Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Denver to Valentine, NE

I will be driving up to the Valentine, NE, area in November. Having never been out to that area are there some neat places to see and some good places to eat along the way?
Sounds like the Sandhills area is really beautiful.
Thanks

The sand hills are outstanding!

If you have time look into this trip itinerary:

Denver to Sterling Co
Sterling north to Sidney-Visit the original Cabelas
Sidney east to Ogallala
Ogallala north to Hyannis
Hyannis east to Theadford
Theadford north to Valentine

Take time to canoe the Niobrara River

Big time cowboy country and some very nice small towns. You will see what this area should never have the Keystone Pipeline running through it!

Have fun

Awesome PD shooting on the Indian reservations.

I drove thru the SandHills about '90. We were coming home from the Stock Show in Denver. I don't recall seeing one farm yard light that night.

Good food is hard to find out there, but the Peppermill in Valentine is worth a stop. It beats anything that I have found in Lincoln, Grand Island, North Platte, etc.

The Samdhills are sublime, home to whitetails, mulies, waterfowl, and grouse and the Niabrara river valley is one of the most beautiful in the world; also the Outlaw Trail, highway 12 in NE Nebraska, is rich in the history of a rougher, tougher time when there were no walkabout urban liberals.

Yep, the Peppermill is about the ONLY place to eat out that way. There's a buffet at the Rosebud Casino, but it's not great eats, by any means.

There's little else there in Valentine, except fast food, and it's very limited in variety.
Valentine is a great place, but lodging and eats aren't plentiful in variety. I've been there several times P-doggin'.

It's a long ways from anywhere, and a long ways in between motels and such. Make your reservations BEFORE you leave home, or you might not have a place to stay. Verify those reservations, too.
We've been shut out a time or two out that way, because our reservations got "lost" (not in Valentine, but right down the road).

DO spend time at Ft. Niobrara Wildlife Center, east of Valentine, and you can check out the fish hatchery. You can do the float trips on the Niobrara River, it's nice, and there are some neat things to see in the Sandhills down 87, too, some lakes, prairie ground, etc. I love the place, but it isn't for everyone.
I'm a person who likes wide-open spaces, so it suits me just right, but some folks will think it's a wasteland. I do not feel that way at all.

don't even canoe, see if you can find a stock tank ride. It is on my to do list. Just remember, once upona time someone had to travel that whole country on a horse or foot. There is way more in those little swells than you would think. It is downhill all the way from Denver, up all the way back.

Pop on up the north route out of sidney, Scottsbluff monument, Agate fossil beds, Fort Robinson. Lots of pretty country around them parts. Not unheard of to not see a turn off or ranch house for 10-20 miles. As far as good food, drop in to some of the mom and pop bars in the small towns and you will get a pleasent surprise.

http://visitvalentine.org
Ogallala to Hyannis, Hwy 2 east to Mullen, north on Hwy97 to Valentine. Peppermill, Coachlight & Bunkhouse all good places to eat. Plenty to do in the area.

Museum of the Fur Trade east of Chadron. Never seen so many muzzle loaders in one place.

Don't know if they ever caught him, but a few years ago there was a guy going around town putting his bare as$ on store windows.