Toadstool Geologic Park and Agate Fossil Beds | Northwest Nebraska

We recently visited Toadstool Geologic Park and Agate Fossil Beds in Northwest Nebraska. After camping out the previous night we made our way to Toadstool fairly early in the morning to start our day. To get to Toadstool Geologic Park you'll need to drive down a long dirt road (about 12 miles) after heading north from Crawford, NE. Eventually you'll arrive at a left turn that will take you across train tracks (look both ways!) and down to the park. The park has 2 vault toilets and 6 camp sites (pay), but no other amenities. After taking a few minutes to pack our bags we headed through the gate and on to the Toadstool Geologic trail (aka Great Plains Trail on the sign in the park).

The Great Plains Trail is a cross country trail that starts in Guadalupe Mountains NP in Texas and goes north to the Canadian border. Part of the Great Plains Trail runs through Toadstool on the 918 road, which you'll hike while on the Toadstool Geologic trail. From the campground the trail is about 5.1 miles and will take you through a desolate landscape, onto a lush green plains area, then back into a canyon where you'll find the toadstools. It's a fun hike, just make sure to bring plenty of water (there is no shade). You'll see some of the amazing sites in the park on our video, so we hope you enjoy!

After the hike we moved about 30 miles south to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. This is a relatively small park with a couple of hikes, but Cornbread was set on visiting. The visitor center has an amazing display of fossils found in the area. You'll also enjoy an immersive experience learning about the rancher who farmed the land in the late 19th century and his friendship with Red Cloud, Chief of the Oglala Lakota. The hike we did was about 2.8 miles round trip - uphill all the way, then downhill coming back to the visitor center. It was very cool learning about the variety of complete fossils found in the area and how it changed our knowledge of mammals previously only known by bone fragments.

Both parks can be completed in a day, and both were worth the trip. After we finished our day we continued on to eastern Wyoming, where we'll have our next adventure!

Toadstool Geologic Park: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nebra...
Agate Fossil Beds: https://www.nps.gov/agfo/index.htm

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