Nebraska: The Good Life

Yesterday Nate and I decided to take a spur of the moment trip out west. Neither of us had seen Chimney Rock before and were itching to do some hiking but didn't plan it soon enough to head to Colorado. We did some research on Thursday night and planned our trip. We were going to stop at Chimney Rock near Bayard, then head to Scotts Bluff National Monument near Gering/Scottsbluff, and then head out to Wild Cat Hills which is about 8-10 miles south of Gering. Chimney Rock was neat, I love history...especially Nebraska history, so it was enjoyable to walk through the small museum and then actually see the rock that was so vital for settlers travelling via the Oregon Trail.

After seeing Chimney Rock we headed to Scotts Bluff National Monument. Man...it was gorgeous. It was hard to believe that this breathtaking view was in Nebraska. We drove to the top of the monument and then hiked a good majority of the way down and then back to the top. We would have liked to hiked the entire way up and down, but we had the dog with...Sampson doesn't like hiking. Next time we go we'll leave Sampson at home! We almost saw Rattle Snakes, too! We were on our way to another trail at SBNM when a family coming off the trail warned us that there were Rattle Snakes just a few yards from the trail head. I wanted to go take a photo of them, but Nate didn't think it was a good idea (he has the brains in the relationship while I bring the spontaneity!)






Finally we headed to Wild Cat Hills which are maintained by the Nebraska Game and Parks. This park was equally breathtaking. We tried to take Sampson on our first hike, but the trail was a bit difficult for him. In fact, he tried to jump off of a rock and biffed it pretty bad :) So we put him back in the car and hiked for about 3 miles on some pretty great trails. We did grab him out of the car to do a quick photo shoot!




All in all, it was a great trip...we spent an entire day being active together in God's beautiful creation, right in our own state. Nebraska really is a great place to live!