Scotts Bluff National Monument - Natural Features

Scotts Bluff National Monument by National Parks Service

Scotts Bluff itself is the main point of interest for most visitors. It is a high promontory, which rises 800 feet above the North Platte River and 425 feet above the visitor center. For the pioneers it was visible for several days before they actually reached it. Today the bluff continues to instill interest for its geological history and views from the summit. The Laramie Mountain Range and Laramie Peak are visible to the west. For the pioneers Scotts Bluff meant the end of the Great American Desert and the beginning of the Rocky Mountains. They were anxious to get the flat, treeless, boring prairie behind them. Few probably appreciated the unique prairie ecosystem they were crossing. Even today, many visitors do not appreciate the bluff's mixed-grass prairie with its vegetation and animals. Approximately 40% of the Monument's land is prairie. A study conducted in 1997 found some of the best native mixed-grass prairie of western Nebraska to be in Scotts Bluff National Monument.