Panorama Point - Nebraska High Point

Some state high points are more exciting than others. Judy was questioning the value of traveling the great distance we were traveling to get to the Nebraska high point because it is such an unremarkable place. A comment in summitpost I think gives a good response: "highpointing takes you places you would never think of going. Like a unique tour of America that few get to experience."  

To get to Panorama Point we had to travel roughly 105 miles from Denver International Airport up through a very rural part of Colorado, including a drive up through Pawnee National Grassland which I'd never heard of before. Panorama Point is just barely in Nebraska: it is only about one mile to the intersection of the state borders of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. It is on private property owned by Glen and Jill Klawon known as the High Point Bison Ranch. As we drove onto the ranch we almost immediately saw a pen with bison. 

After a drive of less than a quarter mile, there was a turnoff to Panorama Point with a sign and a kiosk asking for a $3.00 donation per person. 

It is a 1.2 mile drive from there. Along the drive we saw more captive bison in a very large fenced-in pasture with ginormous wind machines in the background. It looks like many of the farmers in this area are supplementing their income by leasing land for the wind machines as they were everywhere. 

As Wikipedia points out, Panorama Point is not a mountain, or even a hill, it is "a low rise on the High Plains." Without the markers, which include a small monument, a bench and a metal box that contains a register, you wouldn't be able to tell where the high point is, even though it is 5,424 feet in elevation. 

Looking north - not much to distinguish in the distance.

Looking the opposite direction, windmills dominate the skyline. 

It was cold and windy.

What made it stand out for me were the bison, the windmills and some pronghorn we saw on the property in a little different location.