Platte River

The Platte River is a 499-kilometer tributary of the Missouri River that cuts across Nebraska as a wide, braided, shallow stream rarely more than a few feet deep. In the 19th century its valley served as the primary corridor of the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails — the shallow crossing points made it a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of westward-bound settlers. Today the river is celebrated as one of North America's great wildlife corridors: each spring roughly 500,000 Sandhill Cranes stage along its sandbars during their northward migration, drawing birdwatchers from across the continent. Visitors can canoe the gentle current, fish the shallows, or walk the riverbanks through open prairie landscape.