Wild West

This is a rich land with dreams.  Even when danger filled the Lonesome Dove air from Ogallala's rough and tumble cattle drives to the notorious Sidney to Deadwood Trail, dreams lived on.  There were gold miners tossing cash all about Sidney as if that fast fortune would last forever.  And when North Platte asked a local scout to put on a Fourth of July blowout, William F. Cody dreamed up his globe-trotting Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

But cowboys in their wildest dreams couldn't have dreamed of Lake McConaughy,  a magical Sandhills Sea.  Nebraska's biggest and most serene lake is 35,000 enchanting acres with 100 shoreline miles of white sandy beaches and cottonwoods.  This dream journey opens new horizons past Big Springs, where rolling hills carry on to the open range west toward Sidney and Kimball.  Every turn is another postcard, where the west is still wild.

Click Here to Read More about Western Nebraska's Wild West!

Sandhills & Scenic Rivers

You'll find sand hills on almost every continent on this planet, but you’ll only find the Sandhills in Nebraska. In reality, they are the largest stabilized sand dunes in the Western Hemisphere, but drive on through and your jaw may drop down to Kansas as these towering grassy hills become endless waves rolling in from the Pacific. Running through its northern shores is the precious Niobrara River, a siren’s call to anyone who has ever put a paddle to water, and recognized as one of the 10 best canoeing rivers in the United States.  

Two more beautiful rivers offer excellent paddling adventures, the Dismal River and the Middle Loup River. 

Hills become tidal waves, and human hands made the largest planted forest in the world in the Bessey Ranger District of the Nebraska National Forest. There is Valentine, where rodeo lovers rejoice, and romantics seek its address on that most heartfelt of days. And in a friendly place called Alliance, there is a frontier village built by a guy named Dobby, and at Carhenge, a legion of cars have been turned into a replica of Stonehenge. There are pristine lakes, heavenly ranches and fantastic golf. It all seems like fantasy, but there is no show more real than 19,000 square miles of paradise rising up as Sandhills and Scenic Rivers Country .

Click Here to Read More about Western Nebraska's Sandhills & Scenic Rivers!

Trails West

The Oregon Trail stretches 2,000 miles, yet since the 19th Century many found the heart of its natural beauty to be here in Western Nebraska.  This road of wilderness offered an uncertain fate when fabled frontiersmen like Kit Carson drove those first wagon trains from Missouri in 1842. But no doubt, their favorite treacherous tourist stops had to be in the Platte Valley of Trails West Country.  

It was the majestic western region of Nebraska where the Oregon Trail's most famous landmarks were seen at Ash Hollow, Courthouse and Jail rocks, and the Scotts Bluff National Monument.  The end of the tragic trail came early for many, as one out of 10 of those emigrants were buried along the way of the 6-month trek.  The breathtaking beauty remains, but now it is a journey filled with bliss.  You can sail through a 155 mile journey in the Western Trails Historic and Scenic Byway.  The drive will take just hours, but a lifetime of memories await.

Click Here to Read More about Western Nebraska's Trails West!

Pine Ridge

Paradise in the Pine Ridge plays a symphony of sounds. Creeks stream past white cliffs as deer dance in the thick grassland, and songbirds sing with joy to the percussion of pedals pushing cyclists on a daring ride over another bluff. Turkeys go wild when the bighorn sheep join the show and the forest whispers in the gentle prairie wind that all creatures are welcome. There is plenty of room for humans, too.
 

History embraces this state’s northwest ridge, and the legends live on in this arc of uncommon beauty. It is a giant bedroom for fossils and the cowboys still ride off into the sunset. But they can’t wait to saddle up at dawn, because every morning is precious in Pine Ridge Country.

Click Here to Read More about Western Nebraska's Pine Ridge!