| Nebraska's Pine Ridge Area/Range |
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Geography
| Nebraska's Pine Ridge   | 
| Page Type: Area/Range Location: Nebraska, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 42.62588°N / 103.20557°W Activities: Hiking | Page By: panhandletrails Created/Edited: Dec 24, 2008 / May 27, 2012 Object ID: 474261 Hits: 6521 Loading... Page Score: 88.36% - 17 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Overview Nebraska's Pine Ridge area is an escarpment on the edge of the high plains. It's about 100 miles long across Nebraska, running through northern portions of Sioux, Dawes, and Sheridan counties. The Pine Ridge extends into South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, and to a lesser degree the north side of Wyoming's Niobrara River watershed. Though the Pine Ridge looks like a narrow arc on the map, it's distance across varies anywhere from 4 miles to 20 miles. Despite it's rugged natural beauty and great hiking opportunities, the whole area is often overlooked due to the close proximity of the Rockies to the west in Wyoming, and the Black Hills to the north in South Dakota.
The Pine Ridge is characterized by several hundred square miles of ponderosa pine forests, meadows, steep buttes, small canyons, minor peaks, and numerous small streams. The altitude ranges from around 3,000 feet in Sheridan County to over 5,200 feet in Sioux County, so not only are there also ash and cottonwood trees in the forest, but small groves of aspen are occasionally seen. There is an abundance of wildlife in the area, with large numbers of deer and wild turkeys. There are also elk, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, porcupines, occasional mountain lions, ducks, wild geese, and pheasants.
There are a large number of hiking opportunities there, due to public access on state and public lands. Some of the larger areas open to the public would include the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area, Chadron State Park, Fort Robinson State Park, Ponderosa Wildlife Management Area, Bighorn Wildlife Management Area, Bordeaux Creek Wildlife Management Area, Gilbert Baker Wildlife Management Area, Metcalf Wildlife Management Area, Chadron Creek Wildlife Management Area, Toadstool Geologic Park, and the Nebraska National Forest Recreation Area.
There are many miles of hiking trails in the Pine Ridge. The length and quality of those trails varies, depending on the agency that is in charge of development and upkeep. And, if there are not enough hiking trails, there are many more miles of old logging roads throughout the region. While some of the best buttes and small peaks to climb are on private property, others are on public lands. Those would include Flannigan Butte, Crown Butte, Barrel Butte, Roundtop Peak, Coffee Mill Butte, Eagle's Eye Rock, Pine Butte, Wright Peak, Lover's Leap Butte, Steamboat Butte, Aristocrat Peak, Giant's Coffin Butte, Red Cloud Buttes, Wolf Butte, and Saddle Rock. Besides your necessary topo maps, the best general map one can get, is from the National Forest Service office in Chadron.
Area History While Nebraska's panhandle region provides great hiking and climbing, it also has some places of historical interest. A fur trading post was established on Bordeaux Creek in 1839, not far from the present-day location of Chadron. The post has been restored into The Museum of the Fur Trade. That post continued in operation until 1872. Further west, the landmark Crow Butte was the sight of a famous battle between the Crow and Sioux tribes in 1849. Fort Robinson was established in 1874, and became the place where the famous Sioux chief, Crazy Horse was killed in 1877. Two years later, Cheyenne chief Dull Knife led the famous Cheyenne Outbreak. In 1885, the legendary Buffalo Soldiers made Fort Robinson their home, until 1898. Getting ThereThe primary east-west highway along and through the Pine Ridge, is Highway 20. Highway 385 also serves to bring the most north-south traffic through the area. To realize all the opportunities, one really will benefit from obtaining the National Forest Service map for the area.
Red Tape  This topo map courtesy of Bubba Suess
External LinksClick on any of the links below to obtain more information:
Panhandle Trails
Fort Robinson State Park
Chadron Chamber of Commerce
Crawford Chamber of Commerce
Chadron State Park
Gordon Chamber of Commerce
Nebraska National Forest
Nebraska Game & Parks Trails
CampingThere are several camping areas in the region, but the best are at Fort Robinson State Park and Chadron State Park. If you contact the chambers of commerce at Chadron, Crawford, or Gordon, you can get more specific and up-to-date information on area camping.
Chadron Chamber of Commerce (308) 432-4401
Chadron State Park (308) 432-6167
Crawford Chamber of Commerce (308) 665-1817
Fort Robinson State Park (308) 665-2900
Ponderosa Wildlife Management Area (308) 665-2924
Gordon Chamber of Commerce (308) 282-0730
The Bison Trail at Toadstool Geologic Park |
SafetyBecause people tend to think of Nebraska as being all flat and treeless, some might not take seriously some of the risks in venturing into some of western Nebraska's more remote and rugged areas. This would be especially true if one is hiking or climbing alone. One of the beauties of the area is that it is not over-run with people. But, that also means if a solitary hiker is injured, they cannot count on other hikers coming by to rescue them. Cell phone coverage among all the steep buttes and canyons is very weak, and often non-existent.
Ticks are perhaps the most frequent living danger. They are abundant from early March through August, and they carry Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Fever, and possibly other diseases. Rattlesnakes are occasionally seen along trails and on rock ledges. Packs of coyotes could be menacing. And, there are increasing numbers of confirmed mountain lion sightings. There have been unconfirmed sightings of wolves in the Pine Ridge, and one stray bear from the Wyoming Rockies was shot near Harrison in 2008.
The rock in the area is soft and can break fairly easily, creating fall hazards. Dry stream beds in canyons can have pockets of sand that turn to the consistency of quicksand after rainfall. Dehydration is a real hazard during warm weather. And, like so many other remote areas, people get lost sometimes.
The wise hiker will take into account all these hazards and plan accordingly. Images
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