Nebraska - Day 20 - Scotts Bluff National Monument & town

Captain Critters Country Campground, Scottsbluff

Thursday, 20 October 2022

today's route

I had some errands to do, but first I wanted to stop at the national monument and learn about this imposing land feature called Scotts Bluff.  It dominates the whole area.

Scotts Bluff National Monument

It only took a few minutes from the campground to get to the visitor center, where I got a Park Service brochure and watched a 14-minute video about the area.  And I still had to ask one of the rangers afterwards what exactly was considered Scotts Bluff, out of all these bigh bluffs around here.

He explained that they don't know for sure.  The story handed down through history was that, in 1828, a fur company clerk named Hiram Scott was injured and left for dead by his companions at the base of one of these high bluffs.  When they came back for him, they found his bones and named the bluffs after him.  It could have been any of these bluffs if, in fact, the story is true at all.  I couldn't take a photo of the whole range and didn't see a photo like that at the visitor center, but what they did have was a high-relief map.

You can just see the star in the middle stating "You are here."  Today's highway is marked as a white line, and the dotted line next to it is the route of the Oregon National Historic Trail, the California National Historic Trail, and the Pony Express National Historic Trail, shown in the next graphic.

A whole lot of folks came through here, once the trail was established.

An earlier trail led along the North Platte River on the north side of the monument, the advantage being proximity to water which was hard to come by in this area.  But the trail established through Mitchell Pass on the south side was apparently much easier going, so travelers diverged from the river long enough to pass through here.  Pres. Woodrow Wilson officially established this area as a national monument in 1919 by presidential proclamation (though people griped at Pres. Obama for doing the same thing).

Here's a small selection of the many exhibits at the visitor center.

That caption in the lower corner reads: 
"Around 500,000 people traveled the overland trails in the 1800s."

Looking at that drawing gives me more insight into the reaction of the Native Americans to this deluge of people who treated them as "the wandering and uncivilized aborigines," according to Lt. Zebulon Pike in 1806, when he was exploring this area.

Here's what the visitor center said about this.

And here are some photos of the area and excerpts from accounts by the travelers.

Text enlarged at right.

Text enlarged at left.

Text enlarged at left.

They had a number of artifacts from this period, but I thought this one was interesting.

They also had a lot of information about the Natives who lived in the area, and this bit was something I don't think I'd ever heard about.

The caption at the bottom reads:
"A Lakota man adding an image to the tribe's winter count. 
These became a pictorial history of the tribe or family."

And finally, I took these photos outside.

Considering the Pony Express operated only 18 months, it's amazing what an image it has burned in the consciousness of Americans.

And then there was the show Nature put on:

Eagle Rock
The visitor center is at the base of the butte.

Sentinel Rock

These rocks were formed by wind, water and volcanic eruptions which deposited materials in this area.  The rocks, therefore, consist of - from bottom to top - a thick layer of siltstone, deposited 34 million years ago; followed by layers of volcanic ash interspersed with layers of sandstone; topped by a cap rock of limestone, deposited 22 million years ago.

These layers are eroding faster than new material is being deposited, though the cap rock, which resists erosion, has protected these bluffs from disappearing, a fate that has happened to nearby badlands.  But you can see how imposing these land features are still and can imagine what they must have looked like to the folks who had just spent months traveling across the plains.

Riverside Park Dog Park

I crossed the North Platte River into Scottsbluff, pop 14,875 (this time there was a sign), and soon turned into Riverside Park, which is home to the local zoo, among other features, one of which is a dog park.  I had to travel down an extremely potholed road to get to it, but we got there.

Dext enjoyed being outdoors and off leash, and another dog came not long after we got there - but Dext did his usual glad-to-meet-you, let's-play, 2-minutes-is-enough routine.  After a while we ate some lunch and went off on a round of errands.  And I got incredibly lucky.

Errands

The first stop was the local recycling center.  At first they thought they wouldn't take my stuff because of my Texas license plate, but I explained I didn't have a real home and I'd stayed last night in Gering and would be staying the next 2 nights in Scottsbluff, and I assured them I didn't have much, so they agreed they'd take it.

The wonderful thing was not just getting my bathroom cleaned out (and the recycling was threatening to take the space over) but also I asked - with no expectation of success but I had to ask - if they'd also take my #1 plastics that weren't bottles.  And I showed him what was in the 2 stuffed-full trash bags I had stashed in the basement - and he said, "Those are #1 - sure, we'll take it all."  I was practically dancing for joy.  I'd carried those trash bags around since California, I think.  Well, first I filled up one bag, and then the second bag, and both were too full and I was about to start a third bag.  Instead, I now have a basement that looks almost empty by comparison!  And a cleaned-out bathroom!  So exciting!

Then I went looking for someone to sell me propane.  Online and in person, people had directed me to a specific gas station in town, but when I got there they said they only dealt with the refillable bottles, not the pump-it-into-my-tank type.  But they directed me to Mr. Tire, on the far side of the parking lot and assured me that Mr. Tire could help me.

Which Mr. Tire could.  And did.  I was beginning to worry because the tank was getting low, and I knew the next 3 campgrounds didn't sell any, and the forecast for the next few nights was pretty low.  But now I have no worry for days!  I was on a roll.

So I went into the local Main Street Market - a local outlet of a co-op - and once again I hit it lucky.  They were just a small store but apparently I did the buying for them.  I found the specific brands of specific products I hadn't been able to find in the last couple of weeks at various other bigger stores.  It was great.  I'd hit the trifecta.

So I quit while I was ahead and went a few miles out of town to the campground where I'll be staying the next 2 nights.