Rubble: Scotts Bluff National Monument

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Scotts Bluff National Monument

Scotts Bluff and the Mitchell and Gering Canal
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

Photo of the Day by A. F. Litt: Day of Several Photos - July 20, 2016

Scotts Bluff rises some 800 feet above the North Platte River and represents the level of the ancestral high plains before they were lowered to the current level of the modern Great Plains by four to five millions of years of erosion.

While the bluff is scenic and impressive, this monument was created in 1919 as much to honor the western migration, the pioneers and emigrants who used to pass by the base of the bluff through Mitchell Pass on the Oregon Trail and to preserve the beauty of the landform itself. This bluff was one of the major landmarks on the Oregon Trail marking the completion of the passage west over the Great Plains.

The Summit Road was took many years to complete. It was first started in 1932 and was not opened to the public until September 19, 1937. As a road geek, its tunnels and cliff cuts were one of my favorite parts of the monument.

As for the spelling, I'll defer to Wikipedia:

There has always been some disagreement as to the proper spelling of this geomorphic feature, specifically with regard to the apostrophe. For example, an 1843 map titled Map of an Exploratory Expedition to the Mountains in 1842 by John C. Frémont labeled the feature Scott's Bluff (with an apostrophe). Another early military map of Nebraska and the Dakotas published in 1875 by G.K. Warren dropped the apostrophe and labeled the feature simply as Scotts Bluff. There are numerous other examples in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in which the name has been spelled with or without an apostrophe. In a final decision by the United States Board on Geographical Names rendered on June 11, 1941, the name Scotts Bluff (without an apostrophe) was officially adopted.

We rolled into the park pretty late after driving down from Badlands National Park in South Dakota, so we made two quick visits to the bluff. One in the evening with a quick run out to the South Overlook just before the Summit Road closed for the evening and another quick visit the next morning to see the North Overlook and to look around the Visitor Center.

Hitting this part of Nebraska was a pretty long detour on our vacation route, but it gave us a chance to visit some places (especially Chimney Rock and Independence Rock in central Wyoming) that I'd wanted to see since first learning about them in old social studies textbooks when I was a kid, and I really could not picture being within reach of Nebraska again at any time in the foreseeable future. It was also some of the only new-to-me territory that we traveled through on this trip.

Approaching Mitchell Pass From the East
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

Second Tunnel (...of Three)
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

South Overlook Trail
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

Dome Rock From the South Overlook
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

South Bluff, Visitor Center, and Road From South Overlook
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

Saddle Rock and Gering, Nebraska
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

Scotts Bluff From Old Oregon Trail Road
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

Mitchell Pass From the West
Eagle Rock on Scotts Bluff is to the left and Sentinel Rock on South Bluff is to the right.
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 10, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved

The next morning, we returned and checked out the North Overlook and the Visitor Center...

Eagle Rock and Visitor Center
Scotts Bluff National Monument. Nebraska. August 11, 2014.
http://www.aflitt.com/scottsbluffnm
Copyright © 2016 A. F. Litt, All Rights Reserved