Scotts Bluff National Monument, NE

Place: Scotts Bluff National Monument, NE
Weather: Mostly Sunny 56/86F
Route: From Chautauqua 199 miles NNE on US-36 E, I-25 N, US-85 N, NE-92 E.

Significance: The California trail, Oregon trail, Pony Express trail, and Mormon trail all passed nearby to this bluff. Many of the pioneers made note of the promontory, which was the first large geological feature they would have seen traveling west.  It marks where the Great Plains end and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin.
The westward expansion of the United States is a large part of our story.  Over the next few days we'll visit places where we can discuss some of the moral questions of that expansion, but today we will focus on the experience of those travelers heading west.
By the time they reached Scotts Bluff they would have traveled over 500 miles from the starting point for most emigrants, St. Joseph, Missouri.  Many of them had 1,500 miles yet to travel - but seeing these bluffs must have been encouraging - as it certainly has a different look from where they came.

Website: Scotts Bluff National Monument

Images: 

Scotts Bluff (from desert.com)