Monthly Archives: December 2022

Fossil Butte National Monument, WY

Visitors to southwest Wyoming’s Fossil Butte National Monument, when they get out of their cars at the Visitor Center, are treated to a walk back in time: interpretive signs and markers along the deck and sidewalk point out different geological … Continue reading

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Medicine Bow Peak Loop, including Lakes Trail (Medicine Bow National Forest, WY)

At 12,013 feet, Medicine Bow Peak is the highest mountain in southern Wyoming’s Snowy Range, a small but exceptionally scenic slice of the broader Medicine Bow Mountains, which extend into northern Colorado. The peak is accessible via a relatively straightforward … Continue reading

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Mexican Canyon Trail Loop, inc. Scenic View Trail (Fort Robinson State Park, NE)

Fort Robinson, a former U.S. Army base dating to the late 19th century, may be the most popular destination in the state park that bears its name—but the natural highlights lie beyond to the north and west in the sedimentary … Continue reading

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Blackhills Overlook Trail Loop (Chadron State Park, NE)

Rising suddenly and surprisingly, the scenic Pine Ridge cuts like a furrowed eyebrow across northwest Nebraska, revealing an elevated landscape of thick ponderosa forests and chalk canyons. The 100-mile ridge is a sudden break from the flats of the Great … Continue reading

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Scotts Bluff National Monument, NE

A key milestone along the Oregon and California historic trails, the chalky hightops of Scotts Bluff rise skyward above the broad Platte River Valley in western Nebraska. Here pioneers heading west along the North Platte had to detour south to … Continue reading

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Daemonelix Trail (Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE)

Imagine a creature roughly approximating a beaver or large prairie dog but one that digs holes in a spiral nearly 10 feet deep, forming tunnels resembling a corkscrew or drill bit: this is the curious activity of the prehistoric paleocastor, … Continue reading

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