Niobrara Riverview Retreats

10/16/2026

Good morning!!

10/13/2026

10/13/2026

Beautiful Fall October day for a ride in the UTV! Love the Fall colors and the earthy smells in the air and cool crisp nights.

09/25/2026

We are only about 2 Mike's from the bridge mentioned ... bring your bikes = easy ride!

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195 Miles Of Rail Bed Nebraska Turned Into A Trail

195 miles of Nebraska prairie, and every foot of it used to carry freight trains, not bicycles.

The Cowboy Trail follows the old Cowboy Line, built in the late 1870s and early 1880s by the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad — later absorbed into the Chicago and North Western. It ran west out of Norfolk through the Sandhills toward Chadron, hauling cattle and grain out of ranch country that had almost nothing else connecting it to the rest of the state.

The line came apart in two pieces: the stretch east of Norfolk went first, abandoned in 1982, then the section running west in 1992. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy bought the whole corridor in 1993 for $6.2 million, and it took until the summer of 2009 to finish converting the final segment between Valentine and Norfolk into one continuous trail. Along the way, 221 old railroad bridges got a second life under hikers, cyclists, and horses instead of locomotives — including the quarter-mile Niobrara River Bridge east of Valentine, 148 feet above the water.

What's the longest stretch of abandoned rail-bed you've ever walked or ridden?

09/16/2026

Just some random photos from a trip on the side by side this afternoon. Included are some photos of Maximilian Sunflowers. They were named after Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, a German explorer and naturalist. He led a famous expedition along the Missouri River between 1832 to 1834 and collected the first botanical specimens. They are one of the latest blooming native wildflowers. Plains natives used their tubers as a food source.

Also shown are some wasps and bumble bees getting some nectar and pollinating done before the first hard frosts.

During the jaunt our horses came up to see what was going on and luckily for them I had a bag of carrots 🥕 All you have to do is drive up to one of their pasture fences and honk the horn, yell or whistle and they will come running, even if they are out of sight ... it might take a few minutes.

The last photo is of what I think is a recent mountain lion kill on the river bottom. The doe was drug through some high grass for about 10-12 yards.

09/11/2026

Good Morning!

08/09/2026

Big thanks to Dan Benscoter

for all your support! Congrats for being top fans on a streak 🔥!