Along the Platte River, forests are cottonwood monocultures.The photo barely captures the massiveness of this huge multi-trunked cottonwood,
but compare the diameter of the base to the nearby park bench.
I was told that this was already visible as a large tree in a 1936 aerial photo.
This is in a mixed hardwood forest at Homestead National Monument (not along the Platte).Sandhills – here are a couple of attempts to illustrate what the Nebraska Sandhills are like.
In some places, the Sandhills are full of pothole lakes, as here.
Sandhills
And here is a 360°-panorama of a typical Sandhills scene
(Except for briefly heard Western Meadowlark, Canada Goose, and cow,
the only sound is the 20mph wind noise, so you might prefer to view with sound off.)
Ornate Box Turtle – sometimes, when you have the whole Sandhills to yourself...Ornate Box Turtle – ... all you really want is a road puddle.Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff are two Oregon Trail landmarks.Chimney Rock – that white spot is a patch of snow.Scotts BluffIt was a late spring, with some snow in May.
I really wanted to go down this road, too.
That SUV turned around and came back just after I took this.SnowPronghornThis was taken the day of the penultimate Letterman show.
The Home Office used to be in the phone booth, but I guess it was already closed some time ago.Carhenge
