Platte River State Park Falls

by Elizabeth Winter

Title

Platte River State Park Falls

Artist

Elizabeth Winter

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

On of the most photographed spots close to Omaha, NE

There's a lovely state park halfway between Omaha and Lincoln with lookout towers offering views of a river, lush hardwood forests, paddle boats and a pool. If you're thinking Mahoney State Park, think again.

Platte River State Park is a quick 20-mile drive (give or take) from Omaha. It's not usually the first park to come to mind when we decide to get some fresh air, but after this past weekend, it's moved up in the pack. I'd visited the park one time before this, but it was the off-season and we didn't explore nearly as much. You can read about it in the post Exploring Platte River State Park In The Off-Season.

Scenery : The hiking trails are pretty extensive in the 418-acre park, with the bonus appeal of offering a waterfall (a small one, but still nice destination for a young family). There some trails that are steep, but most are easy. There are also mountain bike trails but we're not quite there yet with the kids as far as ability level is concerned. Or ourselves.

Pool. There is a small pool that opens at 1 p.m. in the summer. Other than a diving board, it doesn't have much to rival the bigger state park nearby. What it probably does offer is a less crowded place to cool off.

Horseback rides: These rides are guided and open to anyone 5 and older. There are fees, naturally.

Paddleboats: Paddleboat rentals are $8 for a half-hour, plenty of time to explore the small lake at the park. They have sparkly ones, which may not be a selling point to you, but for every kid on the dock that morning we were there, it was a huge one.

Ducks : Working downtown, I'm no stranger to watching people feed ducks. It's just something people love to do. There are a handful of ducks and geese at the park and, for a quarter, you can get a small handful of food to feed them. Kids love that stuff.

Equipment rentals : You can rent sporting equipment (like tennis rackets or fishing gear for catch-and-release fishing) for FREE. This is the case at most state parks, just so you know.

Lookout towers : Platte River State Park has two lookout towers, a smaller wooden one and a tall metal one. My kids have never met a tower they didn't have to climb.

Craft center : I haven't been inside their craft center, but if you're staying for a few days at the park, it's a nice diversion.

Outdoor Heritage Education Complex : For pretty low fees, you can try out archery or slingshots, or break out the firearms and test out the firearm and shotgun range.

They also have a good education program there. During our visit, there was a park employee with different animal pelts on display sitting at a table near the marina.

Uploaded

November 19th, 2015

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