Scotts Bluff, NE
Stories of the Oregon and California Trail and the Pony Express have fascinated me since I was a child, so I could not pass up stopping at two well-known landmarks on the trail, Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff in western Nebraska. Leaving Sidney, NE on the morning of June 11 we travel west on I80 to its junction with NE 71 then north to the small Nebraska town of Gering and the Robidoux RV Park. Situated directly behind the park was the spectacular Scotts Bluff. After performing all of the duties of a new campsite we unhitched the truck to visit Chimney Rock National Monument.
Located about 20 miles east of our Gering it was a major waypoint for the pioneers. A single tower of rock left behind when the Platte River, the wind, and rain eroded the surrounding rock and can be seen from 20 miles way. Trekking across the flat lands of Nebraska the migrants called it “the most remarkable thing I ever saw". First seen by white men about 1813 by fur traders heading to the Pacific Northwest it has been painted, sketched and photograph many times over the past 200 years. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1956. To read more about Chimney Rock go to https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/scotts_bluff/chimney_rock.html
I woke this morning to the awe-inspiring sight of Scotts Bluff right outside our window. Like Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff was a major landmark on the Oregon, California, and Morman Trail (also referred to as the Overland Trails). The bluff is truly spectacular. Arriving at the visitor’s center we discovered a caravan of antique tractors in the parking area. They had crossed Nebraska in their antique tractors with the end point at Scotts Bluff. We admired these old machines and spoke with a few of the owners before they took off to their next stop. Inside the museum displayed many artifacts of the pioneers found along the trail and explained how the trails changed and developed over the year. We were not excepting to access the top of the bluff but there is both an auto road and a hiking trail to the top.(Unfortunately, the hiking trail is no longer accesses the top because of a rock slide. The road up followed the sheer cliffs of the bluff with 3 tunnels to make the turns. The view from the top was magnificent! Looking east we could see Chimney Rock and to the west, the wide prairie spread before us. As with so many of our great national parks, the road, and other facilities were built by the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, the same men who then marched off the win World War II. Scotts Bluff was proclaimed a National Monument in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson. For more information go to https://www.nps.gov/scbl/scblhist.htm
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After a morning wandering around the Monument, we went into town for a little lunch at the Mixing Bowl a little local diner. I had shakshuka an Israeli breakfast of tomatoes, onions and peppers topped with poached eggs. Yummy! Tom had a traditional egg, hash browns, and toast.
Tomorrow we are leaving this amazing spot for the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.
June 12th, 2016