September 21, 2023 – Lake McConaughy State Rec Area, NE

Thursday morning, we drove to Ash Hollow State Historical Park which got its name from the grove of ash trees that pioneers discovered on their stopover along the Oregon/California/Mormon Trails. We were disappointed when we arrived to find that the visitor center was closed.

We hiked a short steep trail down to Ash Hollow Cave which has an interpretative center built over the entrance, but it was also closed.   Archaeological excavations in the area indicate that early man used the area as much as 6,000 years ago. One of the latest groups was the Dismal River People, ancestors of the Plains Apache.



We continued down the steep trail to the Ash Hollow Spring Pond.  This was a stopping place for travelers on the Oregon/California/Mormon Trails.







Ash Hollow with its water, wood and grass was a welcome relief and travelers usually stopped for a period of rest and refitting.






After hiking back up the steep trail we drove across the park to the Stone School House built in 1903.  This rock building replaced an older sod schoolhouse. 


 




We could not go in the building, but the door had plexiglass we could look through.





A short distance from the school is the foundation of an old trading post/ mail station built in 1854.  In April of 1855, Little Thunder’s band of Brule Sioux raided and burned the station.





A little over two miles down the highway is the Windlass Hill section of the park.  This brick covered wagon has displays about the wagons that used the Oregon Trail.





Windlass Hill is the steep hill the pioneers had to descend to get to Ash Hollow.  We hiked another steep trail to the top.



Tacky on the Oregon Trail.







The top of Windlass Hill where the wagons started the steep descent.  It is hard to imagine taking a covered wagon down the hill.






This ravine towards the bottom of Windlass Hill started as a set of wagon ruts.  Time and erosion have turned the ruts into this deep ravine.  The trail we hiked to the top was surfaced to prevent further erosion.

We enjoyed our visit to Ash Hollow even though the building were closed.  











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 4-11, Loveland, CO

Image
Sunday morning, we drove to Loveland, CO – again it rained the entire trip.   We are staying at Loveland RV Park.   This is the park we stayed at for 6 weeks between our house selling and our retirement starting. Monday morning, we attended the services at Fort Logan National Cemetery for Nancy’s parents.   Nancy’s mother passed away 5 years ago and her father passed away in January.   There wishes were to have their ashes interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery.      Waiting for the ceremony to start.                                                            Folding the flag Taps (see video below, make sure audio is on) and a 21-gun salute.                       Deacon Mike giving the final blessing. It was a beautiful ceremony in a very peaceful and restful setting.  We were fortunate that we had nice weather and it did not rain.  After the ceremony, we visited the grave of our good friend, Bob, who was buried here last year. We spent some time with Nancy’s son, daughter-in
Read more

September 25-27, 2023 – Canyon, TX

Image
  Monday, we drove into Canyon and went to the Chamber of Commerce where we got information on the area.   In the afternoon we to the Creek House Honey Farm where we couldn’t resist buying some chocolate honey.   We then went next door to the Honey Buzz Winery and had a delicious fruit and cheese tray while tasting their great mead and hard cider.   We bought some growlers of their excellent cherry mead and pear cider. Tuesday morning, we drove to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  Palo Duro Canyon is approximately 120 miles long and 600 to 800 feet deep.  It is the second largest canyon in the US.  The State Park consists of 27,173 acres and the original park land was deeded by private owners in 1933.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1937 building the roads, visitor center, cabins, shelters, bridges, trails and the park headquarters. We took a short hike on the Paseo Del Rio trail along the Dog Town Fork of the Red River.  The trail guide said we would come upon a cowboy dugout to
Read more

September 5-11, 2013 – Copalis Beach, WA

Image
It must be moving day again as it is raining – seems like the last few weeks it has rained every time we move.   We left Port Angeles and headed west on Highway 101 and then turned south and followed the west side of Olympic National Park.   The highway then turns west to the coast where we stopped at Ruby Beach.   We donned our rain gear and walked down to yet another beautiful Washington beach. People had stacked little rock cairns on a sand dune in front of these great rock stacks. We could barely see Destruction Island Lighthouse through the fog. After spending a little time on Ruby Beach we headed back down Highway 101 to Copalis Beach where we are staying at the Copalis Beach Sunrise Resort.   This is a very nice resort next to the beach. We only have to walk to the end of the resort then about a block through some dunes to the beach.   This is a great beach and is almost deserted this time of year.    The dogs love t
Read more