Firstview, where eastern Colorado travelers first catch the mountains

If you drive west across Cheyenne County on US-40, the land stays flat and open for a long while. Then you reach a place with a name that tells you to look up: Firstview.

It is a small, unincorporated spot west of Cheyenne Wells, not really a town anymore. The grain elevators along the highway are about all that marks it now. But the name has a quiet payoff built in. As the name says, this is the spot where travelers crossing the plains could first make out the mountains rising far to the west.

That is the part worth knowing before you go. On a clear day, after all those level miles, the mountains are not a wall in front of you yet. They are a faint, pale shape low on the horizon, easy to miss if you are not watching for it. People crossing the plains by wagon, train, and later by car all had this same moment, the first hint that the high country was finally out there.

It pairs well with simply paying attention to the drive itself. Pick a clear afternoon, keep your eyes on the western horizon as you roll through, and you may catch what gave the place its name.