Another cool little find, and definitely way, way off the beaten path.

Toadstool Geologic Park and Campground is in northwestern Nebraska, in the Ogalla National Grassland. For those of you who haven’t visited a National Grassland – that means flat, flat flat. With grass. Sometimes you also get a cool natural feature like this.

They call Toadstool Geologic Park "Nebraska’s Badlands", and I can definitely see the resemblance on a much smaller scale.

The Forest Service has created a nice loop trail through the park which takes you past the highlights, some fossils, and a pretty crazy assortment of geologic weirdness.

Not someplace you’d make a special trip to see unless you’re a total rock nerd, but a cool diversion if you pass anywhere near the area. Nebraska isn’t on most tourist loops, but it does happen!

Little Big Rock

Colette sizes up a random rock chunk at Toadstool Geologic Park

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Groovy, Baby

Crazy grooves among this sandstone!

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Toadstool Layers

It’s not a single layer of cap material preventing erosion, it’s a multitude of layers.

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Warning Signs

I think they put this sign up for the same people that they put tags on mattresses for…

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Not This Person

Not the mattress tag person…

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Toadstool

Some of these formations really do look like toadstools!

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Topsy Turvy

Cap layers have fallen over time as the sandstone beneath them eroded, leaving this topsy-turvy mess.

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Barebones Camping

Toadstool Geologic Park and Campground has a very barebones campground – no hookups and two outhouses. Like the rest of Nebraska, it’s not for everybody!

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Threading Through

Colette threads her way through the rock maze on our way out of Toadstool.

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Random Flowers

Just a few random flowers blooming in the parched earth where their seeds fell.

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