Tuesday, August 11, 2015

TOADSTOOL PARK IN NEBRASKA


Before setting off on the hike, visitors have a picnic and stoke up on water.

August 11, 2015

This astonishing country in Northwest Nebraska continues to fascinate me, as it is more like New Mexico than the image of a green farming state that most have. From my last blog at Hudson-Meng, it is only a three-mile scenic hike to Toadstool Park.

After arrival and a visit to the restroom, grab a sandwich and water from one's pack (nothing but the restrooms exist there), and enter the park to walk a one-mile, interpretive trail to see the weird formations. Big slabs of rock like giant skipping stones are balanced on fragile-looking supports. Some are stacked like M&Ms Others lie at such an angle that they appear to be about to slide off into a canyon.

Basically, the rough country was slashed open by a huge flood or prehistoric river. It  became covered with volcanic red dust blown all the way from the Oregocountry,  then eroded by wind and rain into today's bizarre shapes. Fossils are often visible, but visitors are forbidden to remove them.


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