When we reserved four nights of camping at Fort Robinson State Park, we had no idea that it was nearly the size of Walt Disney World; that it would offer incredible scenery, rodeos, horseback riding, jeep trips, hiking, wagon rides, theater, restaurants, and museums; or that its history included serving as a German POW camp, a beef research station, a K-9 training facility during World War II, the world’s largest training, care and breeding center for Army horses and mules, and as an outpost during the turbulent times when Native Americans and European newcomers struggled to find coexistence.
We first explored the park with a drive up Smiley Canyon Road.
The amateur rodeo is held weekly and we were lucky to be there to see events including team roping where one rider roped the head and the second was to rope the feet. None of the teams were successful that evening, but the participants and spectators seemed to have a good time, cheering and booing as appropriate. In other competitions, riders’ boots were distributed throughout the arena and the first rider to find his or her boots, put them on and return to the start was declared the winner. One of our favorite events was hide riding where a rider pulls his partner, frequently his child, through the arena on a sled made of stiff cow skin. Sorry, no photos.
The Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed Site
The fossil site located in the Oglala National Grasslands contains the 10,000 year-old remains of approximately 600 bison.
This site was accidentally discovered. When excavating to create a pond, a large number of bison bones were unearthed.
We watched a video about the research conducted at the site and had a long and informative talk with a ranger/researcher. It is still a mystery why so many bison died here. There was a natural spring here that attracted the animals to the location and some evidence of Paleoindian involvement (spear points and blades) as well as evidence of scavengers disturbing the bison bones. A period of drought may also have been involved. Interestingly, almost all of the bison skulls were missing. The mysteries are still being researched.
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