Stamp number: two
Drive time: 4 hours and 13 minutes
Miles away: 230.1 miles
Worth the trip?: You bet
In my first column, writing about my travels using the 2019 Nebraska Passport, I decided to start the journey in lovely Wayne America. On this trip I gassed up my car and ventured to my ancestral homelands—the Sandhills.
I absolutely love the Sandhills. Almost all of my family lives there and have for a very, very long time. It’s God’s country, people! I can’t stress enough that if you’ve never been further west than Grand Island, you’re not living right.
My first stop in the west was to Smith Falls, outside of Valentine. The Niobrara is the state’s most scenic, amazing, ecologically diverse river, according to me. It is beautiful.
Smith Falls is a 63 foot high water fall from a cold-water spring that feeds the Niobrara. Many out-of-towners see the fall for the first time while tubing or canoeing on the river, an incredibly popular summer activity. There’s a whole cottage industry of Niobrara outfitters in and all round Valentine, the biggest town in quite a large radius around Smith Falls.
For those who don’t want to freeze their bottoms off in the icy river (though I’m a firm believer that everyone should, at least once in their lifetime), there’s also a Smith Falls visitors center equipped with bathrooms, drinks to purchase and very helpful rangers. On my trip, the ranger on duty happened to be a Wayne State grad—how’s that for a coincidence? Got to love Nebraska.
Though I’ve gotten there by boat and inner tube in the past, this time I took the land route, a solid choice for the following: people who like nature, people who like walking, plant enthusiasts, adventurous spirits, as it turns out, the Morningside football team and for pretty much anyone else. The walk from the visitors center to the fall is about a mile and does require climbing some steps that can get pretty steep, so use caution and take your time if you need to.
The whole region is a beautiful green this summer, an emerald oasis really. From the visitors center’s back porch, I descended the stairs leading to the clearly marked dirt trail, which runs through a large clearing with trees and (fairly safe) wildlife all around.
After walking a short distance I came to a bridge. As I haven't taken the land route to Smith Falls in my adulthood (I was born in Valentine and visited several times as a child) I had no idea that the foot bridge was there. Fun fact, the bridge was Verdigre's bridge until it was dismantled there in 1991 and put across the Niobrara at Smith Falls in 1996.
From the bridge I spotted a large group of tubers, which is always fun. It's hard to be in a bad mood when you're surrounded by picture-book natural beauty and the party atmosphere of going down the river.
Shortly after crossing the bridge, you can feel the temperature drop and hear that sweet, relaxing sound of the rushing, falling water. You basically find nirvana before you can even see the waterfall.
Eventually, I came to the wooden ramp that takes visitors up to the fall. Though the hike is over a mile, it really doesn't feel that long and the path and ramp make what could be quite an incline a lovely nature walk full of wildflowers.
Shortly after I started the final ascent, I had to wait off to the side as members of the Morningside football team came down the "up ramp," but I've decided to forgive them for keeping me from the gorgeous sight I came upon when I was finally able to finish my journey.
Smith Falls is small but mighty. The side banks of the clearing that the fall spills into is beautiful sandstone absolutely covered with a wide variety of flora. On the floor, there are several large boulders that have fallen thanks to gravity and time. The only way to describe it is picturesque.
The water cascades gracefully from an overhang above the trail's end. The cold mist covers visitors, and if you're brave enough to amble down to the stream where the fall empties, you can enjoy the instant energy charge that only freezing cold creek water can give you.
I think sometimes we buy our own myth, that Nebraska is nothing but flat corn fields. When you're faced with breathtaking landmarks like Smith Falls, you remember that we're not, we're so much more than that — we're a vast state full of all kinds of terrain and hidden gems and though we might not be for everyone, as our tourism motto states, most Nebraska natives know what we have and love it.
Smith Falls, like a lot of places in the Sandhills, gives me an instant feeling of tranquility. There's no doubt that being that far west highlights how isolated and rural that end of the state is, but it's so peaceful. It's easy to disconnect from the hustle and bustle when Mother Nature serves up areas like Smith Falls.
We all need to unplug from our phones, from our computers, from our hectic schedules. There's no better place to do that than in places like Smith Falls.
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The Scenic Route is a column written by The Wayne Herald’s managing editor, Sarah Lentz. Lentz is writing about her travels while she participates in the Nebraska Passport program. Throughout the summer we’ll publish The Scenic Route in The Wayne Herald and online, with travel photos on the latter.
