2019 Road Trip of the Northern Great Plains
Created by Tom Scholten
The University of Kentucky
Click here to access the detailed road mapWelcome to the web page featuring my 2019 summer road trip to celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary with my wife Jess. The genesis of the trip began with the question of where to visit for our yearly vacation. I had never been to the northern Great Plains and we both agreed that a road trip "out west" seemed like a fun way to relax for two weeks. Every day was an adventure filled with new places to visit and see either by walking, biking, or cruising in a newly acquired convertible. The landscape was vast and open--far different from our current suburban environment. The adventure lasted two weeks and provided us with lasting memories, memorable adventures, megabytes worth of photos, and countless amazing natural views. Oh yeah, a speeding ticket from a Nebraska State Trooper in the middle of nowhere western Nebraska. If you haven't been to the Great Plains, or it has been many years since, I urge you to consider a trip to this often overlooked part of our country. I hope you enjoy traveling along via this webpage.
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln Nebraska (population 284,000) is one of the few large cities of Nebraska not located along either the Platte River or the Missouri River. The city was originally plotted near Salt Creek among the nearly flat saline wetlands of northern Lancaster County. The city's growth over the years has led to development of the surrounding land, much of which is composed of gently rolling hills. The city was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster on the wild salt marshes of the area. In 1867, the Village of Lancaster became Nebraska's state capital and was renamed Lincoln. The Bertram G. Goodhue-designed state capitol building was completed in 1932 and is the second tallest capitol in the United States. Source: Wikipedia
California Hill
California Hill is a hill in northwestern Nebraska, and the first major hill ascended by emigrants on the Oregon Trail in the mid 19th Century. East of O'Fallon's Bluffs, the trail begins to turn southward along the South Platte River. The emigrants had to decide where to cross the river and then over the divide between the north and south branches. The North Platte River was the preferred route towards Fort Laramie and Casper, Wyoming. A variety of crossings were used, but the most often chosen was named the California Crossing. Having travelled 53 miles (85 km) west of O'Fallon's Bluffs this crossing was the most direct to Ash Hollow and the North Platte River. While mostly shallow, the South Platte’s sandy bottom created a major obstacle for heavy wagons. Quicksand and moving water were the cause of wrecks, drownings, and deaths from exposure. This was accentuated as the main crossing season was in May and early June and the rivers became swollen from the spring melt in the mountains. Once over, the emigrants faced California Hill. This climb of 240 feet (73 m) was over a distance of 1.5 kilometers (0.93 mi) before reaching the plateau that stretched between the two forks of the Platte rivers. While not as steep as the hills ahead of them on the trail, this was the first major hill that they faced. Source: Wikipedia
Scotts Bluff
Scotts Bluff National Monument is located near the City of Gering in western Nebraska. This National Park Service site protects over 3,000 acres of historic overland trail remnants, mixed-grass prairie, rugged badlands, towering bluffs and riparian area along the North Platte River. Over 250,000 westward emigrants passed by Scotts Bluff between 1843 and 1869. the westward emigrants of the 19th century often mentioned Scotts Bluff in their diaries and journals. In fact, it was the second most referred to landmark on the Oregon, Mormon and California trails after Chimney Rock as emigrants would pause to gaze at the natural marvel. Many remembered it long after their journeys were over. As the area became more settled, the idea of protecting the fragile bluffs became popular. Scotts Bluff National Monument was proposed and became reality in 1919. Ancient seas, streams, sand dunes and volcanic eruptions have all worked to produce the layers making up Scotts Bluff. At one time, water and wind were the forces which deposited the fine silt and ash which built up the plains until five million years ago. Today, the same forces are working to tear down the bluffs. Perhaps in another few million years there will be no bluffs at all. Water and wind will be left to begin, perhaps, another cycle of deposition. Of the three different kinds of rock identified by geologists, sedimentary (sea bed, river, and dune deposits), igneous (volcanic), and metamorphic (rocks changed by heat and pressure), only sedimentary rocks are exposed at Scotts Bluff. Weathering and erosion of the Rocky Mountains supplied the sedments which were deposited here by wind and water in horizontal layers. These layers then became compressed by overlying sedimentary rocks. Some the sediments in the rocks here have an igneous origin. Volcanic eruptions to the west of Scotts Bluff created large amounts of ash that at times mixed with the other sediments and at other times formed distinct layers. Sources: U.S. National Park Service, Wikipedia
Chimney Rock
Chimney Rock is one of the most famous and recognizable landmarks for pioneer travelers on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, a symbol of the great western migration. Located approximately four miles south of present-day Bayard, at the south edge of the North Platte River Valley, Chimney Rock is a natural geologic formation, a remnant of the erosion of the bluffs at the edge of the North Platte Valley. A slender spire rises 325 feet from a conical base. The imposing formation, composed of layers of volcanic ash and brule clay dating back to the Oligocene Age (34 million to 23 million years ago), towers 480 feet above the North Platte River Valley. Chimney Rock consists primarily of Brule clay interlayered with volcanic ash and Arikaree sandstone. The harder sandstone layers near the top have protected the pillar since it broke away from the retreating cliff line to the south. Based on sketches, paintings, written accounts, and a 1897 photograph, Chimney Rock was taller when it was first seen by settlers, but has since been reduced in height by erosion and lightning. Sources: U.S. National Park Service, Wikipedia
Toadstool Geological Park
