The last large state to cross on the return of my fall trip was Nebraska. I started in the southwest part of the state crossing over from Colorado. The autumn colors were still strong, though not the aspen and cottonwoods. Definitely on the plains.
Not many animals to see except for a variety of raptors searching the rolling land for prey I could not see.
After visiting Scots Bluff, I continued north to another National Monument—Agate Fossil Beds. Near the end of the 19th century, James and Kate Cook found fossil bones on a hill on their ranch. It became the largest collection of giant Miocene mammals ever found.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska
While there’s not much to explore on the land of the monument, the visitor center museum displays a phenomenal collection of the fossils. But that’s only half of the amazing collection. The Cooks became trusted friends of the Lakota who gifted them with many artifacts including a buffalo hide with the story of the Battle of Greasy Grass a/k/a Little Bighorn.
Chief Red Cloud was a good friend and Lakota and Cheyenne would visit the Cooks filling the surrounding lands with their tepees. You need to image them and the bison today.
After camping in Nebraska National Forest (yes, it surprised me, too, that there was a forest in Nebraska), I awoke to a land covered in fog.
The sandhills along the Niobrara River had a special beauty as I travelled the entire length of the state in fog.
A few cottonwoods appeared out of the mist.
It was a quiet, peaceful end to the trip as I headed eastward, home.
