Our Trip to Northwest Nebraska and the Black Hills Region

[Foy]

Just a hop, skip, and a 4 day drive

.....and I don't suppose there are too many good swims in the Cheat River at high water.......

We once rafted the Chattooga, Section 4, and started swimming at Sock Em Dog, just getting roped out above Crack in the Rock.

Foy

 

[fortel]

.....and I don't suppose there are too many good swims in the Cheat River at high water.......

We once rafted the Chattooga, Section 4, and started swimming at Sock Em Dog, just getting roped out above Crack in the Rock.

Foy

Yeah, I could've done without mine but the Cheat's canyon is a spectacular place, so's the Chattooga, I've paddled Sections 3 and 4 quite a bit. Not a fan of the flat water lake paddle to the take out at the end but that's the price you pay I guess.

 

[Bushcoat]

Very nice! This area is certainly on my list.

 

[fortel]

Thanks. We had a good time and left a ton of stuff unseen. Will have to get back for another trip in the future.

 

[SIZZLE]

Awesome report! Looks like you had a lot of fun and hit all the "biggies."

 

[fortel]

Yep, it was a good trip. Still would like to go back and get a little further off the beaten track. There were a couple of other long day hikes that looked really promising like the 12-mile French Creek Natural Area trail in Custer SP, getting to bike the length of the Mickelson trail would be cool, and there is still the miles and miles of MVUM roads in the national forest.

But there is also the high passes of Colorado, the White Rim ... the list goes on and on with too many cool places and not enough time to get to them all.

 

[Foy]

But there is also the high passes of Colorado, the White Rim ... the list goes on and on with too many cool places and not enough time to get to them all.

One need not go far beyond the Black Hills for some hidden and seldom-visited gems of High Plains back road travel. The various National Grasslands in SD, ND, WY, and MT can be splendid in the late Spring/early Summer. I particularly enjoy memories of a June 1975 field paleontology expedition to the North Dakota badlands situated between I-94 and US-12 and between the Little Missouri River and the Montana line. Very hilly country with some of the higher buttes being forested. The Little Mo River (too thin to plow, too thick to drink) was quite scenic, as were several surprisingly bold tributary creeks, and some fascinating ranchers with airstrips by their ranch homes. The pure gumbo the roads turn in to when it rains, however, are bad memories, as are the cutting looks from said ranchers when we dared to drive them while wet, cutting them to shreds.

Foy

 

[sseaman]

Nice trip, a buddy and I hit some of the same area last fall and really enjoyed the area.