9/26 & 9/27 - Gering, Nebraska, and Chimney Rock

There was nothing worth posting about yesterday. Stayed home, fixed stuff and Jim washed the RV. He also worked on a problem with the water lines during which he got doused with Clorox (diluted, fortunately) and had to peel off his clothes so they could be rinsed out. (No damage done.)  I've spent hours trying to figure out what route we're going to take to get home but it's been complicated by the floods in Iowa which are in our path on our favored route. We can avoid central Iowa by going through Kansas City and St. Louis but those are places we would really like to stay away from.  We have to get it worked out by Saturday because Sunday the route splits, either east through Iowa or south through Missouri.


After lunch today we drove 20 miles east to the Chimney Rock National Historic Site at Bayard (a town of about 1,100 people).   

Chimney Rock looking east

This rock formation was the first landmark to be seen by the pioneers after traveling west 500 miles across the prairies from Independence, Missouri, and it made a tremendous impression on them.  They had never seen anything like it.  It was one of the most famous and recognizable landmarks on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails which all ran together until Wyoming and Idaho.

The picture above shows how the formation is actually the remains of the ridge to the right.  Everything in between has been eroded away. Chimney Rock is about 325 feet high but is constantly getting smaller. The erosion is quite noticeable from the "then and now" pictures in the visitor center.

Chimney Rock looking west

The closest view looking west is from the visitor center. There's no path to the formation, probably to keep people from doing more damage to it. In the 1800's scores of people carved their names in it. Lightning has knocked pieces off the top and, at one time, soldiers even used it for target practice.  Another reason for not having a trail is that the area apparently has a healthy population of rattlesnakes.  There are warnings about them everywhere.

This is our last night in Gering and, once again, we didn't have a sunset. There were no clouds today, nor was there any wind.  We couldn't believe it.  This is the best evening picture I could come up with.


Tomorrow we go 190 miles north to Hermosa, South Dakota, which is very close to Custer State Park where the Buffalo Round-Up is happening on Friday.