Liberty Trail Foundation

 🇺🇸 North Dakota

Our journey began right here at home, exploring North Dakota history and the Missouri River.

Students visited:

• North Dakota State Capitol – Learning about state government and leadership.

• North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum – Exploring North Dakota's history from prehistoric times to the present.

• Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park & On-A-Slant Indian Village – Learning about the Mandan people, frontier life, and the history of the region.

• Fort Mandan – Discovering the story of Lewis and Clark and their winter along the Missouri River.

• Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center – Exploring the people, challenges, and discoveries of the Corps of Discovery.

 🇺🇸 South Dakota

Students traveled through the Black Hills, experiencing history and science firsthand while learning about mining, American presidents, geology, paleontology, and the natural world.

Highlights included:

• Deadwood & Lead – Exploring Gold Rush, mining, and Old West history.

• Mount Rushmore National Memorial – Learning about four U.S. presidents and the creation and history of one of America's most recognizable monuments.

• National Presidential Wax Museum – Bringing presidential history to life through exhibits depicting America's presidents and important moments in U.S. history.

• The Museum at Black Hills Institute – Exploring dinosaurs, fossils, minerals, and other specimens while learning about geology and paleontology.

• The Mammoth Site – Exploring an active paleontological site and participating in a hands-on dig activity.

• Wind Cave National Park – Heading un

• derground to experience one of the world's longest and most complex cave systems while learning about geology and cave formation.

🇺🇸 Nebraska

Our journey continued into Nebraska, where students stepped into the stories of the American West and westward expansion.

• Fort Robinson State Park – Exploring military, Native American, and Western history at one of Nebraska's significant historic sites.

• Scotts Bluff National Monument – Learning about the Oregon, California, and Mormon Pioneer Trails and the thousands of people who traveled west through this region.

🇺🇸 Wyoming

In Wyoming, students followed the paths of pioneers and settlers who traveled across the American West.

• Fort Laramie National Historic Site – Walking through historic buildings and learning about one of the most important stopping points along the western trails.

• Oregon Trail Ruts – Seeing the physical marks left behind by thousands of wagons traveling west.

• Register Cliff – Discovering names and messages carved into the rock by travelers along the Oregon Trail.

• Fort Caspar Museum – Learning about frontier life, transportation, military history, and the development of Wyoming.

🇺🇸 Montana

Our final state of the trip brought us to Makoshika State Park in Glendive, Montana's largest state park.

• Makoshika State Park – Exploring Montana's incredible badlands landscape while learning about geology, fossils, dinosaurs, and the prehistoric world that once existed there.

The dramatic landscape gave students another opportunity to connect what they had learned about geology and paleontology throughout the journey with the land right in front of them.