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Location: Northwestern Nebraska from the Wyoming border to central Nebraska at Valentine Length: 200 miles (321.9 km) Time To Allow: 4–6 hours Description/Highlights/Points of Interest Bridges to Buttes Byway journeys through diverse topography and distinctive landscapes. From rolling sandhills through the Pine Ridge and the Nebraska National Forest onto plateaus from which you can see the Black Hills and into neighboring states, travelers along this byway will experience the sites, solitude and vastness that early travelers and settlers felt as they first saw this region. The eastern end of this byway conjures up memories of old western movies, the rolling prairie dotted with horses, cattle and genuine, conventional cowboys and cowgirls. The byway offers a number of sites featuring Native American ceremonies, prehistoric fossils, historical frontier military posts and extensive working ranches found in the panhandle of Nebraska. Suggested Itinerary Traveling east along the Bridges to Buttes Byway, you'll be driving parallel to the Cowboy Trail, a 320-mile (512 km) long trail project from Norfolk to Chadron that gives abandoned railroad lines a new lease on life as hiking and biking trails. The Cowboy Trail is being developed by the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Railroad enthusiasts can catch glimpses of this region's colorful railroad past at the many local museums along the byway. It's a wide-open landscape where cattle outnumber people. The Sandhills is a 19,000 square mile (49,400 sq. km) area of grass-stabilized sand dunes that sit atop the Ogallala Aquifer. This area, which is the largest of its kind in the world, is renowned for its gentle rivers meandering through pine-studded canyons, waterfalls and an endless ocean of prairie grasses alongside America's largest hand-planted forest. The sandhills are also known for cattle ranches of gigantic proportions and wildlife refuges dedicated to protecting and preserving the sandhill wildlife. Up-close views of ranching, cowboys, Native American history, wildlife viewing opportunities, cowboy poetry, storytelling and art await the visitor to this quiet and seemingly undisturbed region. Often referred to as the "biological crossroads of the Great Plains," the 30-mile (48 km) stretch of Niobrara River east of Valentine, is of great biological importance. Because of the Niobrara's striking scenery, recreational use and biological diversity, a 70-mile (112 km) segment of the river east of Valentine was designated a National Scenic River in May 1991. The Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge allows visitors a chance to view up-close its resident herd of buffalo. Smith Falls State Park is located 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Valentine on Highway 12. A National Historic Bridge across the Niobrara River provides access for visitors to walk to Nebraska's highest waterfall, Smith Falls. The falls are created by a small, spring-fed creek that tumbles 70 feet (21m) over a rock ledge to the Niobrara Valley below. The Jim MacAllister Nature Trail alerts hikers to the diversity of ecological systems present in the valley, which exists nowhere else in North America. Park entry permit required. Follow Highway 97 for 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Valentine, and lodge or camp overnight at the Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area. This sparkling reservoir blocks the Snake River and contains almost 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of water. One-and-a-half miles (2.4 km) north and two miles (3 km) East of Merriman
along Highway 20 is Arthur Bowring Sandhills Ranch State Historical
Park, the preservation site of a working cattle ranch. The ranch house,
outbuildings and visitor center contain displays devoted to the extraordinary
careers of Arthur and Eve Bowring and ranching in the sandhills. Arthur
was a state legislator, and Eve was the first Nebraska woman to enter
Congress. |