hercules Glades

Mark Twain National Forest, Taney County, Missouri

Bald limestone and a creek the Ozarks kept.

36.7° N · 92.9° WOpen plate →

Lakes and forest from the Eagle Mountain summit

Eagle Mountain

Misquah Hills, Superior National Forest, Minnesota

The highest rock in Minnesota.

47.9° N · 90.6° WOpen plate →

Sunset on the Mogollon Rim near Woods Canyon Lake

Mogollon Rim

Woods Canyon overlook, Apache-Sitgreaves, Arizona

Where the Colorado Plateau ends.

34.3° N · 110.9° WOpen plate →

The basalt face of Abert Rim above the sage

Abert Rim

Lake County, Highway 395, Oregon

The long rim over a bitter Great Basin lake.

42.6° N · 120.2° WOpen plate →

Asked at the trailhead

Questions already asked

What counts as hill country in this atlas?: Uplands that are not true alpine: folded ridges, granite knobs, and rolling ranges. Open the hills index to see hill-country plates by state.

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