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Map of Niobrara National Scenic River in north-central Nebraska. The river is denoted by a thick blue line that runs east-west in a shallow, sideways S shape. Multiple creeks branch off the main river as smaller blue lines.

Extended Description

This description will move along the Niobrara River from west to east with a transcription of the legend at the end.

The Niobrara National Scenic River begins at the Borman Bridge just outside the Valentine National Park Service Visitor Center at 214 W. Highway 20, which also has a ranger station, before flowing into the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge. The stretch of river between the Borman Bridge and the Cornell Bridge at Mile 4.8 in the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge is closed to the public. At the Cornell Bridge, visitors can find the Fort Niobrara launch, which has restrooms and a public landing. The Refuge Visitor Center is just east of the Cornell Bridge where park visitors can find a hiking trail, horseback riding, and self-guiding trails.

Continuing on the river, Fort Falls is at Mile 5.8, Buffalo Bridge at Mile 7.0, and Berry Bridge and Berry Falls at Mile 12.4. The facilities at Berry Bridge include a private landing, private campgrounds, and public restrooms.

At Mile 15.1, Allen Bridge has three waterfalls, a private landing, and a private campground. Just past Allen Bridge is Smith Falls State Park, which has a picnic area, public campground, public landing, restrooms, telephone, and self-guiding trail.

Brewer Bridge at Mile 19.2 has a public landing, picnic area, and restrooms. Between Brewer Bridge and Fritzs Island at Mile 22.6, each of four sites has a private landing and private campground. The Conner Rapids also begin just before Fritzs Island, which are marked as Class I rapids. A private landing, private campground, and restrooms are located at Fritzs Island.

The Chute (Fritzs Narrows), Class I rapids, is just before the private County Line Bridge at Mile 23.7 Between this and Norden Bridge at Mile 35.2 are several rapids. The first is Rocky Ford Rapid at Mile 27.0 (Class III rapids), which has a private landing, private campground, restrooms, telephone, and canoe portage. Subsequent rapids are Egelhoffs Rapid at Mile 28.7 (Class II rapids), Kuhres Rapid at Mile 32.3 (Class I rapids), and Norden Chute at Mile 35.2 (Class IV rapids), which also has a canoe portage.

A note near the Norden Bridge at Mile 35.2 reads, “River is braided and seasonally shallow downstream of here.” Just east of the Norden Bridge is the Niobrara Valley Preserve Headquarters (The Nature Conservancy), where park visitors can find a hiking trail and self-guided trail. The river continues east, eventually meeting the Meadville Bridge at Mile 46.0, which has restrooms and a private landing. Food services can also be found within the town of Meadville where the bridge is located.

The river continues east, flowing under US Route 183 at Mile 51.9 and then State Route 7 at Mile 60.3, where park visitors can find Fred Thomas State Wildlife Management, an overlook, and public landing.

The final leg of the Niobrara National Scenic River heads east at a slightly northerly angle. At Mile 66.2 is Carns Bridge, and a final public landing can be found at Mile 75.3 under State Route 137.

Legend

A scale in the bottom left corner of the map measures distances of 1 and 5 kilometers and 1 and 5 miles.

To the right of the scale, the legend reads as follows:

White solid line for Unpaved Road,

Black dot for Road Mileage Marker from Valentine,

White oval with blue numbers inside for River Mileage from Borman Bridge,

Black dashed lines on the river for Rapids with Difficulty Classification, and

Light blue dot for Waterfalls.

To the right of the legend, three columns of symbols represent Ranger station, Picnic area, Food service, Telephone, Restrooms, Public landing, Private landing, Canoe portage, Campground, Private campground, Hiking trail, Self-guiding trail, Fishing, and Horseback riding.