Great Plains Trail Alliance

05/23/2025

UPCOMING PROGRAM!!

When?: Saturday May 31st at 7:00pm
Where?: Scottsbluff National Monument, Nebraska

Description: Come hear a story about a hiker's journey over the Great Plains Trail, what he calls America’s “Next Great Adventure”. It's a story of perseverance to overcome obstacles and to continue on in the pursuit of achieving goals, including efforts of establishing the next long-distance trail. Follow along as he traverses this trail of great potential and surprising scenery from the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas to the Canadian Border.

The Great Plains Trail is a 2200-mile long vision to connect the scenic highlights of the high plains region with a continuous walking/biking/riding(horseback) route. Efforts have been underway in the area to establish new off-road trail segments where possible, produce wayfinding signage, increase accessibility with better mapping efforts and establish partnerships with land managers and the local communities.

07/31/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/a-recent-trip-to-nebraska-episode-3/

Warning! The following photos are not from Nebraska. They are from the GPT state of Colorado! My recent trip included a side venture to CO to check out a few places outside the Pilot Trail, but still on the larger GPT. Below are shots from Castlewood Canyon State Park and the Cherry Creek Trail in [...

07/19/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/a-recent-trip-to-nebraska-episode-2/

Cool to see Scottsbluff National Monument fixing areas with real adobe bricks! … plus a great campsite on the south side of the park with a classic Plains thunderstorm!    

07/09/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/gpta-board-meeting-in-east-glacier/

I interrupt posts on my recent trip to Nebraska to bring you the following exciting news. Two GPTA Board members, Clay Bonnyman-Evans (trail name Pony) and Luke Jordan (trail name Strider), had a brief meetup in East Glacier near the entrance to Glacier National Park. Strider is currently hiking the...

06/25/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/a-recent-trip-to-nebraska-episode-1/

Just returned home from a productive and fun trip to western Nebraska to meet some new people and see some old friends – some of the old friends were actually old friends and some were in the form of places I had not seen for quite a while. For starters, I did some good hiking […]

04/01/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/03/31/theodore-roosevelt-national-park/

and is named after the 26th President of the United States

03/27/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/03/26/american-prairie-reserve-2/

Great Plains Trail Friends and Associates The next few GPTA blog post will feature organizations that are associated, in one way or another, with the Great Plains Trail. These are not necessarily affiliates or endorsed entities, but they all play some role in the development of our great long distan...

03/07/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/03/06/great-plains-memories-episode-6/

From Board Member Drew Smith: Below is a link to a short but stunning video of the August 2017 solar eclipse taken by Drew at another beautiful Great Plains site:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9s2mRabsmo    

03/01/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/02/28/great-plains-memories-episode-5/

From Board Member Bob Pahre: Far from Plain It was a photographer’s dream. Warm light streamed through the mixed prairie grasses and across our tents. The sun popped out from behind the wispy clouds with bursts of yellow, only to retreat again, leaving orange behind. As the sun settled down for th...

02/20/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/02/20/great-plains-memories-episode-4/

From Board Member Clay Evans: Great Plains Memory A native of Boulder, Colorado, I grew up looking west for adventure, toward the mountains. But sometime in my 30s, I began to wonder what lay to the unheralded, little-celebrated east, the Great Plains. My explorations began with driving trips, the f...

02/14/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/02/13/great-plains-memories-episode-3/

In 2016, Luke “Strider” Jordan hiked the GPT from south to north or NOBO, which is short for northbound. Here are a few of his memories of that hike titled . . .   A Sense of Place   I have a unique relationship with the Great Plains. Most people only get to experience it […]

02/06/2023

https://www.greatplainstrail.org/2023/02/06/great-plains-memories-episode-2/

From Board Member Kevin Purdy:   My memories of the Great Plains Trail are neither misty nor watercolor, since both of those words imply blurry and easily washed away. There are certain events from the past thirteen years that I like to think of as indelibly etched upon my brain. Rather than belabo...