The route

A 240-mile trek through 12 communities in northeast Nebraska retraces the possible route taken by Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery member Pvt. George Shannon, who was lost for 16 days when the expedition was in the same area in 1804. More information is available at www.shannontrail.cjb.net/.

Getting there

From Interstate 29 in Sioux City, Iowa, take U.S. Highway 20 through South Sioux City, Neb., for four miles. Then take Nebraska Highway 12 north 37 miles to Wynot, Neb., to pick up the Shannon Trail.

Most other communities along the trail can be reached by traveling west on Nebraska Highway 12 from Wynot to Niobrara. From there, travel south on Nebraska Highway 14 to Verdigre for another trail community.

Other towns on the trail can be found by meandering off Nebraska highways 13, 59, 2 and 84 in a two-county area.

Lodgings

Trail travelers spending the night at the Argo Hotel — which is actually a bed-and-breakfast — in Crofton can request the Lesley Brooks Room, where the 1940s B-movie siren lived for two years when her grandparents owned it.

Other lodgings along the Shannon Trail can be found through the Nebraska Department of Tourism at (877) NEBRASKA or www.visitnebraska.org/myplanner/lodging.asp.

Nearby attractions

Recreational opportunities are available just north of Crofton at Gavins Point Dam, which is on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota. Big city-style museums and shopping and a riverboat casino are available in the Sioux City, Iowa, area.

About 30 miles southeast of the trail is Norfolk, Neb., where travelers can see an 1,100-square-foot exhibit at the Elkhorn Valley Museum dedicated to the town’s most famous native, former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson.

Thirty miles southwest of the trail in Royal, Neb., is Zoo Nebraska, which features 44 animals including Japanese macaques, Bengal tigers and chimpanzees. About 10 miles from Royal is the ongoing excavation of prehistoric animals at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park. Hundreds of animal skeletons have been found in a volcanic ash bed buried beneath the rolling farmlands. It’s open seasonally, May through mid-October.