Fort Robinson State Park — Attraction in Crawford

Fort Robinson is awesome! We first camped here 2 years ago. I had no idea NE had some of the stuff it did! Originally from MO, now in Omaha for the last 13 years. Western NE is great!

The buttes in Fort Robinson are butte-iful! There are sunflowers everywhere! There are even smaller prickly pear cacti out in the prairie! I was so surprised! It's so different from eastern NE. You would have no idea it's NE if you're not from western NE!

We learned so much from the Trailside Museum in FR. To know that ancient NE was once covered by sea and held plesiosaurs and mosasaurus....🤯

They offer many activities at the Fort.

We did the Jeep tour 2 years ago, and that was fun. You do some hill climbing up into the prairie to catch some beautiful views, including the buffalo and donkeys!

We went to the rodeo a couple of years ago, and that was humorous.

They have a playhouse showing different plays on different days. We saw Clue a couple of years ago and that was fun.

The guided horse trail rides are so worth it! The long ride is far better than the short ride. They take you up into the buttes on the horses and it's a lot of fun. It's peaceful, and the views are great! The steeper hills going up and down are the best part! Don't pass it up!

They offer a few different meals at various sites throughout the Fort. You meet up at a central location, and they shuttle you out to a location for the meal. They have a breakfast, a buffalo stew dinner, and a steak dinner. We didn't do the breakfast one, but did the two dinners. They're worth it! For the steak dinner, you get a hay(less) rack ride out to a spot at the base of the buttes for a steak dinner served cafeteria style with tea, lemonade, or water. Our meal included the ribeye, baked potato, roll with butter, veggies(cowboy corn), and a salad with choice of dressing. There was a vault toilet outhouse on premise.

For the buffalo stew dinner, they take you out on covered, cushioned, trolley-like cars similar to how some zoos have a "train" type thing. This dinner location was up by the old POW area of FR. There was a half circle of picnic tables set up, and also a large covered shelter nearby, and once again, a vault toilet outhouse. This meals was also served cafeteria style and we enjoyed the buffalo stew, cornbread(which I'm not a cornbread fan, but I actually enjoyed this cornbread!), an oreo brownie and your choice of tea, lemonade, or water.

Both meals we attended had plenty of leftovers that we were told to help ourselves to more.

There is a lot of history here regarding the Native Americans that you can learn about. You can visit various memorials in the area and "hear from" (read) testimonies of the natives local to the area and what happened to them. It really hits deep and gives you a look into their lives. Though I'll never fully understand not having lived through it, it's good to learn the history and I highly recommend learning everything you can while out there.

We stayed in the Soldier Creek campground. They had a bathroom/shower house in this campground, along with several vault toilet outhouses sprinkled throughout. They are very well maintained. The showers are coin-operated, and they have a change machine. 1.00 to start for 3 min, 1.50 for 4.5 min, 2.00 for 6 min, and so on. As with most campgrounds, there are bugs that do get in, but as long as the doors are kept shut, it's not bad. With any public shower, I always have shower flip flops. There are 4 showers, each with its own direct door straight from the outside for use first come first serve.

Nearby attractions we recommend: Smiley canyon Toadstool park, amazing geological area Belmont tunnel - the only railway tunnel constructed in NE. (Now abandoned...we saw a few little bats!) Prairie Agate Rock Shop in Crawford. The people there were friendly, and know their rocks! Beautiful specimens from the local area, and around the world! Other considerations within 1.5 hours: Scottsbluff Chimney...

