Check out two of Nebraska’s lesser-known attractions!
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and Toadstool Geological Park aren’t huge tourist draws. Honestly, I only visited Agate Fossil Beds since I was in the area and Toadstool because I was looking for a campground nearby that was cheap (Forest Service to the rescue).
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument preserves a portion of the Great Plains that is chock full of Miocene (23-5 million years ago) fossils. Fossils were found in abundance on former ranch lands that was given the National Park Service, although it took 30 years to actually establish the park. I’m not a huge paleontology person, but I decided to check it out.
Jana Irving The Visitor Center also serves as the park’s very small museum. Most of the displays are casts because most of the excavation (which is still going on) happened before the park was established or the current rules regarding things found on federal property were in place.
Jana Irving Sorry for the bad photo. The Daemonelix (or Devil’s corkscrew) is a unique kind of fossil. It was never a living thing, instead, it the shape of a burrow made by an early beaver relative. They had no idea what made them until the remains of said beaver-like animal were found in one.
Jana Irving Most of the fossils were found all in jumbles like this small extinct rhino, Menoceras arikarense.
Jana Irving Many of the fossils were found up on those hills.
Jana Irving To get up there, you have to cross this unexpected wetland.
Jana Irving One of the fossil recovery sites.
Jana Irving Before leaving the park, I stopped at the Daemonelix Trail which goes through the prairie to see some Daemonelix in situ. 22 million years ago these rocky hills were sand dunes.
Jana Irving A whole lot of Daemonelix.
Jana Irving It’s really hard to see. So here is a close up. Honestly, it’s still hard to see.
Jana Irving This one is a lot easier to see.
Agate Fossil Beds has a few easy trails. It was an interesting stop, but it would have been more interesting if there were more fossils visible in the ground like Dinosaur National Monument, which was awesome.
Next stop is Toadstool Geological Park in the Oglala National Grasslands. It had a small campground, which drew me there. After driving down some dusty dirt roads and several cattle grates, I arrived in a small fenced-off campground surrounded by very talkative cows.
Jana Irving Nice washboardy road, complete with cow pies.
Jana Irving I felt like they were judging me as I set up my tent.
After setting up my tent, I took the interpretive loop through the geological park, very badlandesque and very cool. It’s amazing what erosion can do.
Jana Irving Cow and the badlands.
Jana Irving A currently dry wash meanders through the badlands.
Jana Irving Badlands are surprisingly beautiful.
Jana Irving Coming up to some interesting rock formations.
Jana Irving Kind of weird.
Jana Irving And that is why this place is called Toadstool Park.
Jana Irving Very slanty toadstools.
Jana Irving I love the golden color of the grass.
Jana Irving The wash is apparently super muddy when wet. A bunch of the cows had mud all over them.
Jana Irving And that is how the toadstools are made. The softer rock is washed out from below the stronger rock.
Jana Irving That is a bit strange looking.
Jana Irving Ridgey.
Jana Irving A bit of scrambling to get up here.
Jana Irving The trail goes along this really cool ridge.
Jana Irving Really neat trail this one.
Jana Irving More toadstools in the making.
Jana Irving Erosion does weird things.
Jana Irving A nice big toadstool.
Jana Irving More toadstools in the making.
Jana Irving Another judgey cow with muddy feet.
The cows eventually stopped screaming at each other around dark, so it was a lovely, quiet evening. If you happen to be in Northwestern Nebraska, I highly suggest you stop by Toadstool Geological Park and maybe Agate Fossil Beds if you are into fossils and things like that.
Check my next update where I will be visiting Devils Tower!
or
Start at the beginning of this northwest Midwest road trip!
