{"id":2344,"date":"2019-01-08T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T09:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com?p=2344"},"modified":"2020-07-21T22:12:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T22:12:10","slug":"northwest-nebraska-your-next-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/northwest-nebraska-your-next-vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Nebraska, Your Next Vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo By NEBRASKAland Magazine\/ Nebraska Game and Parks Commission\/Justin Haag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Four-and-a-half hours from Denver,\u00a0far from the crowds and soul-crushing traffic, lies an oasis steeped in Old West tradition. It\u2019s the far northwest corner of Nebraska, at the tail end of the 100-mile-long Pine Ridge land formation, and it\u2019s fast becoming savvy Front Rangers\u2019 newest get-out-of-Colorado destination. Here, you\u2019ll find over 200 miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding that fans out from two main towns: Chadron, a hip college hamlet, and Crawford, more traditionally cowpoke. Basecamp at either spot (or in one of the 15 public campgrounds nearby), and you can explore 169,000 acres of public lands, including two state parks, the Nebraska National Forest, the Oglala Grasslands and the southernmost ridge of the Black Hills. The land here remains largely unchanged from the pioneer days\u2014meaning you can escape a Colorado one might argue is changing\u00a0too<\/em>\u00a0fast in exchange for Nebraska where the trails and campgrounds are relatively vacant, the hiking and mountain biking are on par with with Front Range classics, and the towns are still humble little down-home places where the customer\u2014not the dollar\u2014is king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll be shocked by the hiking in northwest Nebraska. Here where the prairie meets a desert landscape that feels like Fruita, you\u2019ll find canyons, creeks, sand hills and those iconic sand-and-clay formations made famous by the region\u2019s northern neighbor, The Badlands. The trails at Fort Robinson State Park wind through buttes with names such as\u00a0Lover\u2019s Leap<\/strong>\u00a0(4,163 feet, where legend says two young lovers from warring Native American tribes, who\u2019d been forbidden to marry, leapt to their deaths);\u00a0Trooper Trail<\/strong>\u00a0(10.5-miles long and locarted in the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area and accessed from Fort Robinson); and the\u00a0Norwesca Trail<\/strong>, a 5.2-miler that loops from top to bottom of Nebraska\u2019s Pine Ridge in Chadron State Park. But Chadron local and Northwest Nebraska Toursim Director, Kristina Reeves\u2014a native of Colorado\u2014loves the three-mile\u00a0Bison Trail<\/strong>, in Toadstool Geologic Park, which passes through a variety of landscapes including badlands, grasslands and Ponderosa Pines; the 1.4-mile-long\u00a0Steamboat Loop Trail,<\/strong>\u00a0in popular Chadron State Park; and the six-mile\u00a0Spotted Tail Loop<\/strong>, at The Cliffs, Nebraska National Forest where abundant wildlife (wild turkey, white-tailed and mule deer) abide. Get thee to any of these, says Reeves, and you\u2019ll forget that your favorite hiking was ever among the crowds in Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountain biking in Nebraska? Absolutely, says cyclist George Ledbetter, a former newspaper editor who has been riding bike trails in the region for decades. To reiterate: There are\u00a0200+ miles<\/em>\u00a0of riding in the 169,000 chunk of public lands that surround the towns of Crawford and Chadron. They include singletrack MTB trails through pine forests, across prairie grasslands and up steep buttes and narrow slot canyons. There are also plenty of \u201cgravel grinds\u201d down country roads with stunning views across wide expanses of prairie, the picturesque White River valley and the open horizon of the unique Nebraska Sandhills. Road riders, meanwhile, can rack up miles on well-maintained, broad-shouldered east-west Highway 20, a main route for many cross-country bikers, or north south on Highway 385, the Gold Rush trail to the Black Hills of South Dakota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ledbetter, a diehard mountain biker and gravel grinder, loves to churn along through the landscape on these three multi-facted rides:\u00a0The Spotted Tail Trail<\/strong>, off of King Canyon Road, goes through open meadows and stands of pine trees. Parts of the trail area were badly burned in 2006, so don\u2019t try this one at midday in summer. The 16.7-mile\u00a0Buttermilk Loop<\/strong>\u00a0(a gravel grinder), traces county roads and state highways. It features great views of the Pine Ridge forest and Crow Butte and crosses some Badlands terrain. And\u00a0The Cliffs<\/strong>, located on the Nebraska National Forest, southeast of Chadron, offers multiple opportunities for mountain biking. Trails go up (south) to Table Road, with alternative routes for the return trip, including a thrilling ride down King Canyon. And get here on the third weekend of September for the 15-mile-long\u00a0Twisted Crawdad Cameco Mountain Bike Race<\/strong>, sponsored by the Chadron Community