Nebraska: Ponca State Park

 From June 2021

 

Continuing east, we drove across Nebraska on Hwy 20.  Julia was busy on google and decided that she needed to try a runza, a meat pastry pocket regionally popular in Nebraska.   In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, pasties are a somewhat similar and were eaten by the miners in that area. I've had pasties, but I'm not a fan.

We weren't quite sure where to find a runza.  Fortunately, there's a chain of restaurants called Runza in Nebraska, so we stopped when we found one in Valentine (I just looked it up and it's apparently now permanently closed).

Julia said that she was glad that she tried it but wouldn't go out of her way for another one.  It was only 10:30 a.m, and I declined to try one.

We continued on to Ponca State Park, which is located on the Missouri River. 

Nice campground with electric and showers

 

The Missouri River seemed very shallow compared to its brother, the Mississippi.

 

There were some trails here that we enjoyed.  One featured a gnarly oak tree that dated to 1644.

We would stay here again if in the area.

 
 

Nebraska: Chadron State Park

 From June, 2021

We thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks in Colorado, but it was time to start heading east towards home.  

Our first destination was Chadron State Park in Nebraska.  But for some reason, Julia thought it was important to see Courthouse and Jail Rocks.  We made a little detour.

 

I think that these rocks are much more impressive if you are in a wagon trail coming across the plains from east to west.  After spending two weeks in Colorado's high country, *yawn*.  

Nebraska is another state with separate fees for entrance and camping.  Chadron State Park.  Admission was $6/day.  Camping for an electric site was $30/night.    Our campsite was perched on top of a grassy hill with nice views of the surrounding hills.

We hiked several of the trails through the outcroppings.

Some of the trails went through high grass.  We didn't do ourselves any favors bushwhacking for better views.

I lost that smile when I made it back to the Scamp and discovered a Lone Star tick crawling on my neck.  Stripping down, three more Lone Star ticks were found.  Don't worry  No pictures of that.

Colorado: Mount McConnel Trail

 

We hiked about 0.5 miles from our campsite through the rest of the campground and down the campground road leading to the picnic area, where the trailhead is located.  The limited parking area fills up during the day, but there were no cars or hikers in the early morning when we started our hike.

This was a 4.2 mile double loop hike with about 1400' of elevation gain, topping out at just over 8000 feet.  Parts of the trail were marked by fire and beetle kill.  Unlike Dadd's Gulch, where the soil was literally still scorched, there were optimistic signs of new growth on this mountain.

isis

 

The first part of the double loop is the "Kreutzer Nature Trail, which climbed sharply up switchbacks.  Most nature trails in Wisconsin are wheelchair accessible or at least very mild and flat for the mobility impaired or seniors.  This was not that kind of nature trail.

We hiked clockwise, as recommended.  The second loop climbed even more steeply than the first, but then suddenly flattened.  We walked through a stark landscape that evidenced both the fire damage and the renewal of life.  

 

 

Some peaks don't pay off with a big view at the end.  This one did.  So we hiked it again the next day.

Colorado: Mountain Park Campground

Each day at Dutch George campground became progressively hotter. On our last day, after picking up a few supplies at unincorporated Rustic, we drove through Mountain Park Campground, another forest service campground at slightly higher elevation and more shade. To our surprise, there was a non-reservation loop in the back. It was still mid-week and early enough in the day that there were a couple of vacant campsites.

When we returned with the Scamp, we snagged the nicest one.

We were able to spread out and had no immediate neighbors.  The structure on the left of the photo was the campground well house.    Yes, we had flush toilets and access to hot showers in the reservation-only electric loop.

We were happy with our non-electric site.  You can see some sunlight in the photo.  I was able to keep our battery relatively healthy by moving my portable 100 watt suitcase panel around to catch the sun.

We did not have a riverfront campsite, but there were trails along the river which were a minute away.  Again, in the heat of the day, we found ourselves soaking our feet in the cold water.

Mountain Park campground also had a great mountain peak trail that we could walk to from our campsite.  We liked it so much that we hiked it twice.  But that will have to wait until the next post.

Colorado: Feel the Burn at Dadd's Gulch

As I mentioned in a previous post, the further up  Poudre Canyon that we explored, the more we saw the impact of past years of fire. This is something that neither of us had ever seen before close-up, and it made a lasting impact.

On June 15th, 2021, we set off for a hike at Lower Dadd Gulch.  This is a 7 mile in/out trail with an elevation gain of 1482 feet.  Where the trail ended, we continued a mile or so on FDR 259A.

In the beginning, the trail followed the creek.  The landscape was lush and spring-like.

Things began to change during the ascent.

 

Eventually, the earth was scorched all around us, and the smell of char was heavy in the air.  This was not a recent fire, and it appeared that the land would take a very long time to heal.  No small seedlings, no wildflowers, no blades of grass.

 

 

Colorado: Whitewater Rafting

Water sports ain't my thang.  

I never learned to enjoy putting my head underwater.  In high school, I negotiated with the gym teacher to pass the swimming test in advance, avoiding the three week swimming segments in exchange for running laps around the track while the rest of the class swam.  

On the other hand, Julia loves to swim and still swims 2000 yards twice per week at the high school.  So when Julia expressed an interest in going whitewater rafting on the Poudre, I voiced total support--in driving her to and from the pickup spot.  

 

 

 

I'm not sure why Julia rated the red helmet.  I guess maybe she is special.