If you look to the south when you are at this location, you will see a groove cut at the bottom of the hill. This groove is a swale formed by wagons on the Smoky Hill Trail. (Obviously, the ravines have eroded a bit from the time the Trail was active.)
The Starvation Trail was the original Trail. After so many people died of starvation and dehydration, people began to favor a South Trail that runs through Kiowa and Parker or a North Trail which has become I-70 and Colfax.