The “high plains” are the western area of the Great Plains. They are characterized by lesser rainfall and shorter grasses compared to the more easterly areas of the plains, such as the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve we visited in eastern Kansas.
(Here’s a high plains factoid I can’t resist mentioning, even though it happened far from Route 50. In January 1916, in Browning, Montana, the temperature fell 100 degrees Fahrenheit in 24 hours, from 44 degrees to minus 56 degrees. It is the largest 24-hour temperature change ever recorded, anywhere in the world.)
