Saturday, February 22, 2020

Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area: Monument View Trail

Our original plan for today was to drive south into Northeastern Colorado to hike Pawnee Buttes and check out Parts and Labor Brewing in Sterling. However, Grandma wasn't feeling the best this morning, so we opted to stay closer to home. Since we finally registered our cars in Nebraska, we could pay the in-state rate for a state parks pass and so we headed to Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area to do some hiking.

Upon our arrival, we investigated the nature center for a bit, bought 2 park passes (one for each vehicle) and then set out to do some hiking. I saw a trail called "Turkey Run" on the map that I thought looked interesting, and so we drove to the trailhead, and hit the trail. The hike started with a descent along a north facing slope, into a canyon. There was a lot more snow (and ice) on the trail than I had anticipated.
Grandma was having a difficult time hiking on the slick trail and so she turned around to head back to the trailhead. Sierra, Noelle and I continued on. Soon enough we came to a trail junction and took a right onto the Pine Top Trail.
Soon the trail reached an unsigned junction. We opted to go right again on the south facing slope where there would be less snow. We quickly climbed to an old stone picnic shelter. The views from the shelter were stunning.
From the shelter we continued on an old road, past some restrooms and into a picnic area. There were patches of snow here and there which offered an opportunity to throw a few snowballs.

After following a few dead end, unofficial user trails, we made our way to the Monument View Trail.
This is where the views got really spectacular. We hiked along a ridge
with views out to Scotts Bluff National Monument and the surrounding hills.
The trail ended at a really nice overlook.
After enjoying the view there for a bit, we turned around and headed back to the start of the trail.
We rested at a picnic table at the trailhead,
then walked the road back towards the car, hoping to meet Grandma at some point. Soon enough we found her. She wanted to do more walking and so all four of us turned around to hike Monument View Trail again. The views were just as spectacular the second time around!
 Upon returning to the car we drove back towards Gering and Grandma noticed some bighorn sheep in a field east of the road. We turned around to have a closer look, then headed into town for a Nebraska lunch at Runza.
It was a great way to spend a beautiful western Nebraska morning!

1 comment:

luksky said...

Such a beautiful place