We stayed the week ending on Labor Day at a small RV park at Valentine NE while on our way the the Black Hills. Valentine is the gateway to the Niobrara National Scenic River. It is popular for rafting, the longest run taking over 7 hours. The river has several waterfalls to attract tourists. One is Nebraska’s widest falls, another is its highest.
The Sioux City & Pacific Railroad, nicknamed the Cowboy Trail, (bought by the Chicago & Northwestern in 1901) served the town until 1992. Its old roadbed (minus salvaged rails, ties and ballast) has been preserved as a Rails to Trails pathway. The Cowboy Trail is paved through town and nicely graveled at least west of town. I took walks along the trail and found walking an old roadbed is quite pleasant. No significant elevation changes. But it goes through an industrial area which sometimes was not pretty. There is even an active stock pen area where I watched young cattle being loaded into a double decked semi trailer.
The pictures are taken my cell phone 10 mp camera.
On my walk I spied this odd-looking pickup so I walked over for a closer look.
It is a 1955 1 1/2 ton Reo Gold Comet. The owner told me that the Reo body is on an old Ford pickup platform.
A pavilion in a city park the Cowboy Trail has some design elements of the railroad depot.
Wast of town is a long railroad bridge on which the Cowboy Trail runs.
This crawler tractor will never run again!
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Does anyone need a nice set of front fenders for a truck?
The railroad rails were removed about 1992, but these rails in a siding remained. From the size of the tall tree stump close to the rail, it appears that the siding was not used for many years before the abandonment.
A claim to fame of the city is this building, the oldest standing high school building in Nebraska. It now is named Centennial Hall and houses a museum and supporting thrift shop.
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