Dawes County: Nature, History and Unique Trails

Dawes County in Nebraska combines striking landscapes, long trails through Pine Ridge and unusual insights into the history of the Great Plains. For your travel planning, it is worth first choosing your preferred focus: hiking and cycling, historic sites, museums, water activities or a varied program with theater and a planetarium.

Trails between buttes, canyons and unusual formations

Chadron State Park was established in 1921 and is located among the striking buttes and canyons of Nebraska’s Pine Ridge. Together with the adjacent areas of Nebraska National Forest, it offers hikers and cyclists more than 100 miles of trails and old roads. Anyone who wants to spend long days outdoors will find a distinctly different travel option here than with a stay focused on museums and culture.

Fort Robinson State Park also represents the landscape of Pine Ridge. It covers more than 22,000 acres and offers 60 miles of hiking trails. During the summer months, Jeep tours to the surrounding buttes and geological formations are offered. The park was the site of the Cheyenne Breakout in 1879. The Fort Robinson History Center, along with numerous restored or reconstructed exhibit buildings, conveys the history of the fort. The Trailside Museum of Natural History provides another cultural attraction.

The Toadstool Geologic Park is a special addition, with unusual clay and sandstone formations as well as scientifically valuable fossil deposits. A one-mile interpretive loop trail leads to the eroded formations. The Bison Trail connects the park with the Hudson-Meng Education and Research Center over three miles in one direction. These varying trail lengths help you plan your hiking day according to the desired scope without presupposing a walking time.

History, museums and a seasonal cultural program

At Fort Robinson State Park, the Post Playhouse presents several musicals in rotation each season from May through August in a historic theater building. Those more interested in the region’s past can combine the Fort Robinson History Center with the Museum of the Fur Trade. The museum is located at the site of the trading post established by James Bordeaux in 1837 for the American Fur Company and is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Mari Sandoz Heritage Center tells the story of Mari Sandoz’s life and literary work in a permanent exhibition area. The C. F. Coffee Gallery there is dedicated to the history of cattle ranching in the High Plains. The Dawes County Historical Museum also includes a genealogical and historical research library, a log cabin, a barn, a school, a church, a collection of antique toys and a caboose. History in Action Day takes place on the fourth Sunday in September.

The Eleanor Barbour Cook Museum displays traditional specimens in cases, a room with fluorescent rocks and hands-on activities. Most of the specimens were collected at sites in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain region. The Dr. Lois Veath Planetarium offers presentations by reservation, featuring a guided talk about the night sky and a film experience. Public Free-Friday presentations without reservations last 30 to 45 minutes.

Lake, birdwatching and fishing

Box Butte Reservoir State Recreation Area is located in southern Dawes County and encompasses a 1,600-acre lake. Among others, Say’s Phoebe, Ferruginous Hawk, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Indigo Bunting and Wood Thrush have been sighted there. Box Butte Reservoir also offers fishing for northern pike, channel catfish, walleye, smallmouth and largemouth bass, bluegill, yellow perch and rock bass.

East of Chadron, the Bordeaux Creek Wildlife Management Area covers approximately 1,800 acres and offers fishing opportunities in Big Bordeaux Creek. In Chadron, Chadron City Transit provides the general public with demand-responsive door-to-door service Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. When searching for a vacation rental or vacation home, you can therefore first decide whether your vacation should be shaped primarily by long days in nature, historic sightseeing, observing the water or a seasonal cultural program. For excursions throughout the wider Northwest Nebraska region, the 16-mile Smiley Canyon scenic drive and the 95-mile Pine Buttes & Grasslands adventure are also among the compiled road trips.

Compare more destinations

If you would like to compare other destinations in addition to Dawes County, here is a concise selection: Chadron, Deuel County, Lincoln County, Cuming County, Kearney County, Valley County, Dundy County and Nuckolls County.

To the higher-level travel overview: Nebraska.