Panorama Point, NE

Elevation: 5,424 ft.

Summit Attained: Approximately 4 p.m., 04/18/08

To reach Panorama Point, I left Boulder in the early afternoon and drove north into Wyoming, where I picked up I-80 East just outside of Cheyenne.  It is important for the story development to note that traveling on I-80 just before the Nebraska state line, I passed a small town that sported the largest statue of the Virgin Mary I have ever seen.  I mean huge, far bigger than anything else in the town. 

A few dozen miles later, I arrived at the exit for Kimball, Nebraska, the town that several websites had listed as being the jump-off spot for Panorama Point.  I turned right at off of I-80 at first, but what I saw didn’t match up with the directions I had, so I turned around and headed into town. After passing through Kimball, I still had seen nothing that matched my directions, so I pulled a U-turn and headed back toward I-80 again. 

After a few laps of this, I got out my laptop and soon realized that Kimball, Nebraska wasn’t the right town.  In fact, it wasn’t even the right state to begin in (although the highpoint is in Kimball County, Nebraska).  I had passed the real starting point miles earlier, when I drove by the gigantic statue of the Virgin Mary.  I had to laugh as I turned the car around to head back toward Wyoming. 

A half hour later, I reached the town of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming.  Hoping that my new source was correct, I turned south down Beech St. and headed out of town, down an open road that stretched into the distance toward Colorado.  After about 9 miles, I reached a turnoff labeled County Road 203.  I turned east onto the gravel road and soon (0.9 miles) reached County Road 1, where I headed south to County Road 6 (0.6 miles). From 6, I again traveled east (2 miles) until I reached County Road 5, where I turned south toward the highpoint entrance (2 miles). Although they were gravel, the last few roads mentioned were well-maintained, and I had no problems. 

After about a mile-and-a-half on C.R. 5, I passed a residence on the right-hand side of the road, and shortly thereafter came to the pasture gate that marks the entrance to the highpoint.  I parked the car and walked across the cattle guard and up to the donation box, depositing my three dollars as I glanced at the sign.  The large board gave a history of the American Bison, and several feet away, another sign warned that I was about to enter an open Bison range. 

Feeling a little nervous about the prospect of meeting a Bison, I began the mile-and-a-half walk down the deeply-rutted trail, which stretched ahead across the range as far as I could make out.  As I took in the impressive view, I noticed that several miles to my left was the edge of an enormous wind farm, with hundreds of wind turbines stretching along the length of the horizon.  It was warm, and there was a nice breeze blowing, spinning the distant turbines and providing the only sound other than my footsteps.  Marking the ground all around me were scores of enormous buffalo patties, some the size of footballs!  I have to admit that I was fascinated by the sheer size of the things, and I stopped to snap a few photos of some of the larger specimens.

            Eventually I came to a right turn in the trail marked by a tall signpost with a green sign that pointed toward the highpoint.  Shortly after making the turn, the small highpoint obelisk began to come into focus, sitting several hundred yards away in the middle of the vast prairie.  As I drew closer, I could see that the structure stood next to black object that looked like a lectern. Reaching the spot, I heard a dull buzzing sound, and noticed that the marker and the lectern stood just feet away from an electrified fence.  In the lectern was the usual summit log, along with a laminated old document that gave a very detailed history of Panorama Point.

            The view from Panorama Point is in a class by itself.  I simply couldn’t believe how awesome this place was.  The endless green and brown landscape was as vast as the blue sky above it, and the two seemed to race away from where I stood, reaching the far-off horizon and finally merging seamlessly into a single, unbroken line. The most perfect puffy clouds rolled across the sky, and although the late-afternoon sun was beginning to set, there were no shadows save for my own figure, the lectern, and the highpoint marker.

I cannot emphasize enough the effect that this place had on my soul.  There is something profoundly spiritual about being that alone.  Standing there, I felt strangely at peace -  it was like I was too small to matter and so it was impossible to feel anxious about anything.  I had left home looking to put things in perspective, and Panorama Point did it for me like nowhere else before or since.