Toadstool Park, is in a remote area known as Nebraska's Badlands which is located in the Northwestern Nebraska in the Oglala National Grasslands area. It is about 18 miles northwest of Crawford, Nebraska. The park is named after its unusual rock formations, many of which resemble toadstools. Toadstool Geologic Park is located in the Oglala National Grasslands in northwestern Nebraska. Due to the varying degrees of lithification of the rock found in the park, the area is characteristic of unevenly eroded terrain. The more resistant channel sandstone has become balanced atop pedestals of softer rock, which causes the structures to resemble huge toadstools. The sandstone channel deposits contain a fossilized history of the mammals that lived in this area millions of years ago. The center of Toadstool Geologic park is located at the intersection of two normal faults; the Toadstool Fault and a smaller fault that has not been named that cut through the channel sandstone just south of the larger fault ( Toadstool Geologic Park is located 16 miles northwest of Crawford, Nebraska in Oglala National Grassland. Toadstool park derives its names from the unique erosional features found throughout the exposed cliffs where layered sandstone overlies a softer clay-rich layer. Wind and water erosion sculpt the sandstone blocks and remove the underlying clay. The result is a rounded sandstone block on a pedestal of clay-rich siltstone. The toadstools vary greatly in size from a few feet tall to large well developed blocks many meters high. Toadstool Geologic Park is miniscule in size compared to the Badlands of South Dakota, but has proved invaluable to the study of the White River Group. The Interpretive Toadstool Trail is very well marked, and a detailed trail brochure is available at the Trail Site that explains the numbered post markers along the one-mile loop hiking trail. Sources: U.S. National Park Service, Wikipedia
Ardmore, South Dakota Ghost Town
Ardmore is an unincorporated community in Fall River County, South Dakota and is a "modern day" ghost town along South Dakota State Highway 77. The town was founded in 1889 by European-American settlers. In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge stopped in Ardmore during his months long visit to the northern great plains. The town survived the Great Depression without one family on welfare. The decline of agriculture and movement of young people to other areas for work reduced the population. The last time the town had a recorded population was in 1980, when the Census showed a population of 16 residents. Source: Wikipedia
Car Henge
Carhenge, which replicates Stonehenge, consists of the circle of cars, 3 standing within the circle, the heel stone, slaughter stone, and 2 station stones and includes a “Car Art Preserve” with sculptures made from cars and parts of cars. Located just north of Alliance, Nebraska, Carhenge is formed from vintage American automobiles, painted gray to replicate Stonehenge. Built by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer solstice. Source: Car Henge website
Custer State Park is a South Dakota State Park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills of southwest South Dakota. The park is the state’s largest and first state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The area originally started out as sixteen sections, but was later changed into one block of land because of the challenges of the terrain. The park began to grow rapidly in the 1920s and gained new land. During the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps built miles of roads, laid out parks and campgrounds, and built three dams that set up a future of water recreation area at the park. In 1964 an additional 22,900 acres were added to the park. The park covers an area of over 71,000 acres of hilly terrain and is home to many wild animals. The park is home to a herd of 1500 free roaming bison. Elk, coyotes, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, river otters, pronghorn, cougars, and feral burros also inhabit the park. The park is famous for its scenery, its scenic drives (Needles Highway and the wildlife loop), with views of the bison herd and prairie dog towns. Source: Wikipedia
Deadwood, South Dakota
Deadwood (population: 1,580) is located in far west South Dakota and was named by early settlers after the dead trees found in its gulch. The city had its heyday from 1876 to 1879, after gold deposits had been discovered there, leading to the Black Hills Gold Rush. At its height, the city had a population of 5,000, and attracted larger-than-life Old West figures including Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok (who was killed there). The entire town has been designated as a National Historic Landmark District, for its well-preserved Gold Rush-era architecture. The settlement of Deadwood began illegally in the 1870s on land which had been granted to the Lakota people in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The treaty had guaranteed ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota people, who considered this area to be sacred. The squatting led to numerous land disputes, several of which reached the United States Supreme Court. Everything changed after Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills and announced the discovery of gold in 1874 on French Creek near present-day Custer, South Dakota. This announcement was a catalyst for the Black Hills Gold Rush, and miners and entrepreneurs swept into the area. They created the new and lawless town of Deadwood, which quickly grew in size. Source: Wikipedia
Devils Tower
Devils Tower (also known as Bear Lodge Butte) is a butte, possibly laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, Northeastern Wyoming. It rises 1,267 feet (386 m) above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet (265 m) from summit to base. The name Devil's Tower originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, when his interpreter reportedly misinterpreted a native name to mean "Bad God's Tower." Devils Tower became the nation's first National Monument in 1906. The landscape surrounding Devils Tower is composed mostly of sedimentary rocks. The oldest rocks visible in Devils Tower National Monument were laid down in a shallow sea during the mid- to late-Triassic period, 225 to 195 million years ago. This dark red sandstone and maroon siltstone, interbedded with shale, can be seen along the Belle Fourche River. Oxidation of iron minerals causes the redness of the rocks. This rock layer is known as the Spearfish Formation. Above the Spearfish Formation is a thin band of white gypsum, called the Gypsum Springs Formation. This layer of gypsum was deposited during the Jurassic period, 195 to 136 million years ago. Created as sea levels and climates repeatedly changed, gray-green shales (deposited in low-oxygen environments such as marshes) were interbedded with fine-grained sandstones, limestones, and sometimes thin beds of red mudstone. This composition, called the Stockade Beaver member, is part of the Sundance Formation. The Hulett Sandstone member, also part of the Sundance Formation, is composed of yellow fine-grained sandstone. Resistant to weathering, it forms the nearly vertical cliffs that encircle the Tower. During the Paleocene Epoch, 56 to 66 million years ago, the Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills were uplifted. Magma rose through the crust, intruding into the existing sedimentary rock layers. Source: Wikipedia Link to site map.
