Nebraska Sandhills Suggestions

[gordonhks]

We plan on heading out in a couple of days from KC to the Badlands and black hills via the Oyate trail. I am thinking about closing the return loop via the Nebraska Sandhill region. Has anyone been there? Suggestions on places to stay, routes and must see items?

Gordon

[Davydd]

We have driven through the area. We camped at the Fort Kearney Historical Park Campground near Kearney, NE. It was pretty nice. However, we were there in early April when the Sandhill Cranes were migrating. We got there just at the right time and the fields were full. There are several bird sanctuaries between Kearney and Grand Isle along I-80. There is also a Sandhill Crane Interpretive Center at one of them.

[gordonhks]

Davydd, thanks for the heads up. Our initial route was to go from Broken Arrow directly to Grand Island. We will plan on modifying that to go via Ft. Kearney. I love the Sandhill Cranes, some winter near our home in Florida. Very neat birds.

Gordon

[gordonhks]

We are back and did in fact travel through this region via State Highway 2. Very scenic, sparse, baren county. Very little trafic. We did not see a single sandhill crane. If you are traveling southeast from the Black Hills region, I would recommend this a very low stress way to cross the vastness of Nebraska.

[Mike]

We've seen Sandhill cranes along I-80 a few times in Iowa and Nebraska usually in either late summer or early autumn, and also saw some in October 2009 in fields near Elk Horn, IA during a brief side trip to see "the Danish windmill". We also saw some in a retirement park in the Ft. Pierce/Port St. Lucie FL area in November 2008.