Western Nebraska Travel Guide

Explore western Nebraska with Trails West Magazine, a practical travel guide to the Nebraska Panhandle and the historic places, scenic landscapes, and small-town stops that make the region worth the drive. Plan your visit to destinations like Scotts Bluff National Monument, Chimney Rock, Gering, Scottsbluff, Bridgeport, and other western Nebraska landmarks. Discover local history, pioneer trail sites, scenic drives, restaurants, lodging, outdoor attractions, and hidden places to visit across one of Nebraska’s most memorable travel regions.

Western Nebraska

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Scotts Bluff National Monument and Gering, Nebraska: A Landmark Town in Western Nebraska

Gering Nebraska
Gering, Nebraska is one of those places where the landscape does most of the talking. The town sits in western Nebraska, close against the bluffs, prairie, river valley, and old overland trail country that helped shape the American West.
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Gering, Nebraska Travel Guide: Things to Do Within 100 Miles

Day Trips From Gering
Gering, Nebraska sits at the foot of Scotts Bluff National Monument, in the heart of the North Platte Valley, where the prairie begins to rise into bluffs, buttes, ridges, and old trail country. It is not a large city, and that is part of its value.
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Where the Ice Ends: Bald Eagles on Nebraska’s Rivers 

Day Trips From Gering
Every winter, bald eagles transform Nebraska’s rivers and reservoirs into staging grounds for one of the Great Plains’ most dramatic natural events: the return of the bald eagles.
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Fort Robinson State Park Nebraska Travel Guide

Crawford Nebraska
Western Nebraska’s Pine Ridge country looks quiet today. Rugged buttes rise over the White River Valley, cottonwoods trace the bends of the water, and open grassland stretches toward the horizon. But beneath that calm landscape is one of the most powerful and complicated stories in Nebraska history.
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Hot Springs, South Dakota: Where Warm Springs Meet an Ice Age Graveyard

South Dakota
Tucked into the Southern Black Hills, Hot Springs, South Dakota, wears two coats at once: spa town and science hub. On one side of town, naturally warm, mineral-rich water still bubbles up as it has for millennia, the reason nineteenth-century visitors flocked here to “take the waters.”
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Jeep Therapy: The Open Road Stress Reset 

Day Trips From Gering
On any given summer evening, when the sun drops low and the heat finally starts to fade, you’ll spot them: Jeeps with the doors off, the roof stashed in a garage somewhere, and a couple of friends rolling slowly down backcountry roads. The music drifts, the air rushes, and the world feels lighter for a while.
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Chimney Rock Golf Course: Jewel of the Prairie 

Bayard Nebraska
Nestled in the rolling grasslands of western Nebraska, just a short drive from Bayard, sits a course that blends history, scenery, and sport into a uniquely memorable experience. Chimney Rock Golf Course, known by some proudly as “The Jewel of the Prairie.
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Devils Tower, Wyoming: The Stone Sentinel of the Plains 

Travel Wyoming
Standing proud and unyielding against the vast Wyoming sky, Devils Tower is more than just a striking geological formation. It’s a symbol etched deep in Native American heritage, American pop culture, and the enduring draw of the wild West.
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Medicine Bow National Forest – Serenity and Adventure in Wyoming 

Travel Wyoming
Nestled in southern Wyoming, Medicine Bow National Forest offers breathtaking alpine scenery, crystal-clear lakes, and miles of trails perfect for hiking, camping, fishing, and year-round adventure.
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Nebraska’s Badland Wonder: Toadstool Geologic Park & Campground 

Crawford Nebraska
Toadstool Geologic Park and Campground in northwestern Nebraska is known for its otherworldly badlands, fossil beds, and striking rock formations shaped like giant stone mushrooms.
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Mount Richthofen: Colorado’s Majestic “Great Chief” of the Never Summer Mountains

Colorado
Nestled in Northern Colorado’s Never Summer Mountains, Mount Richthofen—also known as the “Great Chief”—rises to 12,940 ft above sea level in Rocky Mountain National Park. Known for its vivid red-orange sedimentary rock, glacier-carved valleys, and panoramic summit views, the peak combines rugged geology, rich natural beauty, and World War I history (named for the Red Baron) into an unforgettable climb. Perfect for hikers, backpackers, and nature lovers seeking solitude and scenery beyond the typical Colorado trails.
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From Powder Cache to Heritage River: The Legacy of Colorado’s Cache la Poudre

North American Adventures Colorado
The Cache la Poudre River in northern Colorado is more than a scenic waterway—it’s a river shaped by frontier history, rugged canyons, and vital water rights.
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The Wyoming Wine at Table Mountain Vineyards 

Travel Wyoming
We didn't consider a winery when passing through eastern Wyoming. What we found was delicious and unforgettable.
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Ghosts of Fort Robinson: Beyond the Battlefield

Crawford Nebraska
From phantom hoof clops to flickering lights to sightings of people long gone, Fort Robinson is full of the remnants of pain, suffering, and joy of those who lived there. Tales of ghost soldiers, wandering Native Americans, and children who have chosen to remain forever at the site. 
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Fort Laramie Historical Site

Travel Wyoming
Fort Laramie, situated in Wyoming, USA, is an iconic historic site renowned for its crucial role in shaping the American West.
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Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Robinson: Heroes of Western Nebraska’s Military Legacy

Gering Nebraska
Discover the untold story of the Buffalo Soldiers — African American members of the 9th and 10th Cavalry — who served at Fort Robinson and Fort Niobrara after the Civil War. Despite facing systemic racism, these troopers helped build the western frontier, earned multiple Medals of Honor, and challenged military traditions.
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The Cheyenne Breakout: Fort Robinson Escape and Its Impact

Crawford Nebraska
The Cheyenne Breakout involved over 140 Northern Cheyenne held at Fort Robinson who, denied the right to return north and confined without basic necessities, launched a desperate escape on January 9, 1879. This resulted in a brutal clash leading to numerous deaths among both the Cheyenne and U.S. soldiers—one of the darkest, yet pivotal, events of the Indian Wars in Nebraska.
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Huntley, Wyoming: The Jewish Homestead That Nearly Disappeared

Travel Wyoming
Between 1881 and 1924, 3 million European Jewish immigrants poured into the United States disillusioned and in genuine danger of annihilation...
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The Death of Mni Akuwin – “Brings Water Home”

Travel Wyoming
Mni Akuwin’s body rested, undisturbed, on this platform until 1876, when Spotted Tail had her remains moved from Fort Laramie and buried at what is now the Spotted Tail Cemetery in Rosebud, South Dakota.
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Calamity Jane, Wild Bill, and the Three-Mile Hog Ranch at Fort Laramie

Travel Wyoming
While visiting Fort Laramie, take a detour to view another facet of its long and fascinating history at a lesser-known and more scandalous slice of Fort Laramie.
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Sandstorm Survivor: Blowout Penstemon – Western Nebraska’s Most Endangered Plant Species

Gering Nebraska
The Blowout Penstemon (Penstemon haydenii) is a rare and resilient wildflower that thrives only in sand dune blowouts across western Nebraska, northern Colorado, and Wyoming.
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Sheep Creek Silent Prairie, Broken Promises: The Story of Empire’s Black Settlers

Gering Nebraska Gering Nebraska
At the turn of the 20th Century, newspapers rarely commented on the Black community in western Nebraska unless it was related to crime. They were among many Black people who decided to move west for freedom and a better life.
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