On the Way to Nebraska--September 15 & 16, 2008

We decided to leave South Dakota and head into Nebraska. I had never been to Nebraska. Our first stop was Ft. Robinson State Park. It was originally a cavalry post, then it was sold to the Department of Agriculture and finally to the State of Nebraska. Many of the original buildings were torn down, but some remain.

This building was the headquarters building at one time. Now it is a history museum.

There as a lot of history at Ft. Robinson. It ranged from and Indian Agency to a fort to a POW camp in WWII. This is a replica of the barracks from the time of Crazy Horse.

In fact, this was where Crazy Horse was killed. Story has it that Little Big Man, native American,not a soldier, stabbed him as he tried to escape. From Ft. Robinson we drove northwest to Toadstool Geologic Area. It was out in the boonies (down a gravel road) and worth the drive. The area surrounding Toadstool was different than the buttes we saw around Crawford and Ft. Robinson. We walked the mile trail through the toadstools.
The toadstools were actually sandstone balanced on white clay. As the clay erodes, the sandstone falls. Eventually, there will just be sand as the sandstone also erodes, but at a slower pace than the clay.
We spent two nights at the state park. We also did some geocaching while we were in Nebraska. A portion of the old train tracks have been turned into a Rails to Trails area. There were several caches hidden along the trail (developed and undeveloped)!

While staying at Ft. Robinson we decided to travel south through Nebraska into Colorado.