Neil and I have a bit of a running joke about Nebraska, after we saw the black and white comedy/drama 2013 film of the same name. It’s a really odd but compellingly weird movie and it would either make you desperate to visit Nebraska…or fill you with dread at the prospect. Just guess how it affected Neil … and me! In any case, in reality we were both looking forward to seeing the state…but Neil, maybe ( definitely?) a lot more than me. Not long after we left Hot Springs we were winding down from the Black Hills scenery back to the wide…wide..wide plains, and in a short time we’d reached the border of South Dakota and Nebraska.
Neil had earmarked the Toadstool Geological park as something worth seeing and despite my concerns about heading off down a gravel road when we had no phone signal…that’s the way we went. The highways in this part of the country are so empty! So I was really surprised when we arrived at the park campground to find that there were a few cars there, some had obviously camped there overnight. We picked up a trail guide from the tin box at the trailhead and set off to walk the 1.2 mile interpretive trail. Once again, I was impressed at the organisition of the USA National parks service – there were a number of numbered posts in the ground along the trail and each number corresponded to a description in the guide. It helpedexplain the geography of the area and the ancient story that led to its creation .
As we left the park we had to cross the railway tracks..but there was a train coming… so we sat there and watched the massive train slither past.
Keeping up the Paleontological theme of yesterday, our next stop down the road was Agate Fossile Beds National Monument. Agate Park contains some of the most important and exciting fossils in the world, making it one of the crown jewels in the National Park System. “Agate” is named after James Cook’s Agate Springs Ranch, a privately-owned working ranch that still lies just outside the park. Cook was an adventurer of the Old West who eventually settled down in this country when it was still Indian land. Cook found fossils on his ranch, and brought them to the attention of scientists at some point in the early 1890s. They have been the focus of excited attention form scientsist ever since. We watched afilm and listened to a talk by a passionately interested park ranger, then looked at the exhibits in the visitor centre. By this stage the weather had turned really windy and chilly so we decided not to do the walk up to the hills and sat in the car to have our coffee and rolls instead!
The road from here across towards the town of Alliance was a bit rough in parts for my liking, but it was the shortest way to brings us to our next goal – Carhenge. Carhenge is one of these quirky, fin, nonsensical places that leave you wondering… WHY??? Built by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer solstice, it’s a circle of vintage American cars, painted grey and stuck in the ground in a circle to mimic Stonehenge. There were a number of other “car in the ground” artworks nearby up the hill, one of which is actually a time capsule, that will be disinterred in the 2050s!
From Alliance we had another 50 minute drive to the town fo Scotts Bluff – which is named for the massive cliffs towereing over the plain. It was a significant landmark for early adventurers who chose to “Head West!” along the Oregon Trail. At the visitor centre we walked along the lower trail where the park service have set up displays of old covered wagons. There is a road that climbs up onto the bluff but we were running a bit short of gas so decided to come back tomorrow monring to start the day with a good view.
For dinner we drove a short way down the road to the nearby Applebees and enjoyed steaks and American football.
