Jean
and I had planned a May trip to visit her family in Iowa, and we decided to add
on some Black Hills hiking. But it’s a long way between the two destinations,
so we started looking for stops along the way. We had seen information about
Fort Robinson in Jean’s book on the state parks. The park has 22,000 acres of
mixed badlands and prairie that seemed reminiscent of the Black Hills. Plus,
there was the only designated Wilderness in Nebraska.
Two fossilized mammoths with entwined tusks.
The
Park has lots of accommodations, but the area seems pitched toward horse
riders. We found only one regional pamphlet geared toward hikers, but that one
did show some intriguing loops. The park advertises 60 miles of hiking trail,
and 20 miles for mountain bikes. 
Mammoth display in the Trailside Museum.
We
left Ames after lunch on Friday and drove to the cornhusker-themed Big Red
Motel in Laurel, NE. It was clean, spacious, and right across the street from a
subway shop. It got our vote as the best motel of the trip. The next day we
drove the rest of the way across the state, much of it along US 20 and beside the
Cowboy Trail, the site of our 2009 bikepacking adventure (Cowboy Trail). The Cowboy Trail was
almost completely unused when we rode it, so we were happy to see both hiking
and backpacking groups using it. But it is still much under promoted. We only saw
trail signs along the road in one place, just east of Valentine.
The History Center at Fort Robinson.
Once
at the Fort Robinson we found out it was “Free Day,” which they appeared to be
using as a break in time for their new seasonal workers. We hit the trailside
museum first. Their signature feature is supposed to be the “Clash of the
Mammoths”, a fossil display featuring two bull mammoths who died fighting with
their tusks interlocked, but it really was their new volunteer interpreter. His
knowledge of the find went back to when he was a student helping to excavate
the mammoths in the 1962, when the fossils were first discovered. Replicas were
on display at the museum until 2006, when the building was finally ready to
house the real fossils. 
The Red Cloud Buttes from the Turtle Rock Loop.
Our
otherwise knowledgeable interpreter wasn’t much help in choosing a hiking trail
saying, “I usually don’t bother with the trails.” But he did mention that he
was planning to hunt for elk with an atlatl (throwing stick) this fall. After
some discussion, he said it would be good to go for a cow rather a than bull on
his first try. Fort Robinson is home to elk, bighorn sheep, and bison, all of
which would be enough to make a park highlight on their own. But like the
hiking trails, the wildlife gets little promotion from NE state parks, and we had
little idea of where in the park to look for them.
At the Turtle Rock overlook.
Next
we went to the park’s other museum, the History Center, The park had begun as
the Red Cloud Indian Agency then went through multiple missions, including a
calvary post, the world’s largest remount depot for army horses and mules, a War
Dog Reception and Training Center, a World War II German POW camp, a USDA Beef
Cattle Research Station, and a Soil Conservation Service Training Center before
becoming a state park in 1962.
Descending Turtle Rock.
We’d
made good time on our drive and still had time for a short hike. Looking at our
pamphlet (which had little information on trail names or distances) we decided
to try the Turtle Rock Loop. This turned out to be a great loop hike to a
precarious overlook. The only negative was that trail had been very recently
bulldozed. We later learned our hike was the route of the park’s wildlife jeep
tours. At least the dozer work gave us perhaps the smoothest trail tread we’d
walked in years.
Bulldozer work on the Turtle Rock Trail.
Near
the top of the climb was the spur to the overlook and a fenced area protecting
what we assumed was Turtle Rock. Our views were hazy thanks to wildfire smoke
being blown in from Canada. But one could imagine seeing all the way to Black Hills
on a clear day. Much of the rest of the 2.4 mile loop kept us on the butte top,
with continuing vistas.
Turtle Rock Loop.
We
stayed that night in the Hilltop Motel in nearby Crawford, but the real treat was
ice cream at the shop in the middle of the tiny town. For the next day we
planned another short hike to give us time to drive north to Custer State Park.
The elusive trailhead for Lovers Leap.
We
decided to try the Lovers Leap Loop, which we expected to be another nice
butte-top overlook. The big challenge was finding the trailhead. We’d not found
it on a test drive by the night before, but this time after heading through the
town park, we searched along a fence line by a corral. Jean spotted a white
post and signs at a gate in the fence that turned out to be the park boundary.
Pronghorn in the prairie below Lovers Leap.
There
was still some smoke in the air, but not enough to obscure the views, or effect
our breathing. The trail began as an old two track road across the grassland.
We passed an unsigned older road on our left, presumably leading off to US 20.
A curious pronghorn tracked our progress. 
Lovers Leap from below.
At
a shady junction a mile in we came to the signed junction with the Wagon Wheel
Trail, leading west toward park HQ. We would start a short loop here. Our route
turned north to follow the white posts toward the buttes. At the base of the buttes,
we circled around to the backside, then came to a deep cleft leading upward.
Some mild scrambling got us on top where we enjoyed a full serving of badlands
scenery. 
Jean in the cleft below Lovers Leap.
Our
descent was complicated by some social trails, but we eventually found the East
Red Cloud Trail, which took along the crest of the buttes.
Hiking along the top of the Red Cloud Buttes.
Though
not quite as rugged as Badlands NP, the soft rock layers here were easily eroded.
We hiked by a series of towers and turrets along with a formation we named the
totem pole.
Totem Pole formation near Lovers Leap.
Our
return route used the Mule Trail and then the Wagon Wheel Trail to close our loop.
Then we repeated our first mile of trail to return to the car. Though we had
seen no more wildlife after leaving our pronghorn behind on the prairie, we
were more than satisfied with the views. The terrain seemed a hybrid of the
soft, eroded badlands and the mixed pine and prairie of the Black Hills, maybe this
is a one stop shop for hikers looking to experience both.
Smoky skies from wild fires in Canada.
After
the hike we weren’t ready to leave. We drove the Smiley Canyon Road, the park’s
wildlife drive. Our timing was right, we spotted the park’s herd, a line of 30+
bison moving purposefully across the grassland. We could pick out a few
cinnamon calves, and spied another pronghorn.
The Fort Robinson bison herd.
Having
seen our first bison herd of the trip we turned north toward the Black Hills.
The drive between Crawford and Hot Spring, SD went quickly, but this was one of
the most desolate areas I’d ever seen. The lonely town of Ardmore, SD looked
like an movie set for the apocalypse.
We
spotted a few one bison driving through Wind Cave NP, where we stopped to watch
their visitor film, and get information on cave tour tickets. Then we drove
through Custer Park where we saw bison, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep (though
these were simply licking salt off the road) before checking into the State
Game Lodge.
Our route to Lovers Leap.
