rom Kansas we traveled north to Agate Fossil Beds NM. We stayed just outside the park at Pavement’s End campground. We were the only ones there.
Agate Fossil Beds had a really nice visitor center that not only included a lot of education of the fossils found in the area, but also Native American history including a huge collection of gifts given to the family that settled there. The family and several tribes were close friends. The tribes would stay at the homestead for several weeks every summer. The family was so close to the tribes and the Chiefs that one of the gifts was Crazy Horse’s whetstone that he was carrying when he was killed.
The trails available were few but we went out on the shorter one because it promised fossil viewing. The spiral fossils are actually fossilized burrows of a relative of the beaver.
The nice thing about Agate was the proximity to Toadstool Geological Park. This place was amazing. The rock formations were awesome and fun to climb up next to. We were allowed to keep any cool rocks we found. We even found a fossilized tree branch! All along the trail we were able to see fossilized animal tracks which was so cool. In hindsight it would’ve been better to visit Toadstool when we were in South Dakota but we didn’t even know about it then. Highly recommend adding Toadstool to any itinerary that includes Wind Cave or Mt Rushmore!
We drove south to Scot’s Bluff National Monument and stayed for a couple days. We visited the monument visitor center and the little museum inside. Scot’s Bluff was a major landmark along the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, California Trail, and Pony Express. We were a little short on time the first day so we drove to the summit and took the two short summit trails at the top.
The next day James and I (Liz) drove to Chimney Rock National Monument. The visitor center here is run by the State of Nebraska and cost $12 to get in. Nebraska state parks are the most expensive we’ve seen for day use. James and I googled a bit and found a trail that goes up to the rock and thr monument at the bottom. It was 1 mile round trip and was very pleasant this time of year.
Our last day we went back to Scot’s Bluff and hiked part of the Oregon Trail.
Shout out to whatever Gen X or Millennial who wrote the activity in the Jr Ranger book to determine what to pack in your wagon.
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