The Beautiful Outdoors

My husband and I don’t often get the opportunity to go out and do non-work related fun stuff together, but we had a great time over Memorial Day weekend, and I wanted to share it. I guess if I’m blogging it, it wasn’t totally non-work related!

We got the camper ready for the first time in 3+ years (I know… we’re pathetic!), and drove up to Diamond Bar Lake in rural McPherson County. The beautiful, Sandhill groundwater lake is exactly 31.8 miles north of Sutherland, and right around 25 of those miles are on pavement! The rest are gravel/sand roads, so if you are pulling a camper, a four-wheel drive is extremely recommended.

We pulled in just before noon on Monday and set up camp. Mind you, it is completely bare-bones. No facilities at all. We were the only ones there, so we set up right near the shoreline of the lake. Diamond Bar has 120 surface acres of water, and is extremely shallow. While we didn’t try it, one could probably wade nearly halfway across the lake and not be in water over your head. The shore, except for a few places is choked with cattails and reeds. We could have fished, as did the three groups of locals who joined us later in the afternoon for awhile. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website lists the possible species as Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike and Yellow Perch, but what everyone caught was Bullheads.

I would say that we reveled in the silence, but silence isn’t really what you could call it. Granted, there were almost no man-made noises, an occasional jet high overhead, and an infrequent traveler on the nearby county road, but, that’s not to say it was quite. Hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds nest in the cattails, and the pasture is thick with meadowlark and other song birds, then there’s the ducks, even a pheasant, the cows, and the coyotes. We did revel in the sounds of nature, but who knew blackbirds could make such a ruckus, and would sleep for such a short time. Full dark came after 10:00 p.m., and ended before 5:00 a.m. Unless it was full dark, the birds were singing.

The views are what I would consider breathtaking. The rains have been plentiful this spring, so the surrounding hillsides are lush with green grass and wildflowers. The cows with their young calves grazing in the pastures are quite contented. While we were hoping for clear skies to view the spectacular Milky Way, we were instead treated to a light show from the thunderstorms that surrounded us (and thankfully, stayed away).

Whether you live in one of the towns of Lincoln County, or you’re a visitor to the area, you don’t have to drive too far off the beaten path to enjoy communing with nature, as we did this weekend. There are four major lakes in Lincoln County – the Sutherland Reservoir, Lake Maloney, Jeffery Lake and Wellfleet lake, not to mention numerous Interstate 80 barrow pit lakes (all well stocked with fish, I might add), and many Wildlife Management Areas maintained by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

No matter where you decide to go, you will get to take in Nebraska’s spectacular scenery, wide-open spaces, numerous and widely-varied birds and wildlife, and best of all – peace and quite (kind of!).

For more information, visit the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website at: http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/. For most of the areas, you’ll need a state park sticker, either annual or daily, which are available at numerous locations.

There are also a number of private entrepreneurs who would be more than happy to host you for a back-to-nature getaway. These include Prairie Sands Hunting and Bed and Breakfast, Knoll’s Country Inn Bed and Breakfast, Tin Camp Ranch, McDermott Ranch Resort, Fort McPherson Campground, and Dancing Leaf Cultural Learning Center. Visit the North Platte Convention and Visitors Bureau website for more information: http://www.visitnorthplatte.com/recreation.htm.

Now is the time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors of Nebraska.