Your impression of Fort Robinson will be influenced by the weather and by how much you enjoy history. We were fortunate in both respects. A thunderstorm swept in over the butte like misty curtains, and the air was so fresh and cool afterward. And during the hottest hours, we could stroll through so many exhibits and museums, it was hard to keep track of them all. We stayed two nights in the nurse's quarters. For a couple or a small family, this option may be the best choice in the park. One of the employees said her favorite accommodations were the nurse's quarters; as well as cabins L1 and L2. (The L stands for latrine, which these two cabins originally were.🤭) Cozy, she called them. The nurse's quarters is a separate 2-story brick house on the edge of the park, close to the indoor pool. On the main floor you have a parlor, a kitchen, and a half bath. Up the steep stairs you'll find a bathroom, and two bedrooms, one with a comfortable queen bed, the other with bunkbeds. The house has front and back porches surrounded by bright beds of mainly wildflowers. You'll find basic cooking and serving supplies in the kitchen. Be forewarned: the only paper supply you'll find in the house is toilet paper. Bring your own napkins, tissues, and paper towels. Also, if you are fastidious, you may be bothered by floors that weren't washed after the last visitors. Otherwise, the house seemed clean enough. Besides accommodations in the Lodge, used formerly as army barracks, the other overnight accommodations in the park are mostly renovated officer's quarters. Though we weren't able to see the interiors of these buildings, they appeared to be ideal for big groups. These larger buildings are divided into four units each, just as they would've been in the later 1800's. Very elegant looking from the outside, and in fact when they were built, they were considered highly fashionable and modern, and included the almost unbelievable luxury of running water. Comanche Hall (originally Bachelor Officer quarters) is a huge building that claims to sleep 60, with a kitchen large enough for the whole group. Now, as to activities. Horse lovers should feel at home here. You can rent a horse, or bring your own, and ride out on trails overlooking the fort and imagine history happening around you. The Indians, the soldiers, the German prisoners of war, the K9 dogs, and always, the horses and their riders. For the rest of us, a guided jeep ride to the top of the butte is rough but worth it. The information is intriguing, and the views are truly phenomenal. On our ride, we saw deer, pronghorn, mules and bison. Other options: bikes to rent, tubes for floating down the river, (though this didn't seem to be happening while we were there. Maybe by July the river's dried up?) stagecoach and hayrack rides. The hayrack rides can include a meal somewhere out on the prairie. And, of course, the indoor pool, as long as there's no lightning in the vicinity. Fort Robinson is charming with its old west vibe, a place we might well...

This is wonderful spot to visit. We are only about 100 miles away and always make it a yearly camp over with full hook ups. We stop in and enjoy the great breakfast and make a day of strolling around and taking in all the beauty. It's quiet even though the place is usually full. Although we stay in a pull camper, they have rooms above the office/dining area that accommodates a couple and an extra roll a way cot if needed with private accommodations in each room. If you have a family reunion you can room up over 50 people in one building and theres about 4 or 5 of these available but reserve at least 6 or more months in advance. All these buildings are original from the old west military but modernized. They offer several cabins to accommodate a couple families including all they're kids with a full kitchen and yard. You can ride horses with some high elevation views or go swimming in an indoor olympic size pool. You can go fishing among the many ponds throughout or ride on an authentic stagecoach with a team of horses. You can go on jeep rides and enjoy a chuckwagon dinner in the evening along the prairies. They offer live plays at the post playhouse that change every couple weeks. You will not be disappointed. We've been coming here for over 20 years and even celebrated our youngest's wedding that included and dinner and dance that included a dance hall with a full size industrial kitchen.

Edit update on my post...we went swimming at the pool with my son, daughter and 15 month grand-daughter and I hate to say although it was a clean indoor pool it was freezing. Not sure if the heating unit was broke. My son's teeth was chattering he got out right away and I tried it with just sitting on the edge and wading just my legs and feet and couldn't bare the cold. We tried the baby pool outside and it had gravel inside and it was a bit dirty. The pool was still too cold to put our legs in and too cold for my grand-daughter unfortunately. So we went to the bathroom to rinse off, warm up and get dressed. That was a disappointment as well. There was no lighting. Seemed most lighting were broke in the shower area and felt creepy at best. Water wasn't hot and the room was cold and slippery. Very disappointed with the downgraded atmosphere here at the pool. There were several children enjoying the pool and spring boards but adults were sitting on lawn chairs because I know it'd be too cold for enjoying. Hoping by next year, improvements will...