After a long, enjoyable week of exploring in the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota with a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park, there was one more stop from our Monopoly Board for this trip. The next destination was Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. We only left a few hours in our schedule to visit as it’s a smaller National Park and focuses on fossils. Great! More dirt formations that require the requisite paintings to portray what might have been roaming at one time millions of years ago. Not my favorite thing to see and learn about. In addition, it was another museum covering the importance of Native American History, which also wasn’t very interesting to me. With all of the exciting places we had seen over the past several days, I was not real enthusiastic for this park. Let’s pull in, see the must items, get our board signed, snap a few photos, and get back on the road. Trying to convince myself this would be a worthwhile stop, I tried to emphasize the positive things about this area to myself. The vast prairie, a bathroom break, and an opportunity to get out of the car and stretch our legs.
The vast prairie was beautiful with green grass waving in the breeze which could be seen for miles and miles. Agate Fossil Beds would be a great learning opportunity for our children…. and myself. Pulling into the park, we stopped for the necessary picture by the sign and headed towards the visitor’s center. Here we picked up packets for our future Junior Rangers and looked at the displays beginning to learn some of the history in this Western Nebraska place. Talking with the rangers and reading some of the plaques, I began to be more interested in the animals which once roamed here a long time ago (at the same time, I was smiling as my kids where learning about history also). Having walked around the visitor center and museum, we pulled out the National Parks Monopoly board for the required signature and presented it to the ranger. As he looked at it, he laughed because the picture used for the board was a photo he took years earlier of Fossil Hills in Agate Fossil Beds. Pictured above is Fossil Hills Trail with University Hill in the center, Carnegie Hill on the right, and the ranger, who signed the board, on the trail on the left side of this picture.
We decided it was time to get out and do some hiking. A short trail would be a good fit, before entering the car for several more hours, so we explored the Daemonelix Trail which led to a fossil of an ancient dry-land beaver which created these spiral dens. It was nice be outside hiking with my family surrounded by this beautiful landscape on a warm summer afternoon. It was early July after all. Arriving at the end of the trail, there was this box surrounding a corkscrew formation. We read the plaque describing what this was and the creature that created them. I could envision this ancient animal creating its den through the soil from this display made by the park. I began to wonder what else was hidden in these hills from long ago and why these creatures no longer existed?
Walking back towards the parking lot, I gazed out over the prairie and buildings and began to think about the Native Americans and how they used this land and their cooperation with people coming from different lands. Since this time I’ve become a lot more appreciative of the Native Americans and their importance in the history and development of the US. This was one of the parks that began to signify what these people mean to our country and how they helped shape where we are today for me. Since Agate Fossil Beds, I’ve learned quite a bit more about Native Americans and how they worked with the each other, the land, and other people from National Parks. On this walk back, we encountered this different plant which I thought was really interesting with these yellow and orange pouches. I still haven’t been able to identify what it is though.
Climbing back into the car to continue our journey home after our junior rangers received their badges, I was really glad this was on our Monopoly board so we could learn about this place. Seeing the bones of animals that roamed the area a long time ago was interesting. Dinosaur bones from a far off place are what I think of when hearing about skeletons being found. Here there were animal remains discovered in Nebraska. I would never have guessed that. This was one of the parks that surprised me the most with how much I enjoyed my time here and what all I learned. That’s the point though, isn’t it?
With our last signature captured for this trip, the game board was safely stored back in it’s place for the rest of the trip home and we continued east once again. Shortly after driving out of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, there was a rattlesnake coiled up in the middle of the road. We were warned of these in most of the parks we visited on this trip, but this was the only snake we saw. Thankfully it was from the safety of our car while we drove by!
