From the Mountains to the Prairie

Scotts Bluff
Chimney Rock
Mitchell Pass
The rut made by wagons 150 years ago.
Prairie Schooner
Grave of Rebecca Winters

We have left the mountains and have begun our trek across the Great Plains. Our first stop was the Robidoux RV Park, a city run park in Gering, Nebraska another state neither of us have ever visited. The campground is near Scotts Bluff National Monument and Chimney Rock, two important landmarks on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails and also for the Pony Express. These two formations are remains of a once higher plains which are slowly eroding away. Scotts Bluff rises 780 feet above the river and you can drive or hike to the top along routes built by the CCC in the 1930's. We did both and enjoyed two totally different perspectives. Chimney Rock, which is pictured on the 2006 Nebraska quarter, is 325 feet high. We chose not to hike to the base along the narrow, less traveled trail because of the numerous warnings about the Prairie Rattlesnakes that inhabit the area. These two welcomed landmarks signaled the end of the monotonous plains, one-third of the trip and the beginning of the more difficult Rockies for the more than 350,000 pioneers who passed through this area traveling west in the middle of the 1800's. While the trails followed the North Platte River for much of the way it had to divert through Mitchell Pass to bypass the bluffs and badlands near the river. Here you can still see the ruts worn in the ground by the many wagons. There are wagons on display that show some of the 2000 pounds of supplies the pioneers carried for the trip which could take up to six months. They traveled about 15 miles a day and people walked to ease the burden on the pack animals. Contrary to the Hollywood myth, they had very little trouble with the Indians who often helped and traded with them. An unknown number died from disease and accidents along the way but there are very few graves to mark where they were buried. One exception is the grave of Rebecca Winters who was buried nearby in 1852. Her family etched her name on a wagon tire to mark the grave and a railroad surveyor found the marker years later and moved the right of way to preserve the site. A monument was erected there in 1902. Seeing the harsh land and climate they encountered gives you a new respect for those American pioneers who settled the West.