Nebraska National Forest: Strong Canyon Loop

Today, Rosie and I made the drive up near Chadron to hike a section of the Pine Ridge Trail that starts just across US Highway 385 from the entrance to Chadron State Park. I took a different route than I would normally take to head in that direction, taking Nebraska Highway 71 north to Nebraska Highway 2 through Hemmingford. On the way, I stopped near the junction of Highways 71 and 2 to take a photo of the old, abandoned schoolhouse or church that sits just off the highway. 

Once back on the road, we drove east, then north up to the trailhead off of Mann Road. Right off the bat, the scenery was pretty impressive. 

Since we were unlikely to encounter any other hikers, I allowed Rosie to hike off leash.

We followed painted wooden posts that marked the route of the trail. 

It wasn't always obvious which way the trail went, so we stopped periodically to look around for the next post. The trail soon climbed through a burned area.

There were lots of great views from the high flat areas down into a series of small canyons.

The trail traversed meadows for a bit,

then headed down into, and back out of a small canyon.

Then, we repeated the process, descending into another canyon before climbing back out again.

We crossed Strong Canyon Road, close to where we had gotten our Christmas Tree last year.

When we reached a narrow canyon, 

I was feeling pretty tired and decided it was time to turn around and head back to the car. We climbing back up to the high meadow with lots more great views.

When we reached a windmill we had passed earlier in the hike, I decided it was time to follow a different route back. We made a left and followed another set of wooden posts until a faint road bed could be seen.

We continued to follow the road along a forest boundary fence and into a wooded area along another narrow canyon.

The road/trail eventually descended into the canyon and there was even some water flowing. 

Rosie decided to take a dip in the cold water. This seemed to invigorate her, as she got a case of the zoomies shortly thereafter. 

We continued on, soon leaving the canyon and passed another windmill.

We enjoyed the views of distant bluffs as we made our way along the last section of road back to the car.