Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area

State Recreation Area And Nature Centre (Nebraska Game And Parks Commission) · Gering, Nebraska

Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area sits on Highway 71 about 10 miles south of Gering, where the road climbs out of the North Platte valley into the Wildcat Hills, a broken ridge of pine-covered canyons and buttes that surprises people who expect the Panhandle to be flat. The recreation area and the neighbouring Wildcat Hills Nature Center, run by Nebraska Game and Parks, protect a piece of this ridge with trails, picnic shelters, basic camping and a nature centre with windows over the canyon, exhibits on local wildlife and a short boardwalk. The hills are known for bighorn sheep, which were brought back to the area, and for elk kept in a large fenced range nearby; neither is guaranteed to be seen on a given day. Old stone shelters are usually credited to the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. From the high points you look north across the valley to Scotts Bluff. It is a small, local place, best as a one- to two-hour add-on to Scotts Bluff National Monument, which is about 15 minutes away, rather than a trip on its own. The area is on Mountain time.

210615 Highway 71, Gering, Nebraska, 69341, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the recreation area grounds are open daily year round, roughly from early morning to around 10 pm Mountain time, while the nature centre keeps shorter daytime hours, roughly 8 am to 4:30 pm on weekdays with shorter or limited weekend and winter hours. The traps are arriving when the centre is closed, forgetting that Scotts Bluff County runs on Mountain time, stopping at midday when the elk are hidden and driving Highway 71 over the ridge in a winter storm. Confirm current times before relying on them.

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