Recreation Program in collaboration with Chadron State College. It\u2019s a fall classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horseback Riding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Forest Service spent big money developing riding trails in the Pine Ridge area back in the early 1990s, according to Crawford local and lifelong horseman Don Huls. They start at various trailheads in Chadron State Park, Nebraska National Forest and Fort Robinson State Park, and they wind hundreds of miles through rugged, picturesque terrain. The Pine Ridge trails cruise through vast, open meadows, soaring buttes and stunning rock formations, that bring you back to long-gone days of the frontier. You\u2019re on your own with your horse\u2014one operation does \u201cnose-to-butt rides,\u201d says Huls, but it detracts from the experience. Each June, Huls and a group of local \u201coutriders\u201d (a term borrowed from the \u201cgood old trail days,\u201d says Huls) host\u00a0Ride the Ridge<\/strong>, with one- and two-day events. You head out with other horsemen, ride most of the day, and return to crazy-cool accommodations.\u00a0Fort Robinson State Park<\/strong>\u00a0boasts shady campgrounds for horse lovers and non alike, with electrical-hookup sites and primitive sites. Put your horse up for the night in one of the newly remodeled horse barns. There are plenty of lodging options here that can accommodate two to 25 people. Try one of the 1909 enlisted men\u2019s quarters, or the former officers quarters (read: cabins) that date from 1874 to 1909. All feature kitchens, baths, living rooms and bedrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No horse? No problem. Trail rides are offered all summer at Fort Robinson State Park and Chadron State Park. Want more?\u00a0Our Heritage Guest Ranch<\/strong>\u00a0north of Crawford rents horses you can ride on your own, offers lessons and leads trips on its property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bighorn Sheep Hike at Fort Robinson State Park. Hikers observe bighorn sheep. Haag, July 19, 2014. Copyright NEBRASKAland Magazine, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Photo By NEBRASKAland Magazine\/ Nebraska Game and Parks Commission\/Justin Haag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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NITTY GRITTY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sleep<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For information on the 15 both primitive and non-primitive\u00a0campgrounds\u00a0<\/strong>in the Chadron-Crawford region, head to discovernwnebraska.com\/campgrounds. To find Bed and Breakfasts in the area, check out the comprehensive listing at\u00a0Northwest Nebraska High Country\u00a0<\/strong>(nebraskahighcountry.com<\/a>). For a sleep experience that\u2019ll snub all of the #vanlife geeks, stay in a hike-to mobile sheepwagon, \u201cthe marvel of practicality and efficiency,\u201d on grasslands and timbered ridges, with the proprietors of the\u00a0RuJoDen Ranch<\/strong>\u00a0(sheepwagonhideouts.com\/ecosetting.htm).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EAT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chadron\u2019s\u00a0Bean Broker<\/strong>\u00a0serves food all day but their baked goods are to die for. Try the daily special, which uses location-grown herbs and local produce. The\u00a0Snack Shop<\/strong>\u00a0in Crawford, serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week. Hit up Q\u2019s\u00a0Dairy Sweet<\/strong>\u00a0in Crawford for Texas-style barbecued beef, or hit the locally owned\u00a0D & S Market<\/strong>\u00a0in Crawford for small business offerings, which are always throwback and cool. Chadron State College students hit\u00a0Wild\u2019s Bar and Grill<\/strong>, for the fresh-cut locally rasied ribeye, or the\u00a0Ridge<\/strong>, for its cowboy-size chicken fried steak. Cowboys, families, and other Crawford locals rave about the burgers, fries and ice cream, all devoured in an open-air setting, at\u00a0Staab\u2019s Drive-In<\/strong>\u00a0(it\u2019s only open in the summer, though). And for all the meat-lovers, EJ\u2019s BBQ in downtown Chadron is sure to quench that craving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chadron\u2019s Fur Trade Days is a throwback to the ERA when fur trading ruled the area\u2014an important part of Nebraska\u2019s history. Compete in the World Champion Buffalo Chip Throw and watch the parade, complete with a canoe race in Chadron State Park. It\u2019s always the second full weekend in July. For more information, visit\u00a0furtradedays.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four-and-a-half hours from Denver,\u00a0far from the crowds and soul-crushing traffic, lies an oasis steeped in Old West tradition. It\u2019s the far northwest corner of Nebraska, at the tail end of the 100-mile-long Pine Ridge land formation, and it\u2019s fast becoming savvy Front Rangers\u2019 newest get-out-of-Colorado destination. Here, you\u2019ll find over 200 miles of trails for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgf0HI-BO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2369,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions\/2369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}