On the trip home from Bugshot Montana I wanted to spend some time in Nebraska looking for butterflies. I picked an area called Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and planned to stay in a hotel that was about 25 miles south of the area, in Oshkosh Nebraska. Sunday night I stayed in Douglas, Wyoming. Oshkosh was about a three and a half hour drive. However, I looked at Google maps and thought I could save a little time by coming in to the wildlife refuge from the north rather than the south. With any luck I could get to the refuge visitor center by noon, get some additional information there, spend about four hours or so chasing butterflies, then head down to the hotel.
There were a few flaws in my planning. I knew the road from the south was an unpaved but passable road. I have driven gravel roads in Iowa, so that did not seem too intimidating. From the north, I got on some named roads that were asphalt, but they quickly narrowed down to a single lane. I followed the road past entrances to different ranches and across several livestock crossings–the metal bars that cover a trench, intended to keep cattle in and allow wheeled vehicles to cross. Google maps kept telling me I was getting closer as I drove past the entrances to more ranches.
As I continued to drive around ranches I suddenly found myself driving through a ranch. There was a house on one side of the road and ranch buildings on the other side. There were goats in the road–four of them free, and another one tied to a fence post. I continued on the Google maps path, and the road got bumpier and knocked my cell phone from its holder. I was able to pick it up off the floor, and it was still working.
At some point I saw a sign telling me I was entering the refuge. As I continued to drive I saw a sign saying I was leaving the refuge. The road alternated between public and private property. At some point I passed a group of about a dozen people who I took to be students on the refuge. They waved, but none seemed intent on talking. I continued on driving, knowing I was only a few minutes from the welcome center.
I did get to the refuge headquarters, only there was no welcome center. It was a large metal building and it was locked. There was a sign on the door saying they were sorry they missed any visitors, but the refuge had a small staff and they were usually out on the refuge doing refuge work.
There was a small lake and some mowed paths near the headquarters so I walked around on the paths. A steady breeze was blowing, enough to keep most butterflies down in the vegetation. There were clumps of showy milkweed, and I inspected them for butterflies. Milkweeds often attract lots of butterflies but there were none on this day.
I did see a few butterflies but I could not get close to them. I got terrible photos of some kind of crescent or checkerspot, and maybe a common wood nymph, but the photos were not good enough to identify anything.
I did get close to this Halloween pennant, however.
This was the end of a long week, and the conditions did not seem conducive to finding butterflies. I quit after about an hour, and decided head to the hotel. Google maps failed me then, and could not find Oshkosh. But there was a sign and an arrow–I followed the sign. It was pretty much straight south for 25 miles, so I got there with no problems. The gravel road to the south was much wider than the one to the north–it could handle two lanes easily. I had no problem finding the town or my hotel. I did have a few ticks crawling on me on the way to the hotel, but the numbers went way down after I took a shower.
This is a unique habitat and well worth exploring further. I would like to go back sometime when I am a little more rested and can spend some time. There are shallow lakes and sandhills and lots of wildlife yet to be discovered.
The roused bear 