Minuteman Missile Park
The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established in 1999 to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) development. This National Historic Site preserves the last remaining Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States. 450 of the newer Minuteman III missiles are still on active duty at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, Minot AFB, North Dakota, and F. E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. The site consists of three facilities: a main office and two significant Cold War-era sites, a launch control center and a missile silo/launch facility. The facilities represent the only remaining intact components of a nuclear missile field that once consisted of 150 Minuteman II missiles, 15 launch-control centers, and covered over 13,500 square miles (34,964.8 km2) of southwestern South Dakota. Source: Wikipedia
Theodore Roosevelt State Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park comprises three geographically separate areas of badlands in western North Dakota. The park was named for U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. The park covers 70,446 acres (110.072 sq mi) of land in three sections: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit. The park's larger South Unit lies alongside Interstate 94 near Medora, North Dakota. The smaller North Unit is situated about 80 mi (130 km) north of the South Unit, on U.S. Route 85, just south of Watford City, North Dakota. Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch is located between the North and South units, approximately 20 mi (32 km) west of US 85 and Fairfield, North Dakota. The Little Missouri River flows through all three units of the park. The Maah Daah Hey Trail connects all three units. Roosevelt first came to the North Dakota badlands to hunt bison in September 1883. During that first short trip, he got his bison and fell in love with the rugged lifestyle and the "perfect freedom" of the West. He invested $14,000 in the Maltese Cross Ranch, which was already being managed by Sylvane Ferris and Bill Merrifield seven miles south of Medora. That winter, Ferris and Merrifield built the Maltese Cross Cabin. After the death of both his wife and his mother on February 14, 1884, Teddy Roosevelt returned to his North Dakota ranch seeking solitude and time to heal. That summer, he started his second ranch, the Elkhorn Ranch, 35 miles north of Medora, which he hired two Maine woodsmen, Bill Sewall and Wilmot Lam, to operate. Teddy Roosevelt took great interest in his ranches and in hunting in the West, detailing his experiences in pieces published in eastern newspapers and magazines. He wrote three major works on his life in the West: Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter. His adventures in "the strenuous life" outdoors and the loss of his cattle in the starvation winter in 1886-1887 were influential in Theodore Roosevelt's pursuit of conservation policies as President of the United States (1901–1909). Sources: Wikipedia, National Park Service
Geographic Center of the U.S.
The geographic center of the United States is a point approximately 20 mi (32 km) north of Belle Fourche, South Dakota (Lat. 44 58 02.07622(N) Long. 103 46 17.60283(W)). It has been regarded as such by the U.S. National Geodetic Survey (NGS) since the additions of Alaska and Hawaii to the United States in 1959. This is distinct from the contiguous geographic center, which has not changed since the 1912 admissions of New Mexico and Arizona to the contiguous United States, and falls near the town of Lebanon, Kansas. This served as the overall geographic center of the United States for 47 years, until the 1959 admissions of Alaska and Hawaii moved the geographic center of the overall United States approximately 550 mi (885 km) northwest by north. While any measurement of the exact center of a land mass will always be imprecise due to changing shorelines and other factors, the NGS coordinates identify the spot as an uninhabited parcel of private pastureland approximately 12 mi (19 km) east of the cornerpoint where the South Dakota/Wyoming/Montana borders meet. For public commemoration, a nearby proxy marker is located in a park in Belle Fourche, where one will find a flag atop a small concrete slab bearing a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Reference Marker. Source: Wikipedia.
Additional resources:
