Summit Date
July 17, 2002, around 12:00 pm
Party
Ryan Cragun
Trip Report
This highpoint will forever be infamous to me. On my way to UT, July 12, 2002, I was hoping to reach Panorama Point. I had already been to Hawkeye Point and Charles Mound that day and was hoping to make this my third. However, I arrived just after sundown and after 20 minutes of searching could find no sign or trace of the highpoint. As it was dark and my directions were not very good, I decided to continue on to Utah and try the highpoint again on my way back.
Returning through Wyoming on July 17, 2002, I again attempted the Nebraska highpoint. This time I arrived at Pine Bluffs, WY around 10:00 am. I had plenty of time. I was using directions from my map program (Microsoft’s Streets and Trips). As can be seen in the maps below, the highpoint on the map program isn’t really where the highpoint is. I found the highpoint denoted by the program, but there wasn’t anything to mark it. I have pictures of the wrong panorama point below. It’s a rock pile at the top of a rise. Having been to several highpoints and having looked up Panorama Point on the web, I knew there was supposed to be a marker, so I wasn’t convinced that I had been to it. I didn’t know where else to look. Finally, I realized that according to the information on the web, the highpoint was only 1 mile from the tri-state marker. Since I couldn’t find the highpoint, I decided I would look for the tri-state marker. I eventually found it, nearly 1 hour after I had arrived in Pine Bluffs. From there I could see some markers in the distance on a hill in what looked to be Nebraska. Even though I knew I wasn’t supposed to hike from one to the other, I was so sick of trying to find the highpoint that I decided to hike it. Twenty minutes later I was standing at the highpoint.
Having finally found it, I also realized where it should have been on the map. The correct location and directions are given below. The view from Panorama Point is pretty good. It is also surrounded by a herd of buffalo, with no fences separating them from the monument. Though my experience wasn’t the best in trying to find the place, it was good to finally say I had been there.
Panorama
Directions
Here’s a map from Pine Bluffs, WY:
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