I planned on visiting this famous hill along the Oregon Trail when I lived in Colorado, but it never happened. It did, however, happen to be on our route from Kansas City to Cody, Wyoming. Our drive took us past Chimney Rock, another historic landmark on the trail. We only stopped long enough to take a few photos.
It was quite a bit taller during the Oregon Trail period (1840-1860).
We arrived at Scotts Bluff about an hour before the visitor center and the road to the top closed. We made a quick spin through the museum, then drove to the top to look over the surrounding countryside, including the town of Scottsbluff (one word). There were two short trails to overlooks, both of which I managed to visit, and some old western bird friends — White-throated Swifts and Black-billed Magpies.
Chimney Rock was just visible in the distance. it’s that white mound to the left of the long ridge on the horizon.
The white arc in the photo below is the road we took to the top. It goes through a tunnel in the lower section of the bluff — the famous part that borders the valley through which the Oregon Trail ran.
Here’s that bluff from trail level.
And Mitchell Pass, the route of the trail. Scotts Bluff is named (maybe) for Hiram Scott, an employee of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company who died near here in 1828 after being abandoned by his companioins.
I took the photo above. The one below was on the wall of our room in the Scottsbluff Hampton Inn. Mine is better.
I asked a ranger at the visitor center to recommend a restaurant in town. She informed me that she was not allowed to recommend restaurants “while in uniform.” So after checking in to our hotel, we went down the street to Chili’s. Our waitress took our order, brought our drinks and chips, then disappeared. A long time later, she stopped by to say she would check on our food. Then she disappeared again. Another woman finally brought us our food. We never saw our waitress again until the very end when, tired of waiting, I stood up to leave. She suddenly appeared with our bill, naturally. The food was fine, and we weren’t in a hurry, but it was weird. It reminded me of the experience I’d had in Casper in 2019. What’s with this part